"Woman! What do you mean we hired her? She says we now owe her 400 dollars!" the man said with incredulous disbelief.
"And so we do! I will not sit idly by as our retirement is ravaged by hoodlums! We have gone to the cops, we have caught them on tape and still week after week it persists! We have lost hundreds of dollars already and I want to feel safe in my own store again!" the woman retorted.
"I am a man of science and there is no evidence that spending all this money will reap for us any benefit."
"And I am a woman who knows what she wants, and if you continue to make a raucous with her standing at the door, I can assure you, Raja, you will not get any benefits for many many months!"
"Dear God woman, you are a force of nature!" a few seconds later an Indian man appeared from the back room of the convenience store looking flustered. A few steps behind was an Indian woman who looked like she hadn't gotten much sleep in the last few weeks. Despite exhaustion she offered the woman a warm and endearing smile.
"I will tell you a secret," the Indian woman offered, "one secret of a successful marriage is that you do not mince your words. There is an expression you may have heard, 'to say what you mean and to mean what you say.' As part of that, you cannot make idle threats. You must follow through." From the other side of the little store, the man grumbled incoherently. The two women exchanged a glance and held back laughter. "7 months taught him to trust me when I insist."
Once the money exchanged hands the black woman began preparations. She pulled out a bucket and began praying as she added herbs and oils into the bucket. Finally she added hot water, and allowed the bucket to steep for several minutes as she explained the next steps.
"The annoying part about spiritual cleansings, is that they require everything to be cleaned. But as we shoo away all the bad stuff we will be replacing it with good stuff. Instead of you being a magnet for bad luck, the universe will bless the rightful owner many times over for any items stolen. The blessing may fall on you guys individually or the store itself. It's almost ready, all we need to do is wipe down each item and then we will wipe down the floor."
The fragrance from the bucket poured out and the herbs were collected and set on a paper plate to dry, "you can hang these above the main entryway for extra oomph. put them in a clock or behind a picture. It don't matter so long as everyone walks under them."
With that the woman demonstrated soaking a rag, wringing it out and passing it across all of the 24 oz bottles in a row of Pepsi, in a minute she was done with the shelf and moved onto the next one. The shopkeeper got the idea, she wasn't washing each item, but instead making sure each item had a wet spot. She grabbed a rag of her own and began wiping everything.
Once everything out front and in back was wiped, the contents of the bucket were transferred to the mop bucket and they began mopping the floor. There was an energy building, the pair of woman could feel the spell weaving itself into existence and though the husband scoffed he was thankful that he was not being asked to help. They quickly finished mopping the small store and the black woman took the dirty mop water right out the door.
"Umm, we can dump the water in the sink in the back..." the Indian woman said confused and a little alarmed.
"Oh, no we can't. This water holds all your bad luck. We gotta dump it where it will be scattered and rendered powerless." The woman pushed the bucket of nasty mop water down the street into the 4 way intersection, arousing several horn honks and a number of confused glances. With a heave she dumped the water, careful to not get any on her shoes, no sense in trailing the bad luck back in with her.
A few moments later she was back in the freshly cleansed store and there was just a final step to seal the blessing. The woman pulled out some incense and lit it, as she began her chant. A regular customer walked in and headed straight for the front counter. He stepped up to the Indian man and asked for smokes like usual. It was shortly after four and the man hoped his wife was nearly done being swindled by this witch.
"A pack of cigarettes, sir, anything else?"
Blake had been at a pack a day for a few months, but now found himself with daytime left and no cigarettes, he had to face the music and accept that his addiction has grown again. He was in his mid to late 30's and was well on his way to salt and pepper, smoking probably isnt helping with that. With a heavy sigh and an uncomfortable shift in his weight, "Three packs, please, and a lighter." He meant to do something to cut back when he realized he had reached a pack a day but obviously he didn't.
"23.72 sir." the man behind the counter said. Blake winced as he reached in his wallet and pulled out his credit card. He pocketed a pack of cigarettes and the lighter in his pants, and the other two in his jacket, one in the breast pocket, and the other in waist pocket. He turned to leave but heard an odd chanting coming from the back room.
As he looked he saw the owners wife and a black woman walking around with a smoking cone of incense on a plate. Something about the cadence of the chant drew him in. Memories of drum circle back in college flooded his mind and Blake felt compelled to join, he could feel something happening but inherently knew it needed his baritone voice.
The three of them made a little train weaving through the aisles, the black woman leading and chanting the wife following with a handkerchief helping to dissipate the incense, and Blake following behind stomping his feet and grunting in rhythm.
Within twenty seconds the entire store was filled with the smell of incense and as if on cue, they all halted simultaneously and inhaled sharply as if woken from a trance. They all saw the imagery of a knot being cinched down tightly and felt it was secured. Blake didn't know what "it" was but he was sure it was safe.
With an awkward chuckle Blake excused himself and apologized for joining in uninvited, and said he had to get home to his son... With that Blake left the store, thoroughly coated in magical protections and reeking of incense.
The owners wife laughed, "Ah, that was really fun after some intense cleaning."
"Yes, everything in here is now safe from theft. Should something be stolen, the universe will decide appropriate punishment and blessings will work their way back to the rightful owner of the item."
Handshakes and hugs were exchanged and the woman left quickly as the store filled with people grabbing things after work.