John spent his entire Sunday getting his little mini-store ready. He had restored two clothing racks, dusted off an antique-looking cash register, and most importantly, he had found his uncle’s shop sign.
“Uncle Jack’s Costume Shop” was almost ready.
There was the simple matter of selecting which costumes he’d sell. People liked John’s dog costume, so he decided to lean into the “office pet” theme. Dog and cat costumes would be a good dry run for him. He’d just have to stop people from freaking out… or revealing his magic.
Conveniently, dogs and cats couldn’t talk.
John got a few more collars ready. He tweaked the reality alteration spell to be a bit more intense this time. People were signing up to be the office pet, and that was exactly what they were going to get. Each one came with a tag attached to it, so at least they’d get to pick their name.
Scott was actually able to help load up the truck. John couldn’t help but notice that Scott was taking it easy on the Spot costume. Well, up until dinner time at least.
“I only made enough leftovers for one,” John shook the leftover rice container with a sly grin.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Scott gave him a solid glare before going off and changing.
He stuck around as Spot for that evening though. Everything was set for tomorrow.
Except, wait, what was he going to wear? John stood in front of his bathroom mirror with his wizard robe on over his business casual. He wanted to be able to leap into salesman mode at a moment’s notice, but work wouldn’t exactly let him lounge around in a Halloween costume all week. Hmm…
He shrank his wand down to the size of a large pen and slid it into his shirt pocket. There we go. He could put his robe back on whenever he was making a sale, but now he wouldn’t be caught flat footed.
He started to fold up his robe. Scott poked his head in his bedroom door, “You still wanted to get into the office early this morning, right? I’m ready to go when you are.”
“Be right there,” John said. Huh, Scott was looking at him weird.
“Are you… trying to grow a beard?” His roommate stared.
John looked back in the mirror. He hadn’t shaved in a few days and somehow had failed to notice. He wasn’t really one for beard growing, but somehow the stubble on his chin and sideburns had come in a lot more evenly this time around. He reached up and rubbed his face curiously.
“It would fit the whole wizard thing?” He shrugged, “We’re late. Come on.”
Getting the shop set up didn’t take too much manpower when he had his wand on him. John set up the two costume racks in the corner of the office break room. On top of them, he leaned the old wooden sign that used to hang outside of his uncle’s store.
He set up the register down on a nearby table and arranged the last few props. (The register was mostly for show. One change to Uncle Jack’s in the last few decades would have to be a phone-based credit card reader John had picked up over the weekend.) Everything was coming together marvelously.
John felt positively giddy as he emptied the last box of supplies. As he did so, he spotted something laying in the corner of the box that he hadn’t seen earlier. He picked up the small stray piece of plastic and turned it over in his hand.
It was a name tag. The aged plastic still clearly read, “Jack Smith, Owner”.
Huh. John rubbed his finger over the plastic. How had he missed this earlier? The pin backing thankfully still had the right fasteners. He reached down and pinned it to the lapel of his robe.
Uncle Jack’s Costume Shop was officially open for business.