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"A hardware store is a castle of delights for the person interested in home improvement. You can find everything here: doorknobs, light bulbs, lumber, fuses, nails, screws, tools, and my favorite, paint. Look at all the paint colors available. This paint card alone has six shades of blue. There's an entire wall full of potential just waiting for your imagination. You could paint your entire house Fire Engine Red, or Waterfall, or paint each wall a different shade of pink."
"Hi, Joe." Sarah appears beside him in her uniform. It's so strange to see her dressed this way, even though she's been working here all summer. He can hardly see the bulge where she keeps her handgun.
Joe smiles. "Hi, Sarah. I was just talking about how many different colors of paint you have available here. It's amazing to consider."
"I know what you mean. On my breaks, I sometimes come to the paint aisle and imagine all the colors I could paint my house." She pulls out a random card. "Can you imagine my house painted all in Goldenrod?"
"That would be something," Joe agrees.
"Are you here today to buy paint?"
"No, just daydreaming. I'm here to buy light bulbs. My lamp went out last night while I was up reading."
Sarah nods. She didn't stay over last night. Sometimes she needs her space, she says, and Joe doesn't mind. He has space to give. Besides, Gus likes it when it's just the two of them.
Joe looks back at the magical array of paint colors. "I'll need to pick out paint colors soon. I have to repaint Nana's house." His heart gives a sad hiccup, the spongy organ fluttering at the memory.
Sarah says, "Would you like to look through them now? You don't have to make a decision." Her tone is hesitant and awkward. She's been wonderful ever since he lost Nana, but reaching out isn't in her comfort zone. She turns away from him and goes to the paint samples, picking up a handful. "We can look at these."
Joe takes a few cards from her and examines the colors. White River. Subtle Heather. Morning Green. He tries to imagine Nana's house, and the walls covered with pictures of friends and family, and pretty decorations she collected over the years. He holds up the card and places it against the image in his mind. "I'm not sure about these. They don't say 'Nana' to me."
"Hi, Joe. Sarah." Joe turns to see Gene pushing a cart.
"Hi, Gene!" he says in delight. "Wow, I never expected to see you here."
"I wasn't expecting to be here. Lulu said it was time to replace the trap under the kitchen sink."
Sarah says, "That'll be in plumbing supplies. I can show you."
"That would be nice, thank you, Sarah. Joe, what brings you to the hardware store today?"
"I'm here for light bulbs, but I'm also thinking about paint."
Gene looks at the paint display. "They do have a great selection of paints here." He walks down the aisle to where the paint cans sit. "I bought some of this last year to repaint our guest bedroom. One coat did the job."
Joe says, "I didn't know you repainted your guest room. What color did you choose?"
"Seafoam," Gene says, and Joe notices that's one of the colors on the cards in his hand. "Lulu says it reminds her of when I was off at sea."
Joe looks at the Seafoam card, holding it up, and thinking about Nana's living room. He can see this color stretching across the walls like a vision of the ocean come to Marquette. "I like it. New paint is a new beginning every time."
New beginnings are hard. He's not painting Nana's house so he can look at it and think about faraway places. He's going to have to clear out all her things, and all the things he left there and never managed to move into his own house. He has to take down all the pictures and decorations and repaint the walls, and get it ready for the next family.
"Do you think the next people who move into Nana's house will like Seafoam, or do you think the reminder that the ocean is so far away would make them pine for a coast that isn't a Great Lake?"
"That's hard to say," Gene says. "It could go either way."
Sarah says, "The nice thing about paint is that you can always change your mind. You can paint your whole house solid black to represent the damage caused by the military-industrial-entertainment complex, and if you change your mind later, you can start fresh with a nice Cobalt Blue."
"That's right," Joe says. "If they want something else, they can repaint to something less emotionally fraught."
He puts the card into his basket. Food for thought. "I'm going to get those light bulbs."
Sarah says, "Gene, let me show you where the plumbing section is." The two of them wander off together. Joe watches them go, always happy to see his country girl and his best friend getting along.
The light bulb section of the store isn't the same unfiltered joy as the paint display. It's not located by the lamps and ceiling fans, which doesn't make sense. Anyone would think that a brilliant display of lampshades, fans, and various lamp bases could only be enhanced by keeping the light bulbs close by to let shoppers imagine the CFLs and LEDs inside lamps of their very own. Sometimes Joe likes to walk through the lamp section and pretend it's an extra display of Christmas lights. Strange are the ways of the hardware store.
Joe finds the aisle, and selects two different packages. He's probably going to choose the LEDs, and he knows it, but he likes to compare wattage and power requirements. For example, the CFL bulbs are 100 Watt replacements and use 23 Watts, while the LED soft whites are also 100 Watts but only use 15 Watts. Sarah says to avoid CFLs because of the mercury, which is also a point to consider. The LEDs cost more, but he decides it's a good investment, and puts the CFLs back on the shelf.
He goes to the checkout, and puts the light bulbs on the counter. "I also took this," he says, showing the paint card.
The cashier leans over and looks at the card. "Seafoam? That's nice. It's like the ocean." She rings up the light bulbs and Joe sees her throw in the employee discount.
"I don't work here."
"It's Sarah's discount. You're with her, right?"
Joe frowns. "I'm not sure I can do that without her here. It threatens the integrity of the employee discount program."
She nods thoughtfully. "I see your point, but I've already rung you up. The time it would take me to cancel out the order and rescan would cost the company as much as the discount."
Joe sighs. "That makes it a perfect Catch-22." Reluctantly, he pays for the bulbs with the ill-gotten discount.
"Have a great day!" says the cashier.
"You as well." He takes his light bulbs out to his car. It's a hot, muggy afternoon, but the thought of the Seafoam is cool and relaxing. He thinks Nana might have liked to be reminded of a cool ocean breeze on a day like today, and if the new owners aren't as fond, they can come here to the wonderland that is the hardware store and choose a new color of their own.