Lost in the Grocery Store (Part 2)

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That night, Miles sat at his desk and very carefully unfolded the small piece of paper

Merlin head tucked into the pouch with the vial.

He smoothed that flap and leaned in close, and then he just stared at it because it wasn't in English.

It wasn't in Spanish. It wasn't even in Chinese.

It wasn't in any language he had ever seen before.

The whole page was covered in curling loops and little stars and symbols that looked almost like letters, but not quite.

It was almost like someone had invented their own alphabet and forgotten to leave instructions on how to read it.

What is that? Miles spun around.

Nothing, he said automatically. His sister Elioro was leaning in the doorway with her arms crossed, looking at the paper over his shoulder.

Okay, that is definitely not nothing, she said, as she leaned down and squinted at the page.

Is that a recipe? What language is that? Miles hesitated. Then he took a breath and told her everything.

Elioro listened without interrupting. When he finished, she was quiet for a moment.

And then she said, we have to go back. I know, he said Miles. Tomorrow, she said. Yeah, said Miles.

Getting their mom to go back to the store the very next day turned out to be easier than they thought.

Miles said he thought he might have dropped something near the toy section.

Elioro said she really, really needed a new notebook for school.

And their mom, who had her own list of things she forgot in the day before, said fine and grabbed her keys.

The store looked completely normal in the daytime. Bright lights and squeaky floors.

It was a man near the entrance handing out samples of something on little crackers. And their mom pointed toward the produce section.

I'll be over here. Stay where I can find you. We will, said Miles and Elioro already walking fast in the opposite direction.

Miles led her to the back of the store, past the action figures in the board games and the puzzles, all the way to the very last shelf near the floor.

The empty one. Elioro crouched down and peered at the hole. It was still there, dark and round and just big enough.

You crawled through that, she said. It's not that bad, said Miles.

It looks like it leads to absolutely nowhere, said Elioro.

Oh, it definitely leads somewhere, said Miles. Come on.

He got down on his hands and knees and went first. Elioro followed.

The tunnel was short just like before. A few seconds of darkness and then Miles tumbled out into the long, concrete hallway.

Elioro came out right behind him and stood up, brushing dust from her knees.

She looked both ways down the hallway.

Okay, she said quietly. I take it back. This is actually really cool.

Miles smiled. Come on, it's down at the end.

They walked together through the dimly lit hallway, past the closed doors, past the tall shelves of cardboard boxes.

And Miles could already see the glow under the door at the far end.

But something felt different this time.

The glow is flickering and there was no cheerful muttering, no planking of spoons or bubbling of pots.

It was just silence. Miles pushed the door open.

The workshop was a mess.

Jarras were knocked over on the shelves with liquid dripping down off the countertops.

Peppers were scattered all over the floor like someone had shaken them out of a bag.

And a mixing bowl had rolled all the way to the far corner.

And a little burner in the middle of the room was still on, but the pot above it was empty and tilted sideways.

In the middle of all of it, sitting on an overturned crate with his head in his hands was Merlin.

Merlin said Miles.

The old wizard looked up sharply. His eyes were wide and tired.

And his tall pointed hat was sitting crooked on his head.

And then his face flooded with relief when he saw Miles.

Oh, Miles!

He cried, jumping up to his feet. He looked at Eliora.

And you brought a friend?

Oh, yeah, this is my sister, said Miles, Eliora.

Ah! And he gave a small, slightly frantic bow.

Lovely to meet you, young Eliora.

I only wish it were under better circumstances.

As he pressed both hands to his face and he groaned.

Ugh! Miles, I am so glad you came back.

Something has gone terribly wrong.

Merlin explained everything as quickly as he could, pacing back and forth through the scattered papers.

He had been working on a second potion.

Nothing as powerful as the know-it-all potion, just something small and gentle.

It was supposed to be a forget your worries potion, he called it.

Two drops were supposed to make a person feel calm and peaceful,

like they had set down a very heavy backpack that they didn't even know they were carrying.

But the problem was, Merlin got the measurements a little bit wrong, just slightly.

Just a tiny bit too much of one ingredient.

He pointed at an overturned jar, and instead of a calm, gentle forgetting,

the potion had become something much, much stronger.

And to make things worse, Merlin had accidentally knocked the whole thing over right next to the vent in the corner.

Merlin tugged at his beard.

The whole thing tipped over right into the stove ventilation system, he said miserably.

I tried to stop it.

You waved at the mess around them.

That's how all of this happened, but I was too late.

Miles and Eliora looked at each other.

So what exactly does the stronger version do?

Miles asked?

Well, you see, it makes people forget.

Not just their worries, but everything they came in to do.

Anyone in the store right now, any customer and any worker,

will have absolutely no idea why they are here or what they came in here to do.

And there was a long pause.

Our mom is in the store, said Eliora.

Yes, said Merlin. I figured as much.

Miles turned around and looked out through the door and down the hallway,

back in the direction they had came from.

He thought about his mom somewhere in the produce section with her cart in her list.

And suddenly he had a very bad feeling.

We have to fix this, Miles said.

Yes, said Merlin, and quickly.

He turned to Miles with serious eyes.

Do you still have the recipe I gave you?

Miles dug into his back pocket and pulled out the small folded paper.

And he held it up, and Merlin nodded.

Good, because that recipe, the one for the note hole potion,

contains something very important hidden inside it.

The antidote to almost anything I make is always written into the original recipe in the old language.

I do it as a safeguard, you see.

I didn't think I'd ever need to explain that to anyone, but he glanced at the overturned pot.

Here we are.

Eliora stepped forward.

So you gave Miles a recipe that he's supposed to read,

but it's in a language that nobody else can understand?

Yes, I can translate it for you, said Merlin.

But I cannot leave the workshop.

If I walk into that store right now, the potion in the air will affect me, too.

And if I forget everything I know, we will have a very serious problem, indeed.

He looked at them both carefully.

But the two of you came in through the tunnel.

You haven't breathed the store, eh, yet.

Which means we can go back in, said Miles.

And you can tell us what to look for, said Eliora, her eyes lighting up.

Merlin pointed at her.

She's quick, this one.

Yes, she has her moment, said Miles, Elior elbowed him.

Merlin unfolded the recipe on the one clear corner of his workbench,

and ran his finger carefully along the symbols until he found what he was looking for.

I, yes, here it is, he said, we need just one thing.

Just one, said Miles?

Just one, said Merlin.

And the ingredient you need is right here in the store?

That's right, said Merlin.

That's the beauty of all my potions, you see.

I only make them with things that can be purchased right here in the store.

It's not that any single ingredient is that special, but it is very, very important.

To get the exact right amount of every single thing.

Okay, so what's this thing you need, Merlin, said Miles?

Well, my good lad, we need a jar of raw honey, the real kind and a proper glass jar.

He looked at them seriously.

And I need it in 10 minutes.

10 minutes, said Eliora.

Merlin's face was serious.

If it takes us any longer than that to release the new potion to cure the old one,

then the forgetting will become permanent.

Everyone in this store, every shopper and every worker,

will forget not just what they came here for today, but they will forget everything.

And he straightened his crooked hat.

So yes, 10 minutes.

Starting now.

Go!

Miles and Eliora stared at him for exactly one second.

And then they ran.

They burst back through the hallway and scrambled through the tunnel

and popped out through the empty shelf into the toy aisle.

And the store was a disaster.

A man in a business suit was standing in the cereal aisle holding a single sock,

staring at it like he had no idea where he had come from.

A woman with a full cart had stopped completely in the middle of the bread section

and was turning slowly in a circle looking completely lost.

And there was a store employee sitting on the floor in the chip aisle,

tapping a pricing gun against his knee with a very blank expression.

Okay, this is bad, said Eliora.

Very bad, said Miles.

Okay, honey.

Where would the honey be?

Baking aisle said Eliora immediately.

So they ran to the baking aisle.

And the baking aisle was aisle seven, right in the middle of the store.

And they could see it from the end of the row, but getting there was another matter.

Because three carts had somehow ended up sideways across the main walkway,

completely blocking the path.

And their owners were nowhere to be found.

Miles tried to squeeze between two of them, but he got stuck.

Other way, said Eliora.

So they doubled back and they cut through the paper towel aisle

and came around from the other direction.

The baking aisle stretched down in front of them.

Flowers, sugar, baking powder, vanilla extract,

and there, about halfway down near the bottom shelf,

was a row of honey jars.

Miles ran straight for them.

And then a large cart appeared out of nowhere,

wheeled by a completely dazed stock worker

who wasn't even looking where he was going.

And then crash!

The cart clipped the shelf and Miles had to jump sideways to avoid it.

A huge bag of powdered sugar tumbled off the shelf,

and it exploded on the floor in a white cloud that went everywhere.

All over Miles, all over the stock worker,

and all over a good portion of the baking aisle floor.

Sorry, Miles coughed, waving powder out of his face.

Sorry, excuse me, I just need...

And the stock worker stared at him with empty eyes

and slowly wheeled the cart away in the wrong direction.

Miles looked down at himself.

He was completely white from the shoulders down.

He looked like a snowman.

Miles!

Eliora grabbed his sleeve and pointed right there,

right on the bottom shelf.

Miles dropped to his knees and grabbed the closest jar of honey.

It was a round glass jar with a yellow lid

and a little honey bee on the label.

Real honey, it said.

The thick golden kind.

Got it, he said.

Hey, how much time do we have, said Eliora?

Miles had no idea.

He hadn't even thought to check a clock when they left.

It felt like it had been at least five minutes already.

Maybe more.

Too much time, he said.

I mean, not enough.

Let's go!

They ran back through the powdered sugar cloud,

back through the paper towel aisle,

back around the overturned carts,

and then Miles skidded to his stop so fast

that Eliora crashed into the back of him.

They flew back down the toy aisle

and dove through the hole in the shelf

and scrambled through the tunnel and burst into the workshop.

Merlin spun around quickly.

His eyes went straight to the honey jar.

A wonderful, he cried,

snatching it from Miles' hands.

He was already moving,

clearing his space on the workbench,

reaching for a clean bowl,

measuring and muttering and mixing with a speed

that didn't seem possible for someone his age.

Are we in time?

Eliora asked.

We're about to find out, said Merlin.

The mixture in the bowl began to glow,

faintly at first,

and then it got brighter.

And then it shifted from pale gold

to a warm, deep amber,

exactly like the color of the honey itself.

Merlin closed his eyes

and said something quietly in a language

that neither Miles or Eliora recognized.

And then poured the whole thing

straight into the ventilation shaft

in the corner of the room.

For a moment, nothing happened.

But then they could see steam

traveling up through the vent

like something was alive,

spreading quietly through the wall

and up into the ceiling and out,

somewhere,

into the rest of the store.

The room was very still.

Merlin opened his eyes

and let out a long, slow breath.

Did it work, said Miles?

Only one way to know, said Merlin.

He looked at both of them with tired, warm eyes.

Go check on your mother.

And so Miles and Eliora ran down the hall

and crawled back through the tunnel one last time.

And when they came out into the toy aisle,

the store felt different

the moment they stepped out.

As they walked through the store,

they saw that the man with the sock was gone

and the woman who'd been spinning in circles

was pushing her cart with actual purpose now.

And the stock worker was back on his feet,

restocking chips from a box

like nothing had happened at all.

Miles and Eliora walked quickly to the dairy section

and their mom was standing in front of the egg case,

holding up a carton to the light

to check for cracks,

exactly the way she always did.

She looked up when she heard their footsteps

and smiled her normal smile.

There you two are.

I was wondering where you'd gone.

She put the eggs in the cart

and moved on to the milk.

Did you find what you needed, Miles?

Whatever that was.

Miles and Eliora looked at each other.

Yes, and Miles, we found it.

Good, said his mom.

Now stay close.

I've still got half a list to get through.

She walked ahead,

reading off her list to herself,

perfectly normal and completely unaware

that anything unusual had happened at all.

And Miles watched her go

and felt a big wave of relief

move through him,

warm and quiet,

like setting down something heavy.

Eliora leaned close and whispered,

she has no idea, does she?

No, I guess not, Miles said back.

We just saved the entire store, said Eliora.

Yep, we sure did, said Miles.

Eliora was quiet for a second,

and then she said,

we should probably go back

and visit Merlin sometime.

And Miles nodded slowly.

He was already thinking the same thing.

And their mom glanced back at them

from the yogurt aisle.

Are you too common?

Common, they both said,

and they jog to catch up.

Eliora fell into step with Miles.

We should probably keep this a secret, right?

She said to Miles under her breath.

Yeah, probably, said Miles.

She granted him,

and he grand back.

And the two of them walked the rest of the way

through this store with their mom,

perfectly calm and perfectly normal,

keeping the best secret

either of them had ever had.

Hey there, Story Land Fans.

If you've been enjoying the podcast,

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That's right.

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Thanks again for listening,

and I'll see you again in the next adventure.