penelopesfitz:
Penelope laid the binder on the table, doing her best not to nervously eye the recorder. Even though the article would be written, and likely no one but Rose would hear it, it still gave her a bit of stage fright. She distracted herself, bustling about to make tea, switching on the hot plate and setting the always full kettle on top. She decided to sit while it came to a boil, finding it somewhat hard to make eye contact with the young woman, a bad habit she had hardly experienced since her high school days. “Oh- A change in customers? I- Yes, actually!” She let out a lighthearted laugh. “We get a lot more young people now. We mostly serviced dabblers in homeopathic medicine and a few traditional herbalists who live in town. The legalization of marijuana brought in the young crowd- but that’s not all they get anymore! Some of them are the very health conscious type- sure, they’re buying recreationally but I think a lot of people use it to self medicate, you know? So they’ll start looking around and asking questions, now many of our cannabis regulars have a regular order of several other medicinal herbs as well.” Penelope flushed, realizing how long she’d been talking. It was easy for her to talk business, and that’s what Rose was there for, but she couldn’t help but be a little embarrassed.
Rose noticed the way Penelope looked at the recorder, and could feel the anxiousness radiate off of her. The way she nervously fiddled with the tea and looked away was enough to make Rose change course. “Hey, let’s just do this the old fashioned way.” She reached for the device and stopped the recording, smiling softly at the other woman. “I’ll just take notes instead.” Rose took the pen clipped to the spiral bind of her notebook and clicked it, beginning to write what Penelope was saying.
The journalist listened intently, finding a definite peak in her interest. There was also a sense of pride that she could feel presently, and had assumed it was from Penelope. However, when she finished her shorthand notes of the shop keep’s comment, she could feel it coming from herself. Perhaps it was a pride she felt inadvertently for those that deserved it. After all, her father was a small business owner, and she knew how difficult it was to run one. “That’s actually…really amazing.” She said with a small laugh. “Right, uhh…how about older clients? Do any of them seem to be put off by the change, or are they appearing more supportive of the new herb?”
Penelope noticeably relaxed when the recorder was put away- her shoulders lowered and she leaned against the back of the chair, instead of sitting like she had a metal rod for a spine. Watching the movements of Rose's pen was also oddly soothing, and helped her keep rhythm as she spoke, which avoided any nervous stuttering.
Penelope listened carefully as Rose spoke, her eyes flitting between watching the movements of the young woman's lips, studying her eyelashes, and self consciously staring at the ceiling. "Well, actually, we did have this one older woman- not an herbalist per say, but I believe she studies it in her own time and has come in regularly for longer than I've worked here. She has a set order she picks up once a month, and also shops around when she comes in. She was in a bit of a tizzy when we started selling- threatened to take her business elsewhere. But she's still open minded, and listened to what we had to say- and now she actually uses cannabis to manage her arthritis pain." Penelope let out a light laugh at the memory. "The first time the old woman had purchased marijuana she had been very tight lipped and skeptical- but came back for her next order a month later looking a bit sheepish. Apparently she'd quite enjoyed it."
