Prompt
Write a short story.
Here are some lines:
1) The Store, as that is what the people in the town called it, was long in need of repair, but it was clean, and it kept its employees employed.
2) Almost everyone in town shopped at the store, but no one had bought anything other than the candy from there in years.
3) The nightly deposits from the store were always $50,000 or more though the register receipts never totaled more than $100 a day. Only the owner, Frankie, knew what the cash outflow was.
4) A costumed rabbit worked next door, and said rabbit generally contributed to the proceeds box. The proceeds box was picked up every day around 4:00 PM.
5) Rudy worked in the makeshift kitchen making candy. Rudy, of course, called the kitchen the Lab.
6) Mitzi managed the store, which meant that she worked in the Lab and waited on customers. Mitzi also found herself a kind of DJ for a style of music she described as Ballet.
AI
The Store, as that is what the people in the town called it, was long in need of repair, but it was clean, and it kept its employees employed. Its faded awning sagged over the front window, and the floorboards groaned underfoot, yet the glass showcases were always polished to a pristine shine. Almost everyone in town shopped at the store, but no one had bought anything other than the candy from there in years. Neighbors would pop in for a quick chat, wave to the staff, and leave with nothing but a five-cent peppermint or a paper bag of homemade fudge.
Behind the scenes, the math of the business made absolutely no sense to the casual observer. The nightly deposits from the store were always $50,000 or more though the register receipts never totaled more than $100 a day. Only the owner, Frankie, knew what the cash outflow was. He sat in his locked back office, puffing on a cigar, counting stacks of banded hundreds that arrived through a completely different supply chain than the sugar and cocoa.
The operation relied on a strict, eccentric routine. A costumed rabbit worked next door, and said rabbit generally contributed to the proceeds box. The oversized bunny, advertising for a defunct party supply outlet, would slip through the side alley and drop heavy, unmarked envelopes into a slotted steel chest. The proceeds box was picked up every day around 4:00 PM by a man in a dark suit who never spoke a word.
Deep in the back, the heart of the legitimate front kept beating. Rudy worked in the makeshift kitchen making candy. Rudy, of course, called the kitchen the Lab. He wore a pristine white coat, safety goggles, and treated his copper kettles like delicate scientific instruments, meticulously measuring out corn syrup and food coloring as if he were splitting atoms.
Mitzi managed the store, which meant that she worked in the Lab and waited on customers. She was the glue holding Frankie's bizarre empire together, balancing the sugar scales and keeping an eye on the front door. Between stretching taffy and ringing up the occasional dime-store truffle, Mitzi also found herself a kind of DJ for a style of music she described as Ballet. She would broadcast classical symphonies over the store's ancient PA system, mixing in heavy basslines and ambient echoes to create a dramatic, surreal soundtrack for the town's most peaceful front operation.
