For Sale By Owner...

The store had a large FOR SALE sign in the window. 

She didn't pay much attention. One of those things that you see but don't think about until later. Just the background set pieces of your day. 

But later when she was on the bus going home she thought about it. It was a store so of course everything was for sale right? Or was it the store itself that was for sale?

And why had she never noticed that store before? 

Her mind started to wander. Maybe it was like the stores in books. The ones that just appeared when you needed them. Why was it most of those stores were bad news? Stores that seemed to have the items to fulfill your wishes but ended up with a twist. Something horrible happening that you hadn't intended. Why did most writers imagine horrible things instead of sweet things?

But she knew that it wasn't that there weren't books with stores that appeared with your heart's desire and only sold happy endings and perfect moments, it was that she had never been attracted to those types of stories.

She found that when she was reading a book and everything was working out perfectly for everyone that she would start to despise the author. Just a little bit. Not a lot. Not enough to go find them on social media and tell them how horrible she found them to be. How simplistic. How facile. How boring.

Not anymore at least. 

She had posted once on a book review site that "Sunshine and Roses and Nothing Bad Ever" was a boring book. That with no conflict there was no point in reading a story. It wasn't a story. It could be two sentences. "And nothing bad ever happened ever. The end." But when she posted her review on the book site the fans of the very prolific writer came after her. Hard. She was a fun hater. A joy sucker. She didn't understand happiness. She was only a shit stirrer looking to troll. On and on they went. And when she pointed out to them that this was exactly her point, that the world sucks and people are mean, they got even meaner. 

But she made note to never ever ever read something by Little Miss Sparkles again. Those books were not for her and that fan base clearly needed only happy stories to make their miserable lives bearable. 

That's what she told herself to make those voices quiet down. The ones that started with each post telling her how awful she was, how she hated happiness. She didn't, not really. She just didn't trust it. That's not the same thing.

So would that mean if she went back to the store and it was one of those stores that sold you what you thought you wanted but with a horrible twist that her twist would be nothing bad happens? Nothing challenging ever happened to her again. Everything she wanted happened. Anyone she ever was attracted to fell in love with her. Every lottery ticket was a winner. Every child was healthy and brilliant. Every dog well behaved. Every cat a cuddler. Every cup of coffee not too hot, not too cold. 

Every single thing in her life going perfectly. 

How terrible that would be. 

Waiting every day for it to turn. For the twist to come. For the disaster to hit. 

She shivered. 

Tomorrow she would change her path and not go near that store.

Just in case.