Read Magic for Beginners: Stories for Free Online Page A

Christmas tree, and waited to see who stopped in and
what they bought. I shouldn’t be telling you this. This is all
need-to-know information only.”
    “You mean the All-Night or the CIA or whoever needs us to figure
out how to sell things to zombies,” Eric said.
    “Forget about the CIA,” Batu said. “Now will you go
outside?”
    “But is it our plan? Or are we just following someone else’s
plan?”
    “Why does that matter to you?” Batu said. He put his hands on
his head and tugged at his hair until it stood straight up, but
Eric refused to be intimidated.
    “I thought we were on a mission,” Eric said, “to help mankind.
Womankind too. Like the
Starship Enterprise.
But how are
we helping anybody? What’s new-style retail about this?”
    “
Eric,
” Batu said. “Did you see those pajamas? Look. On
second thought, forget about the pajamas. You never saw them. Like
I said, this is bigger than the All-Night. There are bigger fish
that are fishing, if you know what I mean.”
    “No,” Eric said. “I don’t.”
    “Excellent,” Batu said. His experimental CIA pajama top writhed
and boiled. “Your job is to be helpful and polite. Be patient. Be
careful
. Wait for the zombies to make the next move. I
send off some faxes. Meanwhile, we still need Charley. Charley is a
natural-born saleswoman. She’s been selling death for years. And
she’s got a real gift for languages—she’ll be speaking zombie in no
time. Think what kind of work she could do here! Go outside. When
she drives by, you flag her down. Talk to her. Explain why she
needs to come live here. But whatever you do, don’t get in the car
with her. That car is full of ghosts. The wrong kind of ghosts. The
kind who are never going to understand the least little thing about
meaningful transactions.”
    “I know,” Eric said. “I could smell them.”
    “So are we clear on all this?” Batu said. “Or maybe you think
I’m still lying to you?”
    “I don’t think you’d lie to me, exactly,” Eric said. He put on
his jacket.
    “You better put on a hat too,” Batu said. “It’s cold out there.
You know you’re like a son to me, which is why I tell you to put on
your hat. And if I lied to you, it would be for your own good,
because I love you like a son. One day, Eric, all of this will be
yours. Just trust me and do what I tell you. Trust the plan.”
    Eric said nothing. Batu patted him on the shoulder, pulled an
All-Night shirt over his pajama top, and grabbed a banana and a
Snapple. He settled in behind the counter. His hair was still
standing straight up, but at 4 a.m., who was going to complain? Not
Eric, not the zombies. Eric put on his hat, gave a little wave to
Batu, which was either, Glad we cleared all
that
up at
last, or else, So long!, he wasn’t sure which, and walked out of
the All-Night. This is the last time, he thought, I will ever walk
through this door. He didn’t know how he felt about that.
     
    Eric stood outside in the parking lot for a long time. Out in
the bushes, on the other side of the road, he could hear the
zombies hunting for the things that were valuable to other
zombies.
    Some woman, a real person, but not Charley, drove into the
parking lot. She went inside, and Eric thought he knew what Batu
would say to her when she went to the counter. Batu would explain
when she tried to make her purchase that he didn’t want money. That
wasn’t what retail was really about. What Batu would want to know
was what this woman really wanted. It was that simple, that
complicated. Batu might try to recruit this woman, if she didn’t
seem litigious, and maybe that was a good thing. Maybe the
All-Night really did need women.
    Eric walked backwards, away and then even farther away from the
All-Night. The farther he got, the more beautiful he saw it all
was—it was all lit up like the moon. Was this what the zombies saw?
What Charley saw, when she drove by? He couldn’t imagine how anyone
could leave it behind and never