I come in just like I would any other day. I’m only a short bike ride away from Jess’s shop, so I decide to bike the long way around. I stop by the bakery on the corner of our street to grab an apple scone to celebrate fall (I don’t really care for pumpkin), and I walked the rest of the way. Parking my bike, I wave in and see Jess already starting the morning off with a customer.

I walk in, hearing a conversation between an older gentleman and Jess. “Yes, it was a lovely honeymoon. You should go sometime!” 

“To Paris? No, I don’t think so.”

“You must vacation sometime”

“I can tell you’re not a business owner.”

The two laugh and the gentleman hands off his suit, waving goodbye to Jess. “Au revoir!” he shouts wistfully as he leaves. Jess sighs. 

“The small talk will always kill you if you let it. Anyways, how was your bike ride in?”

“It was good, ma’am, thank you for asking. How was the morning?”

“Slow, but we’re just getting started. I have a couple that need to start pre-treating. Can you get started?”

I nod and go to the back, starting to work. The pre-treatment process is simple, but I won’t bore you with the details. All that you need to know is you put some powder on the major parts of the garment before you use the solvent for the actual dry cleaning. I roll up my sleeves and pretreat about two suits until a phone call comes in. I swing through the doors and pick up the phone.

“Hi, yes, how quickly can you do a dry clean?” a male voice asked, not letting me say hello.

“About 2-3 days.”

“Damn. Can it be any faster? I’ll pay anything.”

“Hey Jess,” I call over. “I think you may want to handle this one.”

Jess grabs the phone and I go back to my pre-treatment. Moments later, she comes in and tells me that a man will come in about 30 minutes and that I should expedite the process if at all possible. “If he can buy a kit at Walmart and do it in his dryer, we need to show our expertise.” 

Just like that, 30 minutes pass, and a gentleman comes in. While I’m in the back, I can’t make out much of what he’s saying. It was clear he wanted his suit cleaned quickly and “discreetly”. Admittedly, I don’t know much about discreetly cleaning anything, but he’s the customer of course. Jess enters. “Alright. He wants the suit done in a day, so focus on this one before you move on to the others, make sense?”

“Yes ma’am.”

I take the suit in and notice that it’s heavier than the rest. I try not to think anything of it and continue my work. I pat down the suit to make sure that it’s nice and flat and I notice something in one of the pockets. I remember that it’s always important to empty out all of the pockets before cleaning, so I absentmindedly graze the pocket. 

It was round in shape, and stuck out like a bulb against the lining of his suit. Curious, I slid my hand into the pocket slowly. I felt the silk lining, and waited to feel the parting of the pocket. I extended my fingers into a cup shape and drifted deeper until I bumped into the object. It felt like it was made of metal, with a lever shape at the very top. Not able to contain myself, I rushed my hand down and grabbed it whole, pulling it out of the pocket. I gasped. I couldn’t believe what I was holding. “Th-this. This is a grenade.”