Pharmacy’s Poster Girl
After another week or so, she finally began to work out a routine.
“A headache when you wake up? It’s hard to concentrate on work when you have a headache, isn’t it? There are many possible causes of migraines, but in this case, it seems likely that you have high blood pressure, so the uncaria herb may be a good choice for you.”
Sheila handed the middle-aged man a medicine made with the said herb as the main ingredient.
“Please take care of yourself.”
She added with a smile as she handed him the medicine. That was the way she was taught by Amy to serve customers.
He taught her this to cheer up customers who were anxious about their health problems, so they went home with a real smile on their faces.
There was a lot of work required of Sheila.
She listened to customers over the counter and carefully wrote down their symptoms on a diagnostic form.
After the diagnosis, it was time to prepare the medicine.
She selected the necessary ingredients from the medicine cabinet and ground them one by one and wrapped them in a medicine package when it was completed.
After finishing and they paid the bill, she saw the customer off at the door.
Whenever there was free time, she had to store the purchased ingredients in the medicine cabinet and replenished the medicine packages, but Amy, the store owner, took care of most of the work.
He was much busier than Sheila, so she couldn’t complain, but she definitely had more busy days than before.
‘Are there many people in the royal capital who aren’t well? Is there a lack of clinics and hospitals?’
Before she had time to ponder, the next customer arrived. It was the same man who had come into the store just the other day, asking for cough medicine.
“Welcome. Hello, Jeremy-san.”
“Hey, Sheila-chan. I’m here again.”
Jeremy smiled, although it would be worrisome if he showed his face too often since it was a pharmacy. He had a fairly well-developed face, but Sheila, who was used to seeing Claushezade and Jornwerner, felt nothing.
“How is your cough?”
“Thanks to you, I’m feeling much better. Sheila-chan’s medicine works really well.”
“If it’s a cough drop, though, it’ll be the same even if Amy makes it. How can I help you today?”
When Sheila returned to the counter, Jeremy cut her off as he took a seat.
“Actually, I feel like I have a lump on my palm.”
“A lump, you say?”
“Yes, I haven’t been to the clinic, so I’m still worried. Sheila, can you take a look at it?”
Jeremy squeezed Sheila’s hand, his eyes shaking with anxiety.
Thinking that this would make it impossible to examine the patient, she immediately pulled her hand away.
“I don’t know if I can be of any help, but let me take a look.”
She carefully observed the right hand that was held out to her, but she found no lumps.
Tilting her head slightly, she shifted her gaze to Jeremy.
“Is there anything else that concerns you?”
“Yes. When I’m like this, my heart starts pounding and my body feels hot.”
Sheila judged that his passionately moist eyes were due to his poor health.
“I see, you have palpitations and hot flashes. There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with your palms in particular, but do you have any other symptoms like dizziness or lightheadedness?”
“…. Sheila-chan. you’re really serious. That’s what’s so lovely about you.”
“….? Well, thank you very much for that.”
In the end, no lump was found in Jeremy’s palm, so she prescribed medicine for palpitations and hot flashes and sent him home.
A 10-year-old boy, Roy, was watching the whole thing at a table by the window. Like Thomas, he was one of the regulars who frequented Amy’s Pharmacy. The naughty guy’s reason for coming to the store was mainly an external wound.
“Hey, hey, have you ever had a boyfriend, Sister?”
Sheila blinked at Roy, who suddenly opened his mouth.
Her black hair was in pigtails, and she was wearing black-rimmed glasses and a moss-green apron dress. She was, by all accounts, plain compared to other girls of her age. She didn’t want to stand out, so she didn’t have any complaints about her dress, but she would be surprised if she had a boyfriend in this outfit.
“Do you think I could have a boyfriend with such a plain appearance?”
Sheila made it a point to use honorifics even when dealing with children, in order to let out the masculine tone she had acquired.
Roy blinked at her this time.
“Plain? Sister, I think you’re quite graceful and cute, don’t you think?”
“G-graceful…..”
She was used to being called a “wild child” or a “mountain monkey”, but that was the first time she’d been called “graceful” in all of her 15 years of living. The word was shocking at this point.
Sheila walked up to Roy and grabbed him by his small shoulders.
“D-do I look graceful to you? In this outfit? Do I look like I could get married or something?”
“Hey, lady, you’re scaring me…”
“I thought it was a matter of what was inside, but turns out it’s also a matter of how you look. I see, that’s why I was late getting married…..”
“Hey, Sister, your eyes seemed dead.”
Her mother had repeatedly warned her that her personality was too manly, but she’d quite trusted her lament, ‘Oh, I went to the trouble of giving birth to you so prettily.’
But, turns out there were problems with her appearance as well. Her parents and siblings only thought she looked pretty because of their bias.
It wasn’t that she was confident, but because she thought she looked as good as anyone else. She felt like she was burning out from the blows she had received. She was so embarrassed that she wished the floor could swallow her whole.
Just as she was devastated, relegating the word “cute” to the back of her mind, Amy, who had just finished serving a customer, showed up to complicate matters.
“Sheila-chan, if you want to get married, by all means, with me!”
Sheila flatly refused.
“I have no desire to get married at all. It’s just that I realized for the first time that the reason for my defeat was that I didn’t make an effort to be popular…. No way, is this the most powerful and popular outfit….”
“That perception is disrespectful to the efforts of women all around the world.”
Amy shook her head at Sheila, who looked down at herself in her plain glasses and muttered in amazement. That was his opinion as a representative of women who strived day and night to pursue beauty.
However, Sheila nodded while interpreting it in an oblique way.
“I see. So, it means that honorific speech is favored…..”
Both Amy and Roy couldn’t help but be amazed at Sheila, who was deeply convinced.
“You’re extremely thickheaded….”
“I feel like I’m being shown an example of how I would’ve lived if I didn’t understand anything….”
Just as the atmosphere in the store took on a strange air, the door rang, announcing a visitor.
It was funny how that sound, which at first sounded frightening, now seemed so convenient.
Sheila turned around, trying to smile brightly.
“Welcome. Ah, Norman-san. Hello.”
Standing at the entrance was Norman, who said he worked at a glass workshop. For some reason, he was holding a small bouquet of flowers.
She hadn’t seen him come to the store since the last time he left before she could do anything.
“I was worried because you left so soon the other day. I thought you might’ve needed some medicine.”
As she approached him while calling out to him, Norman’s face suddenly stiffened. Sheila tilted her head at him, who was still not moving a step from the entrance.
“Um, perhaps your leg is not feeling well…..?”
She was concerned that he might have trouble walking, but Norman didn’t respond. She looked back at Amy and Roy, but they were just watching from the sidelines, looking amused.
As she looked up at him in complete loss, Norman wordlessly thrusted out his arms. The yellow flowers in his bouquet swayed in his hand.
“Uh….”
When Sheila immediately accepted the bouquet, he turned around and ran away. He forgot his medicine again, was that okay?
“I took the flowers hurriedly, is that okay…..?”
She looked down at the bouquet of flowers while muttering to Amy, who was grinning at her for some reason.
“Oh, these are peonies. I’m sure Norman-san came to share the medical ingredients for our medicine!”
Peony petals were good for the body and can be fried and eaten. They could also be soaked in sake to make a medicinal drink.
Sheila herself had no idea that Amy and Roy were trembling with fear at her smiling and pleased face.
