Catching up that fast is good going! Well done, and I hope tomorrow settles down into the usual routine quickly for you :)
And... I ran over a bit, which surprises me. So I guess this gets split into two.
The record player "It's disgusting is what it is," said Alice. She was sucking on a boiled sweet at the same time, so her words were mixed with slurps and punctuated with an odd gulp at the end as she tried not to spit her sweet out. "What is?" asked Betty. The two of them were queued up at the tills for lingerie in East Wallingford's premier (and only) department store, Blofelds. The East Wallingfordians were very proud of it and would tell anyone who would listen, which hadn't included Alice or Betty, that it was named after one of the original South African settlers of the community. Around them were a couple of teenage mothers and a couple of middle-aged matrons who appeared to be natives. None of the other tourists were visible, having already had the Alice and Betty experience on the coach to East Wallingford. "That Tina," said Alice. She spat her sweet out, deciding that it was easier to talk without it, and it landed in a cup of a black lacy bra on a nearby stand. "She's only gone and bought a record player." Betty considered this as a middle-aged matron bustled over to the stand where Alice's sweet had flown and started perusing the lingerie there. None of it looked as though it would fit her. "What's wrong with that then?" she asked. "When I was a girl we all had record players. I can remember going down to the vinyl shop on the corner of Main and Fifth and looking through all the 45s and 33s to see what was new. I even remember my first time." There was a snigger from somewhere at the back of the queue. "Yes, but you weren't stripping to it," said Alice severely. She squinted at Betty. "Were you?" "Lawks no," said Betty cheerfully. "I was listening to Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden and Sepultura. I can't imagine how you'd begin to strip to that. Hah, can you imagine taking your clothes off to Can I play with madness? That would have chased the boys right off, that would. What's wrong with Tina being a stripper anyway though? She's the waifish one that set the chip-shop on fire, right?"
Alice shook her head and started rummaging in her voluminous handbag for her bag of boiled sweets. "No, that's Lydia. She might be ok as a stripper, but she's got it into her head she wants to sit on a painter." "Sit for a painter, surely?" The matron perusing the lingerie suddenly realised that she'd interrupted a conversation she was eavesdropping on and turned an interesting shade of puce as she turned away. "No, sit on a painter," said Alice as though there was nothing strange about the interruption. "His name's Michael and he mostly paints roads but I've been told that when you sit down there's not much chance of you falling off." "Fancy," said Betty with a wicked grin. "So which one's Tina then?" "She's the heavyset girl that looks like a Saint Bernard," said Alice, finding her sweets. She selected a yellow one as the matron at the lingerie rack found the half-sucked boiled sweet and recoiled in horror. "Can she get all her own clothes off then?" asked Betty. "Excuse me miss, but that's disgusting what you've got in the bra there. I think you ought to pay for it if you're going to wrap food up in it like that. I mean, it's not like she can reach around to her back very easily, is it?" The matron huffed and dropped the soiled bra and stalked off. "She's got tear-away clothes," said Alice. "When she ordered them I said she was being optimistic, but now I see what she was planning. So she's bought a record-player and she's planning on standing on street corners and stripping for money." There were some horrified gasps behind Betty in the queue, which she ignored. "Money for stripping in public?" she asked. "No, money for putting her clothes back on again."
As I worked my way to the docks, Olly perched on my shoulder, I found my thoughts drifting back to how it all began.
===== It was another ordinary day in the records department. I was busy filling my cart with the current set of records requests, listed on the small piece of paper I held. I hummed as I worked -- the only thing better than finding records was replacing the records. The big drawers vibrated slightly with my humming as I opened and closed them. Suddenly the torches lining the walls went out and I found myself in complete darkness. At the same time, my humming seemed to be coming from all around me, the darkness vibrating with it. Out of thin air, seemingly composed of the vibration itself, appeared a cat.
In my mind, I heard a voice, deep and rumbly with overtones of purring and a bit of laughter. "Hello. I like your humming and I've come to stay with you a while. You may call me Olly."
The cat floated over to my shoulder and settled itself there. The torches flickered back to life. I found the rest of the records in the cart already. I decided not to worry about it. I trundled the cart back to the Records Master.
Strangely, he was not pleased with the speed with which I had finished the afternoon's assignment. He glared at me. "I thought you'd be in there all day, you!" Words failed him. He waved at me. "Just go home and maybe don't come back!"
As I walked down the street, wondering if I still had a job, I remembered that he hadn't noticed Olly. How odd.
Greg - yeah this week back was pretty reasonable, all things considered. And now I get a three day weekend to ease into next week!
These two are... quite the pair. And their lives seem... full of interesting people and experiences?
I think that's all I have to say for now.
Morganna - ah, I appreciate this fleshing out of the tale. These two also seem like quite the pair, but in a rather entirely different way than Greg's duo :)
4 comments:
Catching up that fast is good going! Well done, and I hope tomorrow settles down into the usual routine quickly for you :)
And... I ran over a bit, which surprises me. So I guess this gets split into two.
The record player
"It's disgusting is what it is," said Alice. She was sucking on a boiled sweet at the same time, so her words were mixed with slurps and punctuated with an odd gulp at the end as she tried not to spit her sweet out.
"What is?" asked Betty. The two of them were queued up at the tills for lingerie in East Wallingford's premier (and only) department store, Blofelds. The East Wallingfordians were very proud of it and would tell anyone who would listen, which hadn't included Alice or Betty, that it was named after one of the original South African settlers of the community. Around them were a couple of teenage mothers and a couple of middle-aged matrons who appeared to be natives. None of the other tourists were visible, having already had the Alice and Betty experience on the coach to East Wallingford.
"That Tina," said Alice. She spat her sweet out, deciding that it was easier to talk without it, and it landed in a cup of a black lacy bra on a nearby stand. "She's only gone and bought a record player."
Betty considered this as a middle-aged matron bustled over to the stand where Alice's sweet had flown and started perusing the lingerie there. None of it looked as though it would fit her. "What's wrong with that then?" she asked. "When I was a girl we all had record players. I can remember going down to the vinyl shop on the corner of Main and Fifth and looking through all the 45s and 33s to see what was new. I even remember my first time."
There was a snigger from somewhere at the back of the queue.
"Yes, but you weren't stripping to it," said Alice severely. She squinted at Betty. "Were you?"
"Lawks no," said Betty cheerfully. "I was listening to Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden and Sepultura. I can't imagine how you'd begin to strip to that. Hah, can you imagine taking your clothes off to Can I play with madness? That would have chased the boys right off, that would. What's wrong with Tina being a stripper anyway though? She's the waifish one that set the chip-shop on fire, right?"
Alice shook her head and started rummaging in her voluminous handbag for her bag of boiled sweets. "No, that's Lydia. She might be ok as a stripper, but she's got it into her head she wants to sit on a painter."
"Sit for a painter, surely?" The matron perusing the lingerie suddenly realised that she'd interrupted a conversation she was eavesdropping on and turned an interesting shade of puce as she turned away.
"No, sit on a painter," said Alice as though there was nothing strange about the interruption. "His name's Michael and he mostly paints roads but I've been told that when you sit down there's not much chance of you falling off."
"Fancy," said Betty with a wicked grin. "So which one's Tina then?"
"She's the heavyset girl that looks like a Saint Bernard," said Alice, finding her sweets. She selected a yellow one as the matron at the lingerie rack found the half-sucked boiled sweet and recoiled in horror.
"Can she get all her own clothes off then?" asked Betty. "Excuse me miss, but that's disgusting what you've got in the bra there. I think you ought to pay for it if you're going to wrap food up in it like that. I mean, it's not like she can reach around to her back very easily, is it?"
The matron huffed and dropped the soiled bra and stalked off.
"She's got tear-away clothes," said Alice. "When she ordered them I said she was being optimistic, but now I see what she was planning. So she's bought a record-player and she's planning on standing on street corners and stripping for money."
There were some horrified gasps behind Betty in the queue, which she ignored.
"Money for stripping in public?" she asked.
"No, money for putting her clothes back on again."
As I worked my way to the docks, Olly perched on my shoulder, I found my thoughts drifting back to how it all began.
=====
It was another ordinary day in the records department. I was busy filling my cart with the current set of records requests, listed on the small piece of paper I held. I hummed as I worked -- the only thing better than finding records was replacing the records. The big drawers vibrated slightly with my humming as I opened and closed them. Suddenly the torches lining the walls went out and I found myself in complete darkness. At the same time, my humming seemed to be coming from all around me, the darkness vibrating with it. Out of thin air, seemingly composed of the vibration itself, appeared a cat.
In my mind, I heard a voice, deep and rumbly with overtones of purring and a bit of laughter. "Hello. I like your humming and I've come to stay with you a while. You may call me Olly."
The cat floated over to my shoulder and settled itself there. The torches flickered back to life. I found the rest of the records in the cart already. I decided not to worry about it. I trundled the cart back to the Records Master.
Strangely, he was not pleased with the speed with which I had finished the afternoon's assignment. He glared at me. "I thought you'd be in there all day, you!" Words failed him. He waved at me. "Just go home and maybe don't come back!"
As I walked down the street, wondering if I still had a job, I remembered that he hadn't noticed Olly. How odd.
Greg - yeah this week back was pretty reasonable, all things considered. And now I get a three day weekend to ease into next week!
These two are... quite the pair. And their lives seem... full of interesting people and experiences?
I think that's all I have to say for now.
Morganna - ah, I appreciate this fleshing out of the tale. These two also seem like quite the pair, but in a rather entirely different way than Greg's duo :)
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