Another busy day, but this album title caught my eye and seemed to fit with Aubergine’s story, so I’ve squeezed in some writing at lunchtime. I hope it’s worth reading, usually I get a little longer to at least make sure the story is consistent. I can try and patch things up over the weekend I guess :)
48. Give me convenience, or give me death Snow crunched under their feet as they walked away from the bridge and she felt like an exchanged spy walking with her new handler. She tried to keep their steps synchronised, knowing that Adrian would never notice something like that but unable to ignore the warmth she felt as she did so, but his longer stride gradually changed it into something more syncopated. As they left the lake behind the lights of the city grew brighter, and shortly after they turned down a street that quickly led to a brightly-lit cross-street with shops and cafes along it. Other people – other couples, she noted – were out, walking leisurely and getting in the way of impatient single people with things to do. A bearded man with two small boys came out of a coffee-shop, his eyes distant as though seeing other worlds and a laptop tucked under one arm. She wondered what he did, and decided that he was probably a politician. Night was embracing the town now, for all it was still only 6pm, and she decided that she liked it. “Do you still drink Rev-bombs?” said Adrian. He’d stopped outside the store on Main Street that tourists liked to be photographed in front of: Give me convenience or give me death. They’d taken the rack of newspapers inside already, but the door was open and she could smell the piped-fresh-bread smell. “Not for a while now,” she said, smiling to hide her worry. She’d not had the money to drink much for months, and had been mostly getting by on Labatts. “Maybe we could get a bottle of wine?” “White or Red?” Her smile widened; the Adrian she remembered would just have bought both and then mixed them in the glass. Has he really started to mature? “White.” She said it confidently, but it was a guess. She’d last had wine when her cousin had been Confirmed, and that had been two sips before her cousin had started screaming, her eyes rolling back in her head, and trying to tear her clothes off. Her Aunt had later said it was an allergic reaction, and her mother had muttered “To God?” when her Aunt had walked off again. “Help me choose?” She nodded and they went into the store together. There were plenty of people in there already, moving through the aisles and picking out groceries, and they had to wait several seconds before they could get close enough to the wine-rack to see what there was. The names were meaningless to her, and even more so to Adrian, and he left her to choose while he picked up three cases of Labatts. She looked at the prices instead, and picked the third cheapest. “Merlot,” said Adrian, pronouncing the ‘t’ when she gave him the bottle. “Isn’t that red?” “I changed my mind,” she said. “But... you know, I’m happy with beer as well.” “I’ll get another case,” said Adrian. Aubergine turned, intending to put the bottle of wine back, when they heard the man at the front of the queue yell, “Give me all the cash in the till!” They both stared: he was waving a gun around, and the other people in the queue had ducked and were crouching to lie on the ground already. Adrian instinctively lifted the cases of beer in front of him to act as a shield, and Aubergine froze, her brain refusing to let her body do anything. “No,” said the cashier. He pointed to the sign outside. “Give me convenience, or give me death.” The gunshot was an unusually eloquent answer.
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Another busy day, but this album title caught my eye and seemed to fit with Aubergine’s story, so I’ve squeezed in some writing at lunchtime. I hope it’s worth reading, usually I get a little longer to at least make sure the story is consistent. I can try and patch things up over the weekend I guess :)
48. Give me convenience, or give me death
Snow crunched under their feet as they walked away from the bridge and she felt like an exchanged spy walking with her new handler. She tried to keep their steps synchronised, knowing that Adrian would never notice something like that but unable to ignore the warmth she felt as she did so, but his longer stride gradually changed it into something more syncopated. As they left the lake behind the lights of the city grew brighter, and shortly after they turned down a street that quickly led to a brightly-lit cross-street with shops and cafes along it. Other people – other couples, she noted – were out, walking leisurely and getting in the way of impatient single people with things to do. A bearded man with two small boys came out of a coffee-shop, his eyes distant as though seeing other worlds and a laptop tucked under one arm. She wondered what he did, and decided that he was probably a politician. Night was embracing the town now, for all it was still only 6pm, and she decided that she liked it.
“Do you still drink Rev-bombs?” said Adrian. He’d stopped outside the store on Main Street that tourists liked to be photographed in front of: Give me convenience or give me death. They’d taken the rack of newspapers inside already, but the door was open and she could smell the piped-fresh-bread smell.
“Not for a while now,” she said, smiling to hide her worry. She’d not had the money to drink much for months, and had been mostly getting by on Labatts. “Maybe we could get a bottle of wine?”
“White or Red?” Her smile widened; the Adrian she remembered would just have bought both and then mixed them in the glass. Has he really started to mature?
“White.” She said it confidently, but it was a guess. She’d last had wine when her cousin had been Confirmed, and that had been two sips before her cousin had started screaming, her eyes rolling back in her head, and trying to tear her clothes off. Her Aunt had later said it was an allergic reaction, and her mother had muttered “To God?” when her Aunt had walked off again.
“Help me choose?”
She nodded and they went into the store together. There were plenty of people in there already, moving through the aisles and picking out groceries, and they had to wait several seconds before they could get close enough to the wine-rack to see what there was. The names were meaningless to her, and even more so to Adrian, and he left her to choose while he picked up three cases of Labatts. She looked at the prices instead, and picked the third cheapest.
“Merlot,” said Adrian, pronouncing the ‘t’ when she gave him the bottle. “Isn’t that red?”
“I changed my mind,” she said. “But... you know, I’m happy with beer as well.”
“I’ll get another case,” said Adrian. Aubergine turned, intending to put the bottle of wine back, when they heard the man at the front of the queue yell, “Give me all the cash in the till!” They both stared: he was waving a gun around, and the other people in the queue had ducked and were crouching to lie on the ground already. Adrian instinctively lifted the cases of beer in front of him to act as a shield, and Aubergine froze, her brain refusing to let her body do anything.
“No,” said the cashier. He pointed to the sign outside. “Give me convenience, or give me death.”
The gunshot was an unusually eloquent answer.
Greg - I'm glad inspiration struck and forced its way into your day :)
Probably a politician, huh? That's an interesting... aside :P
Also: 'To God?' made me laugh probably a little more than it should have.
Great ending to the scene by the way.
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