[Mysterious, Peace]
“OK, now that everyone else is gone, Opal do you prefer to draw or to write”
“I like to draw, Grandmaster Brightspark.”
“Call me Sparky, Opal, OK?”
“Yes, Sparky.”
“Good, very good. You sit at that desk over there behind the counter and I’d like you to draw a book shop or library that you visited sometime in your past. A black and white pencil sketch I think. Just take your time and do the very best you can, alright do you understand.”
“Yes, Sparky.”
“Wonderful, Rose I want you to go visit the suit guy, see how he is doing.”
“Who?”
“Suit Guy Rose, you haven’t forgotten him have you?”
“Hmm, umm.”
“The incel who jumped into Sienna Rousseau Journals and tried to wreck it.”
“I’m sorry, yes, I just forgot I never found out his name. Will the locate spell work on something as general as suit guy?”
“I’m not sure, when you build a prison world, it’d be helpful to number your prisoners.”
“They’re not prisoners, they're free to do whatever they like.”
“Whatever you say, Rose.”
“Don’t say it like that, Sparky.”
“Like what?”
“Like I’ve put them in some fantasy dungeon, with a shirtless pot bellied dungeon master who walks around with a red pair of tongs in his left hand and a whip in the other. While his assistants tighten prisoners on racks and shutter inmates into Iron Maidens.”
“Wow Rose you really have this dungeon vibe, down pat. Have you been writing spicy stories and holding out on me?”
“Of course not, I do not write those kinds of stories, not that I look down on people that enjoy stories like that. I believe Juliet has a library full of books like that so as I say to each his own.”
“Sure Rose, me thinks thee protest to muche”
“Alright I’m going Sparky, bye Opal see you later, honey.”
“Bye Rose.”
Tranquility 2, all the charms of Tranquility but safely out of Emain Ablach. This was the spot suit guy started for town from. Try a locate spell first.
Locate: suit guy
Didn’t really expect that to work. I’ll just have to do this the old fashioned way. I’ll need to look for him going from shop to shop, do it street by street, in a logical step by step approach. He’s not in the Alchemist shop but I found this display on Anise. It says it makes dogs more playful and energetic while it increases their interest in play by making them more stimulated. Should I get some for Lu, would it even work on a werewolf? I mean she already has a pretty healthy interest in being playful with me. If it increased her pleasure it’d be worth it.
I’m not here to shop, I need to find suit guy. I don’t want to leave Opal alone with a strange man on her first day as an apprentice. But it’ll only take a second, might as well buy a small quantity for Lu.
Wow these are cute buttons, they’d go so well with Juliet's blue gown and it’ll only take a minute.
These threads are lovely, I have to pick up a few for ma, she loves to embroider after supper. No sign of suit guy.
He wasn’t in the haberdashery but I did get a nice blue ribbon for Salome and a green one for Opal.
He wasn’t in the beekeepers shop, but I did get Sparky a big bottle of honey for his tea.
No sign of him in the quilt shop, but I got a lovely quilt for Granny, she’s so thin she’s always cold. I need to hurry up and find this guy. My arms are getting tired carrying all this stuff.
He wasn’t in the bone carvers shop but i got a nice letter opener for Eldara
The glovemaker had beautiful gloves that Paula and Lily could use as oven mitts, still no suit guy.
Suit guy was not at the bottler, but I got Nim a set of six fancy bottles for her next batch of beer. But I seriously couldn’t carry any more and this was taking too long.
I had to buy the tapestry for Ruby, I’d bought something for everyone except her. My arms are starting to ache. Still no sight of suit guy. Just where is this guy working?
I looked in the shipbuilders yard for him and no I did not buy a boat.
I wasn’t tempted in the least to buy, but I did have to hold my tongue in the ivory merchant shop. No suit guy.
This is a lovely dresser. It'd look really good in our bedroom, but the tower makes all its own furniture, and I have no way to get it to the tower. No I’m not buying it and no sign of suit guy.
There’s a tailor shop and this is the last shop I’ve seen that I haven’t already checked. He’s either in here or possibly moved on to another town. I’m carrying so many things, I can barely make it through the door. But there he is finally.
“Excuse me, is it OK if I lay these things down somewhere I’d love to have a look around but my arms are killing me.”
“Why of course, ma’am. It looks like you went on a real shopping spree.”
“Yes, I’m afraid that I got a little bit carried away. You have a lovely shop here, have you been open for long.”
“No ma’am, just a few months. When I first came to town three months ago I got a job at the Haberdashery, where I met my girlfriend. She's a clerk there. She kept encouraging me to buy out the former tailor. Finally I did and I’ve never been so happy before. Me and Jolene are even talking about getting married.”
“That’s really lovely, my name’s Rose. I’m very happy for you.”
“I’m Elijah, Elijah Schneider it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Elijah, that black suit, you wouldn’t happen to have a top hat to match would you.”
“Yes, ma’am, I’ll get it from the back, just one second.”
“Make it two top hats please, Elijah”
“Yes ma’am. Here you go.”
“Those are perfect, now if I buy two suits one for my girlfriend and another for a friend if they need to be resized?”
“I can do it while they wait, ma'am.”
“That’s perfect Elijah.” I gave him twenty gold pieces.
“Oh, no ma’am, that much too much, it doesn’t even come to ten gold, here.”
“No Elijah, the rest is tip and to pay for time with the alterations. I so appreciate the wonderful service and you’ll need that money if you’re getting married. Now if you could just help me try and get all this stuff into my hands I’d really appreciate it.”
“Here, I have an extra sack, you could put all the small stuff in there, it’ll make things a little easier to carry. Here you go, I think you have everything ma’am thank you so much for the business and the tip.”
“You're very welcome Elijah, it was wonderful to meet you. I love to see someone who enjoys their job.”
“Oh, I do ma’am I love it. Thanks again. Bye”
Somehow I managed to carry all that out of town. Then as soon as I was out of sight I jumped back to the book store.
“Well, your first day as an official apprentice, I give you an assignment. What do you do? You just decide to go shopping instead.”
“I did my assignment, and collected all of this along the way. But I can take your present back if that’s what you’d prefer.”
“Hmm, well I never said that, did I. What did you get me? Huh, Huh, What?”
“Here, Sparky, a bottle of home made Orange Blossom Honey, I thought it’d go nice with a strong black breakfast tea.”
“Why thank you, Rose, that was very thoughtful of you.”
“Your welcome Sparky and Opal, I got you a nice green ribbon for your hair and a blue one for Salome. Want me to put it on you?”
“Thank you Rose, I love green, it’s my favorite color.”
“It looks beautiful with your rainbow hair. Ruby will be jealous.”
“If she is, I'll let her borrow it sometimes.”
“You are a sweetheart, Opal.”
“OK, junior Apprentice, let the senior Apprentice finish her drawing and get over here and report.”
“Yes, Sparky. He’s doing very well.”
“Three hours you were gone and your report is four words, expand upon He’s doing very well.”
“Well he is. When he first got to town he got a job at a haberdasher. But his girlfriend who works at the same haberdasher encouraged him to open his own tailors shop. Which he did. His name is Elijah Schneider he makes beautiful suits and has beautiful manners. Most importantly he told me that he loves the job, he loves being a tailor and he's thinking of getting married.”
“So you went there, found this out, then went shopping?”
“No, his store was the last store I went into.”
“You literally called this guy, suit guy since meeting him and yet for some other reason you went into all of these other stores looking for him. When he was actually in the store that sells suits. Why didn’t you start there?”
“I don’t know, I thought I was being logical, methodological. I started in the first street and checked every store. He was wearing a suit, I didn’t know that he could make suits. You wear a robe, do you know how to make a robe?”
“Of course I know how to make a robe. Are you saying you couldn’t make a robe if you needed one. It’s basically a sheet with two round tubes attached. There now even you know how to make a robe.”
“Rose, are you alright?”
“Oh yeah, sweetie, this is just how Sparky and I interact. We’re really good friends who get into heated debates, that's all, nothing to worry about. OK, honey?”
“OK, Rose.”
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Whispering to Sparky, “Will you quit teasing me you’re scaring Opal.”
“Well you’re the one who brought up robes, not me. Why don’t you just deliver this stuff to the people it’s going to and get it out of my store. People will think we’re turning from a bookstore into some kind of weird charity shop.”
“Fine, do you want anything from the bakery?”
“As a matter of fact two dozen donuts.”
“Opal honey, what can I get you from the bakery?”
“Could I please have a slice of pizza, Rose.”
“Sure thing honey.”
“Two pairs of gloves and a ribbon that’s all you're taking to the bakery? What about the rest of this junk?”
“I’m taking the things to the bakery that I bought for the girls at the bakery. I’m not going to carry the stuff that doesn’t go there or I wouldn’t be able to carry back two dozen donuts, my arms would be filled.”
“Fine off you go, I probably see you again in three or four hours I suppose.”
“I’ll be back in ten minutes.”
“Ha.”
“You’ll see.”
It was a beautiful day in Wyldwood and I enjoyed my walk to the bakery. Ruby and Salome had their heads together at the far counter but no one else was in sight.
“Rose.” Salome yelled. “You have to hear this. Paula, Lottie and I jumped into Boston this morning and the FBI and ICE agents surrounded Paula. While she gave a speech about wasting her life working for the government and how she was complicit. But she wasn’t complicit any more, and how they could quit. Said the Orange man wouldn’t be president for long. Pick the right side. It was great. It was all over their TV’s at the hospital. Then those ICE jerks came looking for us, me and Lottie because they saw us jump in with her. They thought they had us trapped, when I just jumped us back here. I’ll bet they were mad. The TV said their ICE bosses were getting fired for letting Paula escape again.”
“Oh Honey you have to stay out of that horrible country while that man is president. Alright promise me. I gave you those powers to protect you not to have you endanger yourself.”
“Rose there is a sick boy, Lottie’s boy. Tell me you’d have said no, sorry it’s too dangerous. If you tell me that, it’ll be the first time that you lied to me.”
“Here, I bought you a blue ribbon.”
“Ah, blue’s my favorite color.”
“I know. Ruby I’ve got something for you too, but I didn’t know you were here. It’s at the book store if you want to stop by, or I'll just bring it home for you.”
Both girls said. “Thank You Rose.”
“You're both welcome. Salome. I’m proud of you for helping Lottie. I’m sorry if I overstepped.”
“You didn't, you couldn’t.” She came around the counter and gave me a big hug.
“Are Lily and Paula out back?”
“Yep they should be.”
“Would you do me a favor, I promised Sparky I’d be back in ten minutes, twenty minutes ago. Would you box up 2 slices of pizza and two dozen donuts. I’m going to duck out back and say hi real quick.”
“Sure, Rose.”
“Thanks”
Then I headed to the back yard of the bakery. They had a little backyard bakery with a professional looking outdoor oven.
“Hi Lily, hi Paula, heard you had some excitement today.”
“I had some closure today, it felt really good saying my peace then just popping away. We are done with the US, I’m all set up in England. Talbert said she’d author me a medical lab in England or that you could. But I just have this feeling that Lily already baked the cure. We just don’t know it yet. What are you doing here? I thought Sparky would be a slave driver on your first official day.”
“He needed donuts more than anything else. But I was on an errand earlier and I saw these gloves and thought they might be useful with the outdoor oven.”
“Rose, that’s so thoughtful of you.”
“Thank you, Rose”
“You're both welcome, but I have to run. I promised Sparky I’d be back in ten minutes thirty minutes ago. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
***
I picked up the donuts and pizza and hurried back to the store.
“Here’s your pizza Opal, do you want a donut before Sparky eats them all?”
“No thanks, Rose.”
“Ok, I’ll make some tea, here’s your donuts, Sparky.”
“As soon as I eat my pizza and finish my tea I’ll get rid of the rest of this stuff, except for this one suit, top hat and tapestry. If Ruby comes in, give her the tapestry all right?”
“That’s fine, just put that stuff in the back room before you go.”
***
I arrived at the library in time to see McCracken, finish his reading of the Cat in the Hat for the kids' story time.
“Hi Eldara, how did you get McCracken to do story time?”
“He volunteered and he’s really good at it, he brought all his acting skills to the reading, different voices. The kids really loved him. Next time I read to them it’ll pale by comparison. Kids are the toughest critics. They don’t mince words or worry about hurt feelings. They just tell it like they see it.”
“Ouch, so you’re saying Eldara, they’re a lot like Sparky.”
“Yep, just about the same levels of compassion.”
“I was sent to a fictional world today for a Sparky assignment and I was searching through shops for the person I was assigned to find. I found this carved bone letter opener and thought you could use it if you get an unopened book. Every once in a while that happens to me.”
“Thank you Rose, that was sweet. How are you coming with your lines for the play?”
“I play Christmas Future, basically Death, so I just point a lot and look stern, I’m looking forward to it. I got this suit for Scrooge over there, and a matching one for Lu.”
“Will Lu be wearing said suit for sexy time, top hat included. I know, I’d get Paula to wear it with a top hat included, even if she didn’t keep it on for very long.”
I blushed furiously, for being so transparent.
“Well, I have to give this to McCracken, then hurry to city hall. I have some fancy beer bottles for Nim.”
“Would you mind bringing this book? It's for Ilina and was just returned today. Her and Nim were just here yesterday so I’m not sure they’ll be back before Samhain.”
“I’d be happy to. I’ll see you on Samhain.”
“Bye Rose, Thanks”
McCracken was putting tape down on the stage, big X’s in different colors.
“What are you doing McCracken?”
“I’m putting down blocking. Everyone will have their own color, so unless they are color blind they will always be standing in the correct spot.”
“What color am I?”
“I haven’t gotten that far. The kids kinda hijacked me.”
“They kinda loved you is what I saw, I came in at the tail end. But look, you're busy and I have to go. I got suits for you and Lu today, if they need to be altered I can jump you. The tailor will alter them while we wait.”
“Wow, this is a beautiful suit, all hand stitched, this must have cost a fortune, I’ll pay you back.”
“It was dirt cheap and you don’t pay for gifts McCracken. If you want to pay me back, buy another suit from the guy he’s just starting out and he’s thinking of getting married. OK.”
“OK sure Rose thank you. It was really nice of you to think of me.”
“I bought the same suit for Lu, I thought with you playing Scrooge and him playing Marley, you were partners you might have worn the same suits to work.”
“Genius Rose, you should work in the theater.”
“Nope I read that book, I know the trouble you actors cause. Sparky is trouble enough for me. All right I have to get to town hall before they close. See you later.”
“Thanks again, Rose. Bye”
***
The Burgomaster assistant stood up when I entered.
“Hi, is Burgomaster Valen in? I have a gift for his wife and a library book for Ilina.”
“No I’m sorry Rose, he’s gone for the day, but if you give me the gift and book I’ll put them on his desk. Do you want to leave a note?”
“Not as long as Nim and Ilina get their things. That will be fine. Thanks.”
***
I wanted to hurry back to the shop, I didn’t want Opal walking home alone.
“Great, I was hoping to get back before you left.”
“We’re not leaving, Opal wants to finish her drawing and you have to do at least one character interview today. You only have two usable characters right now. So get in the back and get to work.”
“Yes Sparky”
***
“Hello, hello, my name is Rose, I’m an author and I’m doing character interviews today. Is anyone interested in being a character in my next story? Hello, hello.”
“Excuse me Rose, are you a first time author?”
“Umm no, I have a published novel and four or five short stories. Umm who are you?”
“Oh sorry I’m Deirdre Esposito, this won’t require any nudity will it. I don’t do gratuitous nudity nor overly spicy romance or science fiction or fantasy.”
“Please why don’t you tell me about yourself.”
“I’m the head of the local nurses union in my home town. This covers three of our local hospitals. I work as a nurse during the day, considering branching out to doing fiction in the evenings. I’ve only worked on one novel before, it was for a male author. We only got about fifty thousand words in when he sprung this skinny dipping scene on me. When I refused he exiled me from his novel. He kept all the pages I’d worked on and used them as background. Then he brought in a candy striper to replace me and he had her naked in a hot tub before the end of the chapter. Forced me into the background spreading my main character role from beginning of the story to the bitter end. He forced me to watch the candy striper romance the doctors that were meant for me. There I was a frozen background character with no agency.”
“I see well I’m very sorry that happened to you. It seems like I heard this exact story before from the author. He wasn’t an orange haired man was he?”
“No he was bald and he lived in his mothers basement, he was gross. I’m sure no real publisher will publish his novel. I’m sure he’ll just keep adding gratuitous nudity and sex scenes until some porn publisher picks it up then I’ll be known as the background character in the porn novel. What do you think the nurses in my union are going to have to say about that?”
“Again I’m very sorry that happened to you. What kind of novel do you want to be in?”
“I want to be in a bestseller, the money is better and even if it’s not very good it’s popular. So yes that’s what I want to be in. Are you planning on writing a bestseller?”
“I’m sure that every writer dreams of writing a bestseller, but first you have to craft a great story, find the right characters, and make sure your pacing is good. I have a tendency to rush the pacing, I usually adjust the pacing in the second draft or third draft.”
“How long did it take you to write your last novel?”
“The first draft was done in around sixty to ninety days, I finished the second draft about one and a half years later. The third draft took three years. The fourth draft was really just a polish. I finished that in less than a year. The final draft was finished in a little over two years.”
“I’m sorry, I’m not interested. I want to be the main character of a bestseller while I’m still young, I can’t wait around while you tweak your novel to death.”
“Well what about a short story, if I come up with an idea for a short story would you like to appear in that. I usually finish those up quickly, probably a week or two tops.”
“Well if you get a good idea let me know and I’ll consider it as long as it doesn’t have any gratuitous nudity and isn’t science fiction, fantasy or spicy romance.”
***
“Well Rose how did it go? Did you get any new characters?”
“No, I don’t think so, Sparky. She only wants to appear in bestsellers that are written quickly. She won’t appear in spicy romance, science fiction or fantasy. She won’t do gratuitous nudity.”
“Well at least you asked her Rose, last time you flat out refused to ask.”
“I didn’t ask, she started off with the things she wouldn’t do. She said that she appeared in a novel with a male author and at the fifty thousand word mark the author threw in a skinny dipping scene and she refused but kept her in the book as a background character.”
“That sounds just like what a writer, from my writer’s group, told me about.”
“So it really wasn’t you who wanted a skinny dipping scene?”
“No it was either Fred or Charlie.”
“Well according to Deirdre he was bald, gross and lives in his ma’s basement.”
“Yeah that’s Charlie. You dodged a bullet Rose. More interviews tomorrow. How’s the picture coming Opal, are you ready to show us yet?”
“No sorry Sparky, it's not done yet.”
“That’s OK, Opal I told you to take your time and do a good job, I appreciate you doing what I ask. Maybe you could talk to your junior apprentice and ask her to start following instructions.”
“OK Sparky, that's enough teasing for one day. Did you enjoy yourself, Opal.”
“Yes Rose, it was fun.”
“Good darling, let’s go home and see what Ruby and Lu are doing.”
