The Iron Predators, Part I [SAMPLE]

Chapter 2

ELLIE

The next morning, I woke up feeling more rested than I've been in a while even though it was only 6:30 am. I took a shower, got dressed and made a cup of coffee before heading out. I've made it a bad habit to skip breakfast and mom always nags me because I'm already skinny.

Since I don't have a car, I walk into town. It's only about 2 miles and it's warm and sunny, so it doesn't bother me. After Gramps have had the surgery, he's not going to be able to drive for about 8 weeks, so he told me I can borrow his truck during that time.

It's a small town with a few shops on each side of the main street. I walk past a pretty big bar and a few small stores before I get to Gramps grocery store that's on the corner of a crossing street. He's just opened and the doorbell rings when I enter.

"Morning, Gramps."

"Hi, Ellie," he says walking out of the storage room. "Did you have a good night's sleep?"

"Better than in a long time," I say smiling.

"Good to hear, good to hear. So, we can get started right away. I'm going to show you where everything's at, and when Pete gets here, we can go up to my place for a while and go through the schedule and other paperwork."

Pete is Gramps only employee. He's going to retire in 6 months, but has promised Gramps to come in and work once in a while if needed.

After a while, the doorbell rings and Pete walks in.

"Morning, Pete. This is my granddaughter, Ellie," Gramps says gesturing to me. He has already told Pete all about me. I'm his pride and joy and I know he's been bragging about me and my old store. Pete also knows about the bad parts. I don't think Gramps has told him everything in detail, but he knows enough just in case I have some kind of setback. I had nightmares and panic attacks a few months after everything happened, but I've been doing good for a while now.

"Hi, it's nice to finally meet the famous Ellie," he says shaking my hand.

"I'm hardly famous," I say smiling.

"Well, your Gramps here is your biggest fan and always talks about you."

"And I'm his biggest fan," I say putting my arm around him.

"Oh, stop it! I'm blushing," Gramps jokes. We laugh and go back to what we were doing.

When we've gone through everything in the store, Gramps ask me if I can go to the café and buy us some coffee and bagels before we go upstairs and go through the paperwork. I gladly do so. I need a break and some fresh air.

I go into the café named Buns and Beans and order everything. "Hi, I would like two black coffee's, one cappuccino and three bagels, please."

There's a woman with long blonde hair, about my age, behind the counter. "I haven't seen you here before," she says with a warm smile while making the coffee. "Are you new to town or passing through?"

"I'm Henry Walker's granddaughter. I'm here to help him with his store since he's doing a hip surgery."

"Yeah, I heard about that. So, how long are you staying?"

"Three months for starters, but I haven't decided yet. I might be staying longer."

"That you should. We need more women in this town. Far too much testosterone," she says chuckling.

I laugh a little, not knowing exactly what she means, but I guess the female population isn't the same amount as the male.

"There you go," she says giving me everything I ordered. "It'll be $14."