Death in the Prettiest of Places

"What's That?" "A Gift Shop." "It's Canadian!"

R~ This sort of a in-between chapter, so not much plot action going on. More about establishing background and stuff, kinda boring. Kinder eggs though, kinder eggs!

M: Fleshing out the characters is always important. That said, friendly debate between editor and muse/draft-writer makes me cranky, and R is plain crazy. That's the story I'm sticking to. Kinder Eggs? Really? (I voted Maple Syrup, just for the cheesy, cliche irony.)

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~Natasha~
As soon as Haley and I got off the plane, Haley exploded. Well, at least her brains did. But the rest of her wasn't so quiet.

"Oooh! Lookie! It's got a maple leaf!" She chirped, while managing a fair impression of the roadrunner. I rolled my eyes at my excitable friend, and checked my phone again. My brother would be picking us up soon, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"What that?" She said pointing to a small store.

"It's a gift shop, just like the ones in the USA," I said.

"But it's Canadian!" Haley said.

"They sell the same things," I muttered. This was getting ridiculous, and the cashier was eyeing us like one might look at two druggies. Haley grabbed my arm, pulling me into the small walk-in kiosk. Haley looked around, then picked up a stuffed teddy bear with a Canadian flag printed on it's back, and a little pewter maple leaf pinned to it's ear. It actually looked like a pretty good quality souvenir.

"Do they sell this in the USA?" She crowed at me triumphantly. I rolled my eyes again.

Haley grinned at me, and put the bear back, only to grab a little velvet moose with a red-and-white striped bow around it's neck. Then a snow globe. And when that proved boring, a mug. Meanwhile, I meandered around the rest of the shop. A few postcards sat in a rotating rack, the kind you could pick up anywhere, reading 'vacation' and 'cold, eh?'. Then, something bright and flashy caught my eyes. It was mostly the same candy we had back home, but then I saw them.

The little baubles shined in their foil casings. A thought niggled at my mind. My cousin loved these, didn't she?

"Ah, what the heck?"

I grabbed the a few of the candies, and proceeded on.

The single employee was starting to look annoyed. We'd been here for nearly half-an-hour, and it was clear he was telling us to leave, or to buy something and then leave. I was just contemplating whether or not to buy a postcard featuring a snowed in car and the words 'Canadian Archeology,' when my phone gave a little jangle. It was the one I assigned to messages from my family circle.

Quick as I could, I whipped my phone out, and opened the dingy blackberry.

Br(): *Im @ airport. Where u?*

I smiled at the text. Then, thumbs racing, replied.

Ruskie-Nat: *At one of the hway-r-shops. Will be out in few min*

A few seconds later-

Br(): *hway-r-shops?*

Ruskie-Nat: *"highway robbery shops". U here or driving here?*

Br(): *@ pickup area. Hurry. I thnk mr. Mall-cop is getting angry*

Suddenly, over my shoulder appeared a wild Haley. With the speed of a raging river, the brunette snatched my phone, and took over her duties as BF. Reading my texts.