Chapter 9
He didn't mean leaving leaving. When he woke me up early the next morning he told me that Jacques, and whoever else, could not come this week to bring us more food. We could go get it ourselves, but it was a long drive. The sun was not out for that many hours, and he wanted to be back before it set.
I usually didn't love early rising, but the opportunity to leave the house was exciting.
"What should I wear? What's the vibe?" I asked him, standing in my glorious closet.
"The vibe is that it's just a run to the store that happens to take us a few extra hours."
I turned around and made sure he saw me frown at his lack of enthusiasm. He was very dedicated to his schedule for that day and was getting impatient.
"Something comfortable for the car, and some good boots, okay? And a warm top and then pick a long jacket to go over all of that. Get a hat and gloves too."
"See, was that so hard?" I teased him, as I started looking through my options.
"Five minutes."
I rolled my eyes, knowing I would be taking fifteen. I picked out an all black fit, to make things easy since I would be layering. I wore a black base layer, and then added a black sweater and long coat over it. Once I was ready, I went downstairs, not finding him. He was in the driveway, walking up into the house.
"You ready?" He asked.
I nodded.
"Okay. You're not going to try anything, right Peste?"
I rolled my eyes. "I won't."
"I'm serious. And you stay close to me the whole time, okay? Do you understand?"
I nodded, getting impatient.
"Okay, let's go."
The ride was long, so so long. And all there was around was snow and trees. Even on the paved roads, there was not much of anything. The signs were in a language I didn't know, everything was foreign to me.
After over an hour, maybe two, we approached society. It was a small, rundown, grey Main Street that offered a grocery store, a church, and other businesses that I couldn't read the signs of.
Their grocery store was small, and would hardly be considered a grocery store in America. It didn't have the bright store front or signs. It was plain grey.
"You stay with me the whole time. And do what I tell you to do. Okay?"
"You're starting to freak me out. Isn't it just grocery shopping?"
"Don't freak out. Just do as I say."
"What do I get for it?"
"For what?"
"For doing as you say?" I tried to twist something out of this for myself, if he was gonna be so annoying about it.
"You don't get in trouble. How about that?" He snapped.
"Fine, okay." I grumbled.
He met me at my door, and held my hand tightly. The wind was strong, and I leaned towards him as we rushed inside.
He grabbed a basket, holding it with his free hand.
"Where should we go first? I can't read any of the signs." I asked him.
"Greta!" He hissed, in a whisper.
"What?" I said, quieter, looking around. Every other customer in sight was staring at me, at us. They all looked back down and continued on with their shopping when I noticed.
