An Adventure

Chapter II

     Soph didn't know where the new man had come from, but she sensed that Al trusted this man, and so, she did too. They stayed there until closing time, and she convinced the manager to let the two of them stay a while longer, which the two were grateful for. 

     In the meantime, Soph had been working on the pipes in the shop that connected to the coffee machine itself. They always seemed to spring leaks. The person that invented something that could prevent these pipes from leaking would become a very rich man, she found herself thinking. It wasn't like it was too tedious to fix the pipes, though, as all that usually needed done was a connection to be tightened up. 

     After a while of the men talking, they eventually got up to leave, and Soph, with the shop being closed, decided to go with them. The pair was still talking and Soph didn't interrupt anywhere so she didn't bother them. She kept silent until they came upon Al's home. 

     "What with you bein' so far from yer home, I'm assumin' you don't 'ave much of a place t' stay, do ya?" Al said to the new man, whose name Soph never got. 

     "That's correct. Do you happen to know where a motel or something of the sort is that's relatively cheap?" the man inquired, looking around as if he was nervous. 

     At this, Soph spoke up, saying, "Well, sir, I don't know much about your aesthetics, but if you want, you can stay the night at my house." She looked rather nervous herself, felt nervous too, but she knew that Al could barely hold his self in the small apartment he had. Soph had always wondered why he never got anything bigger, because had the money to do so, but perhaps he just wasn't one to flaunt such things around. 

     The man looked at her, and she looked down slightly, but the man said, "That would be wonderful! If you don't mind, of course." The new man offered his hand to shake, and she took it and shook vigorously. The man chuckled, and then asked her, "So, is your name Soph, or is that just a nickname?"

     Soph answered, "Well, my name is Sophia Rosenthal, but most people just call me Soph. And what about you? I never caught your name."

     "Well, my name is Isaac Keasy Rivington," he said with a smile, and continued, "Shall we be off, then?" Soph nodded and turned around, walking off in the opposite direction from which they came.

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     Isaac took the time that the odd pair were walking to look at his surroundings. It was all familiar: the hissing steam, the innumerable amount of rivets, the brass and copper, the smell in the air of black smoke. Yet, he couldn't for the life of him remember just what he had been doing, how he got where he was. While he had never seen such things except in drawings, it was still all too familiar. 

     Soph suddenly turned and announced, "This is my home! If you're going to stay here, there's one thing that you have to know: I have a big family." With that, she turned and opened the door. Inside, it was nice: furnished well; not entirely organized but definitely workable. The walls were painted a dark shade of crimson, off-set by a sky blue shag carpet. The sound of steam was coming from somewhere lower in the house. It smelled of hazlenut, baked with a tinge of burning. For whatever reason, it blended nicely with the undertone of copper. 

     Isaac spoke up, saying, "You have a lovely home, Sophia. I do say, in all my time, I've not seen anything more impressively comfortable," at this Soph blushed, whether in embarrassment or with pride, Isaac didn't know, but he continued, "I do remember you saying that you had a large family, but I haven't heard any bustle."

     "Well, it's past the kids' bed times, so they'll all be in bed. I'm the oldest in the family. Mom and Pa should still be awake, though I imagine that they would be in their bedrooms." She bounded off down the hallway, took a turn right and disappeared from sight. Isaac sighed, wondering where kids got all of their energy. 

     When Soph returned, she was accompanied by a man with rather tall stature, large but not fat. His hair was thinning, mouse brown in color, and a little bit disheveled. Isaac assumed this was due to him having been in bed. He assumed that this man was Soph's father, though he didn't want to say so in the case that he was an uncle or something of the sort.

     "Salutations," said the man, "my name is Able Fielding Rosenthal." The man offered his hand to Isaac to shake, who obliged and shook. "Soph has told me about your troubles, and convinced me to allow you to stay here for until you can find a more suitable living space. With introductions out of the way, I have some sleeping to catch up on, so I shall see you both in the morning." he finished, walking off back toward his room, then turned and added, "Soph, if you would please show him to the guest room. " 

     Soph led Isaac to the room in silence, passing several doors. At the second to last door on the right, she turned and stopped, announcing in an intentionally high pitched voice, "This, fine sir, is your room." At this, she indicated the room in front of her. "If you need anything, I'm on the call. Unless I'm asleep. Anyway, make yourself at home!" and with that, she turned to leave. 

     After she was gone, Isaac entered the room. To his right was the switch for the light, which he flipped, illuminating the small room with soft incandescent light. In front of him was a twin sized bed, adorned with white sheets. The frame of the bed was iron, raised off of the floor, and to his right, a small desk with a lamp on it, and to the right of that was a chest of drawers. The room was painted with the same color as the rest of the house, while the desk and drawers both were a dark wood, presumably oak.

     The room was warm in a sleepy way, and the smell in the room made him that much more tired. He took off his coat, laying it on the chair in front of the desk. He sat on the bed, then laid back, and as soon as his head hit the pillow, was asleep.

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Finally got an update to this story. I'll be writing it in bulk now, so think of this as a teaser. Not any worse than DBZ. 

-yonkmit000