Someday - A Short Story

Someday: Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

A Life is Nothing More Than a Series of Confusing Dreams

I RAN AND JUMPED over fifteen buildings today. They were all tall buildings, except for the last building which was the drugstore, where I jumped down. It only had one level, so jumping down was easy. The personnel at the drugstore stared at me as if I were a monster that just came out of another dimension. Well, I wouldn’t blame them, after all, I would have probably reacted the same if some guy suddenly jumped down in front of the building where I was working, holding a near-dead, rare albino swallow, and suddenly asks for a wooden stick, bandages, and anaesthesia.

“Thanks,” I said to the cashier as I pocketed the stick, bandages, anaesthesia, and my change.

“Cer-certainly,” the pretty, brown haired cashier stammered. “Come again.”

After leaving the drugstore, I walked across the street and went inside the pet shop that was a few meters away to buy the bird feed for the swallow in my right hand.

Upon entering the shop, an old, balding man wearing thick glasses walked over to me and welcomed me into his shop, asking me if I’d like to take home a snake or salamander or komodo dragon, to which I politely replied, “No thanks man, I’m here for some bird food.”

“Ah, bird food. What kind?” the old man asked me, smiling.

“For a small swallow,” I replied. “One hundred grams.”

“No, my boy, you don’t swallow bird food!” the old man raised his hands in front of him and waved them vigorously.

“No,” I replied smiling, “I meant, the bird, swallow.”

“Ah. I see, I see,” the old man rubbed his hands together as he turned to walk away.

As I followed him, I looked at the animals inside the cages. There were basilisks, dragons, phoenixes, and swamp monsters. No, just kidding. There were generic domestic cats and dogs, several fish, rabbits, gerbils, hamsters, and everything else you’d normally see in a pet shop. Except for customers. The only people in the shop right now were me and the owner. This shop was located at a busy street, so I wondered why there were no customers.

As the old man placed the bird food into a plastic, I asked him, “This shop is located at a busy street, right?”

The old man looked up and replied, “Hm? Ah, yes. Why do you ask?”

“Why don’t you have any customers here at this time?”

“Fewer and fewer people take home pets these days,” he replied sadly. Then, brightening up, he said, “Since you’re the first person to come in a long time, I’m giving this bird food to you for free.”

I looked at the plastic and noticed that the man placed more than twice the amount I asked. “I can’t do that.”

“No, I’m happy you dropped by,” the old man smiled as he held the bird food out to me.

“Well, I should at least pay for the one hundred grams,” I said as I got the change from my pocket.

The old man refused to take the money, but I placed it on the counter anyway.

As I was about to leave, the old man called out, “Come again!”

I waved my goodbye and headed for my next destination, the grocery.

“So... What was Aika’s favourite food again?” I asked myself. “Uh... chicken?”

Deciding that Aika’s favourite food was anything with chicken, I got a cart and started to go around the grocery to get the ingredients that I needed.