On Our Way (indefinite hiatus)

Chapter 5

"So are we going to adopt this donkey?"
"Oh yeah."
"Well, then can you get up?"
In her laughing fit, Molly had ended up lying in the mud.
They merrily, but wearily, trudged along to the welcome centre.
"Hey! We've come full circle!" Molly exclaimed in excitement.
"Well duh, we have to exit at the same entrance. Otherwise, if we'd brought a car, we would end up exiting at a different spot our car is parked. You following?"
"Kind of. Yeah, no not really, like, at all."
"If we don't come out the way we came in, how would we find our car?"
"We didn't bring a car." Molly said, confused.
"Oh my God! I give up!" Christine huffed in exasperation. "Let's just adopt this donkey.
They strolled back into the welcome centre and walked straight up to the counter.
"Uh, we'd like to adopt a donkey."
"Oh! That's great!" the secretary flashed them a smile. "Which donkey?"
"Ah," Christine faltered, "what donkeys are available to adopt?"
"We have Eeyore, Dawn, Peanut-butter and Bardugo."
"Which one has been adopted the least?" Christine asked quickly, looking back at Molly for confirmation.
Molly smiled and nodded in affirmation. Relieved, Christine turned back to the receptionist and grinned excitedly.
"That would be Bardugo. She was the crow black one in the fourth field."
"Oh yeah, I remember her. Is whoever named it a book-lover?"
"Yes, I am!"
"You haven't read Six of Crows by any chance?" Christine laughed.
"I did, I loved it!"
"So what's your favourite book? Mine is Inkheart by Cornelia Funke."
"I loved that book, a lot of people haven't even heard of it. My favourite would have to be The Stars Above the Sky by Christine Pierce. Have you read it?"
"You could say that!" Molly burst out, before collapsing into a fit of giggles.
Caught up in the book talk, Christine had almost forgotten that Molly was standing there but recovered enough to shoot her a glare.
"You're familiar with it?" the woman asked politely, puzzled at the laughter.
"I, uh," Christine cringed. She hated doing this, "I wrote the book."
"No way! You're Christine Pierce. Oh my God, that's where I recognise you! I loved that book. It inspired me to quit my job at accounting and work with animals like I've always wanted to."
Christine was almost reduced to tears. It was always amazing when a fan told her that she changed their life. It made her feel like she was doing something, something right in the world. She shook herself out of her stupor.
"I can't tell you how much that means to me."
"So, going back to being professional," the receptionist, who, according to her badge, was called Jessie, continued, "are you going to adopt Bardugo?"
"Yeah," Christine smiled.
She filled out the forms along with Molly, who was looking quite flabbergast at the whole 'Christine-getting-recognised' thing.
They handed them in, thanked Jessie and headed for the door.
Just before they pulled it open, Jessie called for them to wait.
"Uh, this is awkward but I'll hate myself if I don't. Christine, can I have your autograph?"
Christine happily obliged.
***
During the whole bus ride home, Molly teased Christine about being recognised.
"Oh you're just jealous!" Christine joked.
But Molly could see that her heart wasn't in it.
"What's up?"
"I-I just feel so grateful that I've helped someone. It feels good to know I've done good."
"Mmm." Molly nodded thoughtfully.
The rest of the journey was spent in comfortable silence.
***
That evening was to be a writing evening, as Molly informed Christine when they arrived back at the hotel.
Instead of even bothering to power up her laptop, she took out the notebook she had bought at the donkey sanctuary.
Molly took out her script and pen and got herself comfortable on her bed.
"I've decided that one of the characters are going going to be called Jessie!" Christine announced.
"Cool," Molly replied. "Any ideas on the plot?"
"Shhh! I'm still working on that." Christine joked.
Christine was too relaxed to get frustrated at her lack of ideas. Instead, she just took out her book and started reading.
It had been too long since she had picked up a book; the reading slump had consumed her two months ago. The best way to get out of a reading slump was to buy yourself a new book that you're extremely pumped up to read. On the off chance that after you read that book you returned to your slump, buying another book was next on the agenda.
Maybe I just have a book-buying addiction, Christine thought.
Christine had just recently picked up Ruby Redfort: Blink and You'll Die by Lauren Child. She knew that the Ruby Redfort series was more middle grade but she also felt that the further on in the series, the older it got. Plus, it was the series finale and she needed to know how it played out.
The book instantly gripped her and she felt compelled to turn the page.
"So," Molly cut in and Christine could hear the grin in her voice, "how's the writing coming?"
"Oh shut up!"
"What?" Molly asked innocently.
"Look," Christine replied, "There's no point in my tearing my hair out over having no ideas. Why shouldn't I read instead?"
"I never said anything!"
"Um Molly?" Christine laughed. "You did."
"Hmm?" Molly questioned, her gaze trained on the script before her.
"Are you even listening?" an exasperated Christine wondered.
"Ya, sure, continue," Molly returned in a faraway voice that suggested she really wasn't.
"Ugh! You're impossible!"
"And that's why you love me!" Molly said cheekily, looking up from her script.
"Oh sure! Now you listen!" Christine joked sarcastically in reply.
Christine proceeded to read her book, getting lost among its many pages.
***
That night when Christine was drifting off she thought about Jessie and about how happy she was that she had touched someone's life, even if was only briefly.