somnolescent

hour five - salvator and elyshia raid the bookstore

"Jake went in, aware that he had, for the first time in three weeks, opened a door without hoping madly to find another world on the other side. A bell jingled overhead. The mild, spicy smell of old books hit him, and the smell was somehow like coming home." - Stephen King, The Waste Lands

☾☆☽

"do you know where the nearest bookstore is?"

it was a couple of minutes before ten o'clock. that basically meant elyshia and salvator were waltzing in the middle of the street for fifteen minutes. now they were on the sidewalk (that was a lot longer than elyshia expected they would last), once again freezing their asses off. the flush of adrenaline they felt during the dance was now gone.

"yeah, of course i know where the nearest bookstore is," replied elyshia with a grin. "i've lived here for a lot longer than you have."

"great," said salvator with a nod. "but you know, that was technically a two-part question. see, the first part was answering the actual question. the second part was, i don't know, telling me where the bookstore is."

"whoa," elyshia held up her hands. "i see how you're like when you're cranky and cold."

salvator sighed, letting out a breath of, she'd like to say smoke, but that made no sense... he let out a breath of vapor. "sorry, ely. didn't really mean to snap at you. it's just too fucking cold."

"i know," elyshia agreed with a brief nod. "the problem is though, the bookstore is on the other side of town and it will literally take us thirty minutes to walk there."

salvator groaned. "seriously? do tell me you are kidding, elyshia locke."

she smiled sadly. "unfortunately not, salvator saxon."

"do you have a car or something?" he asked hopefully.

this time, ely shook her head. "no, i can't afford one. do you?"

"we wouldn't be walking around town if i had one, elyshia locke," salvator replied promptly. "well, is there a local bus system here or something?"

"yes, of course there is."

"you're doing it again," he said, a laugh escaping his lips. "answering one part of the two-part question."

"sorry," ely said with a giggle. "i'm horrible at deciphering two-part questions from one-part questions. there's a bus stop behind the coffee shop and i think the next bus comes at ten, so we better hurry."

"hurry is my middle name," salvator declared. "let's go."

they arrived just in time. the bus was pulling up to the dismal, deserted stop and elyshia and salvator raced to catch up to it. the bus doors opened, revealing a quite plump, gray-haired old man -- the bus driver who elyshia happened to know from her trips to the bookstore.

"hello carl," she said with a smile.

the man, looking half-asleep, turned to face her and smiled slightly back. "hey there darling. same stop?"