Curious

Chapter one

Curiosity, it's quite a odd thing. It can bring people to go to strange places, with their noses to the ground whist occasionally tasting the ground. Not that Kira hated turning into a dog at the sight of a mystery. It just scared the neighbours off.

On a street where the only mystery was what the bakery put in their meat pies, it was fine to say Kira was often bored. Her eyes were used to glazing over as the town went on as always. Mark, the local sunspot, giving Kira's best friend a run for her money trying to win him Over by mystery pies. The baker stealing misc meats from travellers and the local Woolworth's preparing his next meal. Florists hiding the roses carefully picked from local fields from the temperamental sun. Arguments over the occasional leadership role would rise, but quickly resolve as Mark would put his hand up.
Day in, day out.

On one morning Kira woke up, her nest of hair housing egg sized knots. Careful to climb over her flood of clothes on the floor, she wandered to kitchen. Jammed some toast then bit it. 'Curious' she thought as she opened her window. Her cat, puddles, walking in.

He rubbed against her arm quickly. His dappled coat velvety on her arm. The cat licked the sweet toast, causing Kira to quickly pull away to finish the meal.

Kira's eyes slipped out the window, her mind repeating. 'Curious' not that she was Alice in Wonderland but in that moment all she could think was that. A single word that caused her doglike cheer to arise. Curious. She picked up a outfit from the floor and slipped it on, quickly heading outside. Her neighbour, the Wests, smiled whist their little terrier wandered over to the garden to his daily piss on her garden. Today though the dog seemed to be extra desperate today, plonking a load of feces on the edge of her garden. She grumbled wandering outside.

"Aren't you guys gonna pick up after your dog?" She pointed to the pile. Careful to sidestep around it.

They simply laughed, "oh, don't mind Cocoa. She's simply being cheeky this morning. Must 'ave eaten too many treats recently, cheeky girl." Mrs. West cheered, lifting the newspaper from her well manured porch.

"Will aren't you going to pick up after your 'cheeky girl'?" Kira certainly wasn't keen on cleaning her recently cut garden. Let alone cleaning it after someone else's problem. She didn't want the damn dog.

Mr. West chuffed a laugh, sitting on his veranda seat. The wooden rocking chair speaking under his weight. "It's not our property dearie, it's not our problem."

She grumbled, stomping back into her home to find two plastic bags. Quickly coming to clean the garden. As she picked up the feces with the plastic bag glove into the other bag she spotted something. The grass was layed like a cake, flakes of misc brown mixes lay on a solid object.
Edges of the pieces seemed to shine in the morning sun. Suddenly noticing her face closer to the ground then desired she perked up. She chucked the feces into the nearest bin.

"Morning Kiara," Mark struck his usual wink at Kira, causing her face to go a deep red. Not that she cared for him in any way beyond a friend, but a boy everyone considered attractive constantly being kinder then average to her. It still got her. "Doing morning cleaning?"

"Ass," she walked closer to him. Her hands still dirty, "want to take over my job?"

"No, no no no." He attempted to run from the obviously-worse-then-onions hands. Jogging backwards down the path. "Dog shit is one step beyond my resume."

"Is it?" Kira grabbed his shirt.

He instantly closed up, his face turning into a sweaty prune. A sludge seemed to fill the air. "Yeah," his voice was a desert, "it is."

Kira released his shirt from her grasp. No fun at all, every time she attempted to play with him he always shut down. As if the power left his batteries and she was the one that ripped them out. "So what did you want to bug me about?"

"Wanna get a pie later?" Marks blue eyes looked at the blank sky. He rocked on his feet.

She stepped back. "Sure, okay. But don't get excited. I'm only going since you asked every day this week."

"Every day?" He shook his head. "I didn't ask last Monday though or..."

"Stop before your inner stalker comes out," Kira walked back to the layered grass. "Do you care to define later." Careful to step on it without a sound.

"How about 12?" His voice chimed.

"Well...see you later then 'prince charming.'" Kira dusted off her shoulders. A chuckle leaving her mouth.

With a look equal to a 5 year old during Christmas, he skittered away. His hair normally used to touching the sky like a mountain, collapsing used the words.

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted the Mr.West chuckling as his wife brought him breakfast. The tray of croissants filled with jam and a large cup of coffee. "Be kind on him Kira, it's very scary at the other end."

"Not any better at the 'being stalked' side," she stomped her foot the dumpy ground. A pleasant ding resonating back. So she took a note, 'metal object, front garden. Under morning dog feces.' "Why do you bother ease-dropping anyway?"

"It's adorable to see young people falling in love." Curious old bastard. "Besides It's cheaper then paying the bloody electrical bills for T.V."

She stifled a laugh. Slowly moving forward to the footpath, she spotted the quiet road slowly swimming with people. "See you West."

Without a second word she jogged to the local shops, passing her neighbours. The little road of Lydford Street was awake with the new strike of summer. Flowers were in full bloom, their amber crust edges awaiting autumn. Everyone went on with their day like ants, the anticipation of local festivals reaching everyone. Ribbons lined trees, the occasional young couple walked through. Lydford was the quietest street of the neighbourhood, but the neighbourhood was nothing short of chaos. Messy, troublesome chaos.
Not in Kira's favour.

As she passed by the last house on the lane her mind wandered back to the metal in her front yard. There were many possibilities of it's being. It could be a licence plate that some idiot buried in her yard, something for a festival. Many festivals often included odd items, like the Sun Celebration the town seemed to always celebrate for some reason. It often included intricate items designed for copious amounts of weird food. A underground battery charging up for aliens? No. Too absurd. Maybe the idiot Mark had it to stalk her, no, one step too far. One thing was certain though, it was certainly curious.

When Kira reached the shopping strip her wandering mind caused her to almost miss her friends bakery. As she wandered in she was greeted by a over enthusiastic wave from Emily. Her navy apron was covered with flour while her blonde hair was tied in a high pony. She rushed from behind the counter to Kira, jumping into a hug. "Morning Kira!!!"

"What's the occasion?" She tried to slowly pry her friend off her. Ignoring the smell of unknown meats coming from her.

Emily pushed off her then grabbed Kira's hand. "The Echidnas are going to preform in The Sun Festival! How great is that?"

"Awesome," she cheered. Taking a second to celebrate with her friend before recollecting herself. "Mark is coming here to have a pie with me later, wanna crash the party?" She put her hands in her pockets, clicking her tongue.

"Kira. Why are you so against dating Mark?" Emily's voice went cold. Quickly sitting both of them down by a nearby table.

She raised her hands up, "simply not interested in him besides, nice guys are all the same."

Emily let out a deep sigh, shaking her head before getting up and heading behind the counter again. "Believe what you want Kira."

She snorted in resort. Quickly getting out her notebook and pen, the familiar face of a cartoon hamster in space greeted her as she opened the cover. Her mind wandered as she spun her pen around. What was that metal thing in her yard? Pipes? As she wrote the word down she remembered that the object was flat. Promptly she crossed it out.

UFOs? That would certainly be weird AND noteworthy, but no. It didn't quite seem alien enough. Maybe some historic artefact worth thousand. No more cafe working if that was the case, she smiled relaxing into her chair at the idea.