"Run!" Genevieve shouted. Like a dart they took off, sprinting down Whiskey Row dodging people and trash cans. She dared a look behind to see if they were still being followed, they were. Genevieve yanked on her friend's arm and pulled him into St. Michael's Hotel. There was a passageway that led out to Gurley through the hotel. "I don't suppose we can stop at the bookstore, eh?" She asked her friend Victor with a smile on her face,
He laughed "I don't know we might be able to at the speed you can sniff out any Tolkien books." She laughed as they continued on through the hotel, out the door, down the stairs, and onto Gurley Street. They turned left and continued running. Half-way to the next block they heard shouting and laughing in the background. Genevieve dared not look behind and instead pumped her legs and arms faster, attempting to muster as much speed as she could. Finally they were at the end of the block, skidding around the corner with Victor right behind her she giggled.
"I can't believe we are running away from my meddling elderly neighbors in downtown Prescott. Of all the ways I saw today panning out, this was not it." Victor chortled. The morning had started with them opening up Genevieve's fairly new bakery, 'Gluten-free guaranteed' she called it. She and Victor had innocently decided to go and get coffee, leaving a couple of her employee's there to assist any early customers. They had gone to a local organic restaurant that had the best coffee in town and were walking around the Court House square when she saw them- her neighbors.
Last year her neighbors, Judith and Thomas, had thrown a Halloween party where Genevieve and Victor had accidentally won the costume contest together. All her neighbors and family had assumed that just because she had brought a couple of guys to the party, she must be romantically involved with at least one of them. So they voted her and Victor for the winners in the costume contest, even though their costumes were not even slightly related. Ever since then it had been a topic of endless elation for everyone involved.
So there they were, running away from the encroaching elderly neighbors, back to the bakery. Just as it was coming into sight Genevieve was yanked off the sidewalk and into the parking garage. It was her friend Janesa. Victor stopped, seeing Genevieve and Janesa, and followed them into the parking garage. "You guys can't go in there." Janesa said "It's packed."
"With who? It's only 10 o'clock" asked Victor.
"Everyone, Gene's neighbors, Shelly, the regular customers. Even Hannah and Shawn can't cope with it." rattled off Janesa.
"But why? Did Thomas and Judith tell everyone something?" question Genevieve thinking perhaps the neighbors they had been running from were planning something.
"I don't know, but it's a madhouse in there." answered Janesa.
"Well we have to go and deal with this; we can't just let it go." Victor decided.
The bakery was near its breaking point full of people when the three friends walked in. Genevieve sighed, at least there was one small relief, her step-grandmother Shelly was talking to a regular customer and did not see her and Victor walk in together. That would only cause Shelly to gossip more. Even though they hadn't been spotted by her step-grandmother a seemingly flustered customer had seen her. "Do you have any real food here miss? All they," he asked, pointing towards Hannah and Shawn "keep telling me is that everything in the store is gluten free."
"I'm sorry sir, but this is a dedicated-" Genevieve was cut off by an old lady whom had previously been talking to Shelly. The old woman surprisingly forcibly pushed her over towards Victor who had managed to finagle his way over to the counter back by the kitchen. "What the heck!" she cried.
Shelly looked over at Genevieve, smiled and gave a little wave. More people were pressing on her now. There were far too many people in her little shop. She was jostled farther back towards the kitchen as another customer tried to reach her to talk to her about something.
"Excuse me ma'am, I was wondering what flour you used to bake your delicious cookies?" There was one of the bakery's top selling chocolate chip cookies in their hand.
She didn't even get a chance to answer before one of her neighbors forced people out of the way to chat "I just wanted to say, I think this Victor boy is very nice."
Genevieve was back in the kitchen now. Her friends and employees were all but lost to her in the crowd. People were talking over each other now, mostly trying to get to her. Finally she had enough; she jumped up on one of the tables that was next to a large mixer currently full of chocolate chip cookie dough. "EVERYONE!" she shouted. That drew a few faces, but it was so loud in the shop, most people remained talking. All it had really managed to accomplish was drawing more people close to her asking more questions.
"What is gluten exactly?" She heard someone ask.
"So when are you and Victor getting married?" Another asked
"Young lady, get your dirty feet off the food preparation surface." A different person said, yanking on her ankle. Genevieve lost her balance and toppled backwards. Her head landed right in the currently operating mixer, one of the beaters hit her head multiple times as it went around. She tried to get up, but the mixer had now gotten her hair tangled around it. Her hair was too thick, the beaters twirled around faster and faster, causing the tension on her neck to increase resulting in a loud snap. The shop went quiet.
