𝙍𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙨 𝙄𝙣 𝙎𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚

First Encounters

Lizzy breathed in the fine summer morning. 

6 am and the sun was swiftly rising and brightening into a baby blue that assured a sunny day.  The air was quiet and the apartment complex was still asleep. She was alone with the birds. within her was a good feeling about the today. She could feel the optimism and potential as she made her way to the beaten up Volkswagen that sat outside her apartment. Down the concrete steps, and to the covered parking lot , she twirled her keys in her hand and punctuated each step with a jangle. 

Many people doubted Lizzy . After leaving her waitress job in the town of Richland, located just outside Jackson, Mississippi - she had finally managed it . She had escaped and left behind a racist grandmother and her smelly blankets , as well as the gossiping ladies down at Grits and Coffee : the local breakfast joint. 

There was an irony to the name . Richland . 

The place where people go when they ran out of money and lost all aspiration in life, but that was not Lizzy. She knew she wanted more than a trucker husband and so she followed her heart to Seattle. The musical epicenter: the beautiful, stinky, Seattle . Where the pizza was amazing and opportunity reeked like its gutters on a humid day. Where people came when they couldn't make it in Hollywood but still needed a taste of fame . The stepping stone between being nobody a star. This was better than Mississippi , in fact ANYTHING was better than Mississippi . 

She got into the silver car and started the ignition. It spluttered and died out. " goddammit, wont you start?!" she slapped the dashboard and turned the key once more. The car started. She adjusted the mirror and her rose colored rosary beads swayed from the motion. She backed out and turned the corner , heading to 'Billy B's Records and Blues' the record shop Mr Billy Bones had kindly given her upon her arrival 6 months ago. 

She passed old broken buildings, graffiti , oh, the high rise buildings and changing traffic lights. The stream of people upon sidewalks and the multitude of savory aromas escaping underneath restaurant doors. But what she liked the best was the music stores. the record shops , the instrument shops the shops that sold nothing but second hand amps and speakers. Her eyes had lit up when she walked into Billy B's , and luckily for her , he was in on that specific day.

- 

At the shop :

* Lizzy enters the front door which alerts Billy B to her arrival*

Billy B: " why hello sugar, how did the traffic treat you?" 

Billy B was a boisterous man with dark chocolate skin that seemed to glow magically under the florescent lights . His laugh would often fill the long and narrow shop and anyone who came in would most certainly leave with a new record and a smile. He had owned ' Billy B's Records and Blues ' for about 15 years and it showed on the crevices of the walls. there were cobwebs on the corners and the walls had yellowed significantly. This was visible as the a Pink Floyd poster had fallen earlier to reveal a pristine white rectangle . Lizzy made a mental note to put it back up.

Lizzy : " Mornin' Billy. Not too bad, and guess who stopped for coffee?" she smiled cheekily. 

Billy : " did you get my favorite?" 

Lizzy : " why I could have sworn I did ! Americano?"

Billy's face fell, "woman, you know I love my vanilla foam!"

Lizzy : " only joking! can't you smell it ?" she handed him a cup from the cardboard cup holder. " one vanilla with extra foam" 

Billy : " oh that's the good stuff"

Lizzy : "You know it "

She dropped her handbag behind the counter and checked into her shift. She walked over to the door and flipped the sign over.