Cat and Mouse Games

Part 1

Valentines Day was a constant reminder to Alba that she was no longer a carefree teenager. Though she'd grown out of her gawky ugly stage, she still lived a solitary life with no significant other. The young woman had moved out of her parents place in town a year ago, got a cheap car, and rented a small house down a forested back road. It took half an hour to get to town, but she didn't mind being that far out. It meant not having to deal with people, and not having to act normal anymore, a welcome relief.

Once a week Alba drove into town to sell whatever products she had on hand. Usually it was cartons of chicken eggs, and in the summer she picked huge amounts of wild blueberries to sell for a steep price to those who didn't want to do the work for themselves. It made good money. Garden produce was another great seller. Whatever she couldn't use, she made a profit on.

During the winter though, Alba had nothing to do like that to pass the time. She made pies and perogies for hours and froze them for sale, but for the most part she read books that she collected from thrift stores and the reuse-it, and wrote her own fiction stories for hours on end. Alba got lost in her own imagination with nothing to stop her.

The young woman never did anything with her writing. She had no plans to publish or even let the world see it, keeping most of them hoarded away on a green memory stick, and anything written on paper in a folder in her filing cabinet.

Today felt somehow lonely as she drove to town in her car with a basket of laundry. Valentines Day. With my luck it might snow on the way home and I'll slide off the road, she thought with a roll of her eyes. Nothing good ever happened on this miserable crappy holiday. Last year she had a chimney fire that she'd managed to put out before the roof lit on fire too. The landlord would have been furious if that had happened. She learned how to clean a chimney after that.

Alba parked her dark green car in the parking lot next to the pharmacy, across the street from all of the familiar shops she liked to venture into once in a while. It was a good location to walk to anywhere you needed to go.

The laundromat was quiet today. The attendant sat at the back reading a good book, but greeted Alba with a smile. "How's your Valentines Day going?"

Alba put her hand up. "I'm single," she confirmed. "It's over-rated anyway."

"Oh, well, to each their own," the older lady replied with a little chuckle. "I'm sure one day you'll find somebody who compliments your personality."

"Sure," Alba replied with a twist of her mouth, throwing her laundry into her favorite washing machine on the end and putting the change in to get it started. "I'll be back in a bit."

"See you in a bit."

She headed down the street to the book shop to browse until her laundry was done washing, and then returned to throw it in the dryer. Now she could take her time and walk down the slushy street to the Save on Foods for a grocery shop.

I got my card, right? Alba checked her plain grey purse to find her save on more card and all of her other cards in her wallet. Her memory sticks were in there too, some cash from egg sales, and a pocket knife she'd got from her dad in twelfth grade because they were just handy to have.

I probably shouldn't keep all of my really important stuff in here. What if I lose my purse or it gets stolen? She worried, but shook her head to herself. It's always with me. It never leaves my side, so I shouldn't worry, Alba decided positively.

The supermarket was quite busy. She grabbed a basket as she wandered in and took it all in with wide eyes. It was always a guilty pleasure to be mesmerised by the supermarket consumerism. So much stuff available to be bought, yet she only ever needed a few things. It was nice to look, and observe the other people doing their shopping. Once in a while she decided to try something she'd never had before and put that in her basket.