This Bird

28-09-'13

For a change, I'll start the story where it starts, which is in a small, independant bookshop, a little end down the road.

I'll be honest and say I don't visit that often and if I do I'll mostly jazz about in the comic/grafic novel section. I'm just not as much of a reader as I'd like to be. I just don't have the patience. I knew something had changed when I walked in that one morning. There was something different, although I didn't really see what. I had come to buy a certain book as a present for a friend of mine, who's name won't be relevant to this story. I was walking through the aisles of books, as suddenly, through a small gap between two bookshelfs, I saw a flash of red. Well, it was not exactly red. More of a orange, blood-orange like colour. And in the same time it was gone. Curious I took a step back to look through the gap again. Nothing but books. I knew exactly which one to get. I must say that my friend and I don't really share a taste in stories. Where I am more about the monster and creatures, be is all about history. Now, I'm not mocking history. History is grate. Gave us wars and that kind of jazz. All great stuff. It's just that I don't see the point in telling a story that could happen to me. I might also want to tell you this was around the time when the idea for The Forever Train came to be.

I walked toward the check out as I spied for the dash of orange I'd seen before. It was no where to be seen. The lady who served me also seeme to be looking for it, as she kept looking in the direction I just came from. I bended slightly over, trying to see what exactly she was looking at.
"Sir?" She spoke, drawing my attention back to her. "Is it a present?"