Part 10; Something is going on here

Olivia, continuing to message their spines’, started piling the quieted books back in the box. Olivia left the box to crawl around on the floor looking for other escaped books. Monster Books were hiding everywhere.
Almost every book shelf now had a little monster protecting their new found territory with vigor. It was one thing to know that stroking their spines calmed them, but it was another to actually stroke their spine. That was the spot they worked their hardest to not expose and the only way they were distracted from that objective was if they were biting something, like some ones hand. By the time the last book was back in the box Tim and Olivia looked they had barely escaped a runaway train. Olivia’s blouse was untucked and she managed to get on ink stain on her grey pencil skirt. Tim’s glasses were crooked on his nose and his remaining tufts of hair were standing on end. Both had managed to have scraps and cuts covering their arms and hands, and Olivia’s exposed legs.
Rad swiped his head to one side, brushing his fingers through his bangs and looked as cool as he ever did. “Whoa! That was knurly, straight out of Harry Potter. Where did you get those books from?”
Olivia was leaning up against the A book shelf next to Anne of Green Gables. “Oh Scholastics just sent them to us. Pretty nasty joke.”
Tim, out of breath, sitting at an empty spot against the wall, gasped, “Remind me to call and thank them. Those were so realistic. I didn’t even see were the battery went in.”
“Psychedelic man.” Rad started back into the store, “Well, I am almost done putting the front desk stack where they need to go, I’ll come back for a stack to move to the floor. Glad I could help.”
Olivia sat up. “Well I guess we should get these out to the floor. I hope there are no other Monster Book of Monsters lurking in another box.”
“No, but I have a feeling we haven’t seen the last of them in this room.”
“You think we could have missed some.”
Tim grunted as we got up off the floor. “Oh we defiantly missed some.”
Olivia opened a box and looked through a few books, then turned to Tim, “Alright, where is the clipboard?”
Tim clipboard had everything on it. Olivia and Tim would be lost without it. Tim picked up the clipboard from the floor where he had been laying earlier. The papers that were on it were bitten to shreds. Olivia started laughing and Tim followed suit. Grabbing the clip board Olivia said, “I can print off today’s order hold on a second.”
She left the store room and walked into the book store. Out of the corner of her eye Olivia thought she saw a man dressed up as a pirate sitting in one of the overstuffed chairs that leaned up against some of the shelves. She turned and sighed, there was nothing there. As she walked across the store back to the office, she thought about the day. “First I am late. Then the cat, Mike going to Egypt, Mike’s going to Egypt.” Her thoughts almost stayed on Mike, but she forced them to vear back on track, “then Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, the man, the books. Something is wrong.” These events spread across a few months might be acceptable, but all in one day. She didn’t like it. Olivia walked into the office and sat at the desk. She turned to the computer sitting to the right and looked for the file with the days order and were everything goes. She kept thinking about all the people in her store, but there was nothing to do about it. She couldn’t just kick everyone out. But why were all of these odd characters in her store and have of them fictional. She immediately dismissed the question, but her mind wouldn’t let it go. “But what about Sherlock this morning, or the boy with the vocabulary of Webster dictionary reading an a thousand page chapter book?”
A jolt of shock went through her, the little boy. She had forgotten all about him! So lost in thought Olivia didn’t even finish printing off the order. She paced to the aisle she left him at and he was gone. Olivia started racing down between the book shelves looking for him. The melodic passing of the book shelves made her a little dizzy as she walked up and down the store looking in each overstuffed chair, bench and cranny. Sam was at the front desk again putting price stickers on a new pile of books. Olivia passed the desk for the third time looking frantic, “Olivia what are you looking for?”
Olivia came up to the front desk and leaned against it, “Did you ever see a little boy leave here.

Part 9; The Monster book of Monsters

Olivia folded her arms tighter to her chest, “Well, two months isn’t that long.”
The room was stiff and cold. Mike put a hand on his side and rubbed behind his neck, “It could be up to six months, if it goes well.”
Olivia nodded her head. She took a deep breath and sat back down. “How about we talk about this in another meeting?”
Mike smiled and said, “Ok. We have to tell them soon if you are coming. The newspaper offered to pay your way and mine. And I was able to postpone the departure date back a month.”
Arms still folded and tilting her head to look at Mike she asked, “When would you leave?”
“A month and two weeks from now.”
Olivia repeated, “A month and two weeks? How could I get ready to go in a month and two weeks?”
Mike leaned down again squeezing her arm. “Look I could tell Craig never mind. I would love to still travel, but I have known in my heart if I ever wanted a family I would have to settle down. Maybe this is a good time to start.”
Olivia shook her head, “Let’s just put a hold on any decision making.”
With his hand still on Olivia’s shoulder, Mike stood up. “I guess I had better go then.”
Mike waited for Olivia to stand up, but she didn’t move. He walked around the desk and picked up this dish he left on the chair and put it in the trash. “Will I see you tonight?”
Olivia looked at him, “Of course.” She stood up, walked around the desk and put her arms around Mike’s neck. Mike had said once that she didn’t show her affection very physically. It wasn’t that she wasn’t physical, it just wasn’t the way she showed affection as often, but she was working on it, and when she did show physical affection she was about quality. She gently rubbed his hair line across this neck and leaned in with a kiss. Mike put his arms around her waist, then on her mid-back then on her arm. Olivia might not give him physical affection often, but when she did she made it worth his wile. She leaned back out, with her feet flat on the ground. “I still, you know, love you.”
Mike felt a little giddy and his wide grin showed it. “I love you.”
“Well then I will see you tonight.”
“Good.”
With that, Mike gave her one last good bye peck and headed out the door.
Olivia collapsed into her lazy boy chair. Egypt. For up to six months. In a month and two weeks. How was this ever going to work? Could she really leave to store for two months, none the less six? How would Tim respond to that proposition? She would have to hire someone else to help. Would she have the money to do that?
Suddenly a laugh like a barking dog echoed from the store.
Mark came up to the open door. He leaned on the door way sounding a little out of breath. “Olivia you may want to come see this. We tried to get him to leave, some homeless guy wondering the aisles.”
Olivia lifted herself off the chair and followed Mark out of the office to the front of the store. Near the large glass entrance, a man in a green coat covered in dirty it almost looks brown, gloves and a torn jeans was mindlessly pacing, repeating, “Bookbag, pocketshoe.”
Sam was standing a few feet away, trying to get his attention. “Sir, sir.”
Mark stood off to the side and Olivia stood next to Sam. Sam sighed. “I don’t when he came in I didn’t see him. I left him alone when I first noticed him, then he started laughing hysterically and hitting himself. He stopped as suddenly as he started.”
Olivia made her own attempts to get his attention. “Sir.” He made no response. “Sir?” This time Olivia gently put a hand to him arm, “Sir.”
The man looked at Olivia. At first Olivia wasn’t sure what to say now that she hadn’t gotten his attention but she said, “Is there something I can help you with?”
He asked, “What was the burn scale today?”
Olivia turned to Sam who shrugged her shoulders, then Mark who did the same. Olivia turned back to the man, “I am unsure.”
His look was piercing and made Olivia a little uncomfortable. He said, “They should have had the dome up.”
Olivia hadn’t moved her hand yet. She tried again. “Look, do you need a taxi or a bus, I would be glad to help...” Olivia trailed off as the man had started walking away muttering, “Bookbag, Pocketshoe.”
Olivia muttered, “First a cat, now a man.”
Sam walked up beside her and whispered, “What should we do?
“I guess, just let him roam. If we have trouble with him at close we can call the police.”
“Ok.” Sam watched him pacing the front window.
“I have a few more things to do in my office. Keep an eye on him.”
“What if he starts laughing and hitting himself again?”
Olivia started walking to her office, “Let’s worry about it when we get there.”
As she passes the fiction section, she sees a boy no more than eight, sitting on the floor, back up against a self and a heavy book propped up on his legs and looking intently at it. Olivia stopped short. She just stared then walked down the aisle. She crouched down next to the boy and asked, “Is that a good?”
The boy said sharply, “Yes.”
“What book is it?”
With a thick British accent he answered, “The Papyrus”
Despite her worry about why an eight year old boy who should have been in school was sitting by himself in the fiction section of her store, the curiosity of his book caught her more, “Really? Are there any good pictures?”
“No stupid, you have to go to the little kids books for that.”
Olivia was taken aback, “Well then what’s The Papyrus about?”
“It is an invigorating tale about a papyrus with a legendary Egyptian curse on it that a nefarious Pharaoh used when unpleased with his subjects that a clumsy archivist and curator finds and accidently uses which brings him an awful lot of trouble. Now, Elliot is about to have his head nicked off by some Nile guards, so if you wouldn’t mind I would like to keep reading.”
“I see. Well, where are your parents.”
He shrugged and said snootily, “How should I know? Probably trying to find a school to fit me special needs.”
The homeless man walked by the aisle while Olivia stood up. “What’s your name?”
The boys head was stuck back in his book, “Who wants to know?”
Olivia was running out of patients, “I want to know. Now, what’s your name?”
He looked up at her, “None of your business.”
“Well we will just see about that.” Olivia walked off a said under her breath, “I will just make it the policies business.”
Tim stopped her dead in her tracks, the clipboard he was holding almost jabbing her in the stomach, “Olivia the order of books came in. You have to come see this.”
Olivia pointed a finger at the boy, “You stay there.”
He stuck his tongue at her and Olivia walked off. “Tim, this had better be good.”
Tim was walking quick pace in front of her, “Well not exactly bad news.”
They walked to the other side of the store opposite the office to the back wall, they was a book with a home printed sign reading “Restricted Area” and in parthesis (enter at your own risk), which unfortunately invited more entry then not. What can you expect from a store full of avid readers? But Olivia had not gotten around to changing it. Behind the doors was a rectangular room lining the back of the store and stopped where the office started. Along the back wall where piles of boxes, each one of them filled with books, the other walls were more book shelves. It looked like a smaller book store but less organized. Above every pile of box was a home printed paper stuck on the wall with scotch tape with two dates with a dash between them, making each pile look like a little tomb stones and each book shelf had a letter printed on the side. On the wall to the left was a papers taped to the wall each with a list of two or three publishers. Olivia and Tim didn’t turn but walked the rooms short width and to a door that went directly out side. The door lead to a cement landing where trucks backed up to deliver books. The back was basically an alley way, wide enough to be a four lane highway that was flanked by stores and an apartment complex. Olivia always felt bad for the apartment renters who’s only view was the graffiti and colorful language on the garage of the liquor store two doors down.
“Ok Tim what’s the deal?”
A truck was backed up to the landing and the doors of the truck were open, two men with sleeves cut at the arm, one with a tattoo of a heart and the words Mom in the middle and the other with greases hair slicked to one side were in the truck pilling boxes on to carts. Tim pointed at a box already sitting on the landing.
“Look at the box. I don’t think we order it.”
Olivia looked at the box and read out loud, “The Monster Book of Monsters. Enchanted Books Inc.” Olivia started laughing, “Must be a practical joke from Scholastic.”
Olivia took a step toward it and Tim put his hand out to stop her. “Wait!” he pointed dramatically to the box, “Watch.”
Olivia rolled her eyes and folded her arms. Nothing happened. She turned to Tim. “Keep watching!”
Just when Olivia was about to go inside, she jumped back as the box jiggled, then jiggled again much harder, moving it an inch across the landing.
“Oh my,” Olivia clenched her chest, she started laughing again, “This is a good one.” Olivia stopped one of the men walking outside the propped open down leading a cart. “Make sure this one,” she pointed to the moving box, “goes inside too.”
Olivia walked back inside and started moving boxes on the wall under the sign with Scholastic. Tim followed, “You are just going to bring it inside, when I saw it maving I told them to leave it out.”
“Tim what’s going to happen? I am sure it is just in good fun. Now start looking through some of these boxes. We have a second order coming in we need to make room for.”
Tim put aside his clipboard and did as he was told, but it did not stop him from talking. As he started opening boxes he said, “What if it is a practiacal joke from some open who doesn’t like us?”
Olivia eyed him, “Tim we are not mafia or the government, who would want to hurt us?”
Tim shrugged, “I don’t know stuff happens every day.”
“Tim. It is probably some battery operated thing making it move.” Tim had a book in his hand he had picked up out of a box and was putting on his glasses. Tim looked at Olivia over the top of them. He said nothing. Just raised an eyebrow.
Putting down a box Olivia whipped her hand together and said, “Fine I will prove it to you.”
She grabbed Tim’s box opener and moved over to the box rocking next to the door. Before the she could get to it, the man with the slicked hair handed her a pen, and shoved a clipboard under nose. “Would you sign for these, lady.”
Olivia took the clipboard. “Did we get everything, Tim?
Tim had picked up his clip board and looked down his list “And more.”
Olivia signed and gave the board and pen back to the men, he said thanks and gave a suspicious look at the moving box.
Olivia rubbed her hands together. “Ok, now to prove that this is a harmless box.”
Tim pleaded, “Olivia haven’t you read enough to know not to open the mysteriously shaking box. Let’s just destroy it now and skip the adventure part.”
“Well how would any adventure begin?”
She put the blade to the tape and sliced. She carelessly opened the box. Olivia burst into laughter. Sitting quietly in the box was indeed The Monster Book of Monsters quaking, with teeth, eyes and all. “Wow, they went to hard work. These look so real.”
Tim seemed a little more relaxed. He leaned over from his hiding spot and looked into the box. Olivia stuck her hand in the box and tried to grab one. One leaped and nipped at her then retreated. She tried again, and one of the books bit her again and bumped into one of the others which growled at him and attacked. Those two books started fighting rallying other books into fighting. Olivia was sucking on her bleeding finger, “Man these are realistic.” One of the books flopped onto the floor from the box and two others followed. They started scooting around the room, hiding under book shelves. “Tim, quickly, keep the books in the box!” But paper was already flying out of the box as books grappled with each other. Books kept flying out of the box. Tim tired to close the box, while Olivia ran after the books hiding under the book shelves. But with a fully fledged bar fight ensuing in the box it tipped over, knocking Tim with it. The books swarmed out of the box and onto Tim. Tim gave a muffled cry, “Olivia.”
Olivia turned from her crouched position trying to coax out a book to see Tim covered in snarling books. “Tim!”
Getting bit, growled and hit on every side Olivia swam through books trying to get to Tim. “Tim!”
Rad walked into the stock room, feet dragging shifting his hair with a head shake, “Hey I heard some noise- Miss Liv!”
Rad came in to see Tim laying on the ground surrounded by snapping books and Miss Liv trying to swat them off with a clipboard. Rad yelled, “Stroke the spine!” Rad ran in. A book was scurrying past his feet toward the door. Rad bent over and started stroking it’s spine the book shivered happily and flipped open quite on the floor. Without hesitation, Rad marched past the other books and started rubbing the spine of a book leached on to Tim’s foot. It sprang open and layed still. Olivia was trying to fling off a book now clentched to her clipboard. Rad yelled again, “Stroke the spine! See!” Rad was stroking as many books as he could and left them silent on the ground. Olivia followed suit. Soon Tim was stroking the spines of books growling at him from his stomach. Olivia continually messaging their spines, started piling the quieted books back in the box.

Part 8; I love you

As he sat down, Mike muttered, “Then we could go over the bases I would like covered while I stay the night there.”
Olivia picked up the plastic fork and pointed it at him accusingly, “Hey I thought you said you were alright with-”
Mike cut her off, “I was just joking, you threw that word bases out there and I had to take advantage of it.”
For a bit both picked through their food in silence, both collecting their thoughts. There was no noise from outside the door. A sign of a comfortable relationship is when a couple can sit in silence and be fine with it, but still feel connected as a couple. Olivia and Mike had perfected this art.
After swallowing her bit Olivia said, “This is really good.”
Mike nodded, “I get it every time, hasn’t failed me yet.
“So while sitting at the bus stop, guess what I saw?”
Between bites, he guessed, “A space ship in the sky.”
Olivia smiled and shook her head.
“A Nome walking the down the street.” Mike got no response, so continued guessing, “A man wearing a hat with a flower in it.”
Olivia frowned and nudged out her bottom lip. “Oddly enough, that is closer. They were wearing hats.”
Mike pointed his fork to the ceiling and despite the food in his mouth said, “So there is a they, it’s a them, the KKK with their white hats walked by.”
Olivia laughed. “Farther, much farther.”
Mike took a few more bites and clicked his toes together, thinking.
“Should I just tell you?”
“No.” Mike snapped his fingers, “Wizards and witches, with their long pointed hats!”
“Nope. They were wearing top hats and had vests, and I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them had a pocket watch.”
Mike smiled and cocked his head, “The mad hatter and the white rabbit where just moseying down the street?”
Olivia laughed again, much like their first lunch, Olivia felt like she laughed a lot while Mike told interesting stories and jokes. “No, but there are only two and you are in the right decade, a few centuries off.”
Mike put his fork to his lips and thought. “Early or latter?”
“Latter.” Olivia ate her pasta. She started using her fork to poke the bottom of her Styrofoam dish, making designs. The quiet sounds of the computer could be heard mixed with Olivia puncturing her dish. “You are never going to get it.”
Mike shushed her. “How many centuries off?”
Olivia frowned, “Mmm… Around twenty.”
“Is it a duo you generally see together?”
“I would say so.” Thinking of the posters she saw Rad putting up earlier outside of her door, Olivia said, “You probably saw them right before you came into the office.”
Mike, at first threw his head back and furrowed his brow, more confused, then blurted, “Oh! Sherlock Holmes and Watson. Of course! So what about them again?”
Olivia told him about seeing them at the bus stop early that morning and ended with, “He even had a pipe he was smoking.”
Mike leaned back in his chair. “Odd, I wonder if the play is being done somewhere?”
The silence that prevailed the room was disrupted by Olivia’s chair swiveling around to her computer. She started to open the internet. “I think I will look it up.”
Mike sat up again and scooted to the edge of his chair, his elbows rested on his knees and his hands played with each other fidgeting in midair. The light above this head sent a soft shadow under her playing on the floor and chair. “Uh, before you do that, I think I should tell you something.”
Olivia didn’t turn around, “Yeah.”
“Yeah. It is important.”
Olivia typed in “Fairfax theaters” and “Sherlock Holmes” and said, “Hold on. I just want to see.”
Mike shifted his foot across the beige carpet loser to him and started thumbing his leg . “I might lose my nerve in a sec so I am just going to say it.”
Olivia was still involved in her internet search. “The Williams Theater isn’t showing it. “Let’s look at the FairFax community theater it is close by where I live.”
Mike went on, “We have been dating now for nine months and I have a lot of strong feelings for you.”
Olivia mutter, “Not the community theater. I have a lot of feeling for you too.”
Mike shook his head, “Not just feelings I mean I think I- I mean I haven’t really said this to any one for a long time, but nine months is a long time, but I-”
Olivia had heard Mike use the words “it is important” before and he would end up telling her, her fly was down, or she had some smutch on her nose or just kiss her, so she thought nothing of it to continue looking at the internet, but his tone started to waver, he started stumbling over words and never did Mike not have the right words. She turned around and gave him her full attention. “What are you trying to say Mike?”
Mike took a deep breath, “Olivia I think, I mean I know, I mean… I love you.”
At first Olivia just looked at him, her thoughts wondered, she guessed it had had nine months since they started dating and it was about time they loved each other. It seemed like a logical conclusion, but the question itself of whether she loved Mike or not had never occurred to her. Mike sat with his elbows still on his knees, hands outstretched. She thought about their time spent to together and their relationship. And something odd happened to Olivia. Her chest started to swell with emotions and a smile came to her face. She never felt it before. She said, “I guess that makes sense.”
Mike squinted his eyes. “Well do you love me?”
Olivia started brushing her hair behind her ears and scratching her elbow, then she laughed, “The way you asked that, made me think of Fiddler of the Roof. I guess this hole conversation reminds me of Fiddler on the Roof.”
Mike sat up straight in his chair, “You mean this is some kind of arranged relationship you have concluded you are alright with?”
Olivia waved her hands above the desk. “No I just mean, I have never really questioned whether or not I, you know, feel that way toward you.”
Mike cocked his head, “You mean love. Love. Olivia do you love me?” He said it is a Jewish accent with a f for the v, just like Tevy.
Without thinking Olivia smiled and said, “You’re a fool.”
Mike threw up his hands and stood up. “I know,” He tip toed around the desk, kneeled at her feet and said once more, “But do you love me?”
Olivia smiled, “I suppose I do.”
Mike also smiled, “Well I suppose I love you too.” He stood up and grabbed Olivia hands, pulled her up and hugged her. They stood like that for a while and then Mike said, “So how about you come to Egypt with me.”
Olivia let go and looked Mike in the eyes, “What?”
Sighing heavily, Mike held onto her hands again. “The newspaper wants me to do a report on a program that helps young women get an education in Egypt.”
“Well you have been gone for reports before.”
“Never to Egypt, they want me there for at least two months.”
Olivia lifted one or hands out of Mikes hold and gestured around the office. “Two months. I can’t,” She cut off and started again, “I can’t leave the store for two months.”
“Olivia I have never been gone that long, every time they offered a onsite long term report I have turned it down, because I didn’t want to disturb this,” Mike left go of her other hand and, palm down, made a circling motion between them.
Olivia held a hand up to her temple, “Wait, you have passed up other opportunities like this because of me.”
“Not because of you, you took a lot of work to get a hold of I didn’t want to lose that because of distant.”
“Mike, you love traveling for your job.”
“Yes well and now I love you.”
Olivia bit on her lip, “Well what if I can’t go to Egypt?”
Scratching his throat Mike muttered, “I already told them yes.”
“You told them yes.”
“Roger told me if I don’t start taking some of these more hard core reports they may rethink me being there and I don’t want to lose my job.”
Olivia folded her arms, “Well they can’t do that to you that is totally unethical.”
Mike raised his voice a tone. “Olivia, I want to go.”

Part 7; mrs. Piggle-Wiggle

Olivia sighed heavily. The state driver’s licenses looked real enough, expect Mrs. Piggle-Wiggles picture was of a bright happy smile, but the names on the credit card and the I.D. matched and she didn’t have enough evidence to find it false. She handed Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle back her I.D. Olivia swiped the credit card and started bagging the books. “Interesting last name, do you know any history on it.”
“Well my late husband, Bob Piggle-Wiggle, was a pirate, he left me with a great treasure, but his heritage, I am not sure.” She winked happily. Quietly Olivia held out the bag of books, looking confused. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle took the bag and said, “So polite, thank you, dear.”
Automatically Olivia said, “Your Welcome,” She waved and said, “Have a good day.”
“Thank you dear, you too.”
Olivia watched her leave the shop and could have sworn she disappeared once she left the front doors.
Olivia shook her head. Her day was turning out more and more unusual then it began. With determination she walked through the aisle of the book store back to her office, determined to have a normal rest of the morning. She looked through the rest of the mail, divided the books to read between her, Tim and the trash. She threw out junk mail and kept the invoices from publishers and her wholesale sellers. She went through the stock directories and order new books they needed. Then went through the specialty orders from customers and ordered those books. She looked at the order of books they were receiving today and rearranged the white board behind the desk, deciding where to put the new order. Mean while she answered a never ending stream of question as Tim, Mark, Sam and Rad poked their heads into the open office door. “There is a customer wanting the book, “The Ancient Times Past.” Can we do that?” “Would you prefer “Race Boy” to be put in Adventure or Mystery?” “Didn’t we order just twelve copies of “Armored Man”?” By the time Olivia got a knock on the door at twelve thirty, she finally felt like her day had bounced back to normal.
When she heard the knock, Olivia finished writing her last sentence in her email about the damaged book, “Royal Castle” and looked up. Mike was standing at the door way, holding a bag of Chilies to go, smiling. “I don’t know what you brought for lunch, but I figured you could use some Chilies.”
Olivia collapsed into her chair. Her mouth dropped open and she let her hands fall to her sides. “You have no idea.”
Mike came into the office and around the desk. He put the bag of food on the desk, put his hands on the back of her seat and the desk and leaned over her. His suit jacket was open and his yellow, blue polka dotted tie almost reached Olivia’s knee, trying to tickle them. “Tell me about it.” Olivia sat up from her slouch and kissed him, then gave his arm a solid punch, “Ow! What was that about?”
She raised her eye brow and pointed her finger at him. “If you hadn’t threw out my entire routine this morning, then maybe I wouldn’t have had such a bad morning.”
“Well then if I am the cause of such aggravation I’ll just take my lunch back.”
He tried to grab the sack back, but Olivia got to it first. “I will consider this as a peace offering and it is accepted.”
He stood back up, shook his head and smiled, “As long as the princess is pleased.”
Olivia started to dig through the Chilies bag and she found two Styrofoam boxes one marked alfredo and the other stuffed portabella. “Which one is mine?”
Mike sat on the lazy boy and leaned back he as answered, “I thought we could spilt, do you wanna divvy it up?”
“Sure.” She eyed Mike while transferring stuff mushroom from one container to the other. “So, if you are going to stay on my couch often, I think we need to cover some bases of my morning routine I would not like disturbed.”
“Ok. How about we go over those in another meeting?”
Olivia sucked some tomato sauce off her finger and handed Mike his Styrofoam dish, Mike sat up off the lazy boy chair which jiggled from the movement then stabilized as he sat back into it with his food.

Part 6; koko

Olivia went back over to her desk. She started looking through a pile of mail and listened to the two messages on her machine from Mike. He sounded pretty calm and collected, “Tim, I got your message, I called Olivia myself, but she isn’t picking up. If she is not in by twelve, give me a call and I can drive down to her apartment and see what’s up. Let me know. K, Bye.”
The second message, he sounded a little more worried, not about Olivia, but Tim, “Tim I know you are worried about Olivia, but I need you to calm down, don’t call any hospitals yet. I forgot that I used Olivia’s phone this morning to find mine and I don’t think I put it back in her purse,” Olivia muttered under her breath, “Uh you think.”, “so if she didn’t see it and put it in her purse and the bus is late or anything, she won’t have her phone to call you. Oh plus, Olivia I used your phone this morning and didn’t put it back in your purse, hope that doesn’t throw off your morning to much,” Olivia laughed, “K, well don’t call me back until twelve, unless you hear something. K, bye.”
Olivia was opening a package from a local author who had been trying to get Olivia to shelf her book for two months now. This would be the third copy Olivia had been sent. There was a letter attached explaining this was a new edition of the book, with some changes Olivia might like. She opened the book, flipped through the first couple chapters and put it down. Her first impulse was to throw it in the trash, instead she threw it in Tim’s stack. Olivia liked to personally read all the books they put on the shelf, ensuring she could put her mark of approval for the books they endorse and when she first opened up she did. Now a days, Tim and her spilt the pile, but Tim always got the ify ones. He had a more critical eye and was willing to throw out a book not worth it’s grit. As she looked up to throw the book, out of the corner of her eye she saw some movement to the right of her. She turned her head toward the back wall of the office and saw nothing. She went down back to her mail. She saw another of flicker of movement right ahead of her she looked up and there sitting on a lazyboy chair across from the desk was a Siamese cat, sitting up straight and looking directly at her. Olivia jumped in her seat. She clutched her chest and took a deep breath. “How did you get in here?”
The cat blinked its eyes. Olivia looked back, stared back more like it. The cat looked like he was ready to say something, but started licking it’s paw instead. Olivia shook her head. She got up and walked around her desk, she was a little unnerved to walk pass the cat and did so gingerly, keeping an eye on the cat. Olivia peeked her head out of the office and asked, “Rad do you know anything about this cat?”
Rad stopped half way down the latter and only said, “Cat?”
Olivia nodded her head, “Yeah a Siamese cat here in the office.” she turned and the cat was still sitting on the lazy boy no longer licking herself, but watching Olivia.
Rad started down the latter again trying to sweep his hair from his eyes so could see the steps. “No, Miss Liv I know nothing about a cat.”
“K,” she started to walk away but stopped short, “Oh Rad, I just got a letter from a publisher wanting me to shelf a book by a Norm Cartwright, have you ever heard of her. She writes mystery novels and I know that is your thing.”
Rad was down off the latter. Olivia knew he looked like a punk kid, which unsettled a lot of shoppers, but he was a loaded source of books, she was just glad he finally bought a belt and not so much of his skull boxers where showing. “I have heard the name, she is more for the hard core mystery novel reader, even I haven’t delved into her quite yet.”
Olivia looked through the office door again, the cat was still looking at her. “K thanks Rad. Maybe we will give her a shot.”
“Miss Liv, you alright?”
A little dazed she said, “Yeah. It is just this cat, randomly showing up, seems odd. I don’t like it.”
Rad clomped over with his heavy shoes dragging on the floor and looked into the office, “Weird. You must have an animal guardian.”
Olivia raised an eye brow at Rad and asked in a suspicious tone, “An animal guardian?”
Rad nodded his head, “Yeah, they are normal animals that come out of nowhere, attach themselves to one person and help guide them to some important life lesson then disappear.”
Olivia looked down at Rad with her brows scrunched and her month held at an angle, “I doubt it Rad.”
He sighed, “That’s just the thing Miss.Liv, animals guardians usually come to the people most disbelieving of their existence, like you.”
The cat started pawing the chair checking it for comfort and softness, then started to walk in circles on the chair, choosing carefully the best spot to plop her body. Once she did, the cat laid down, shifted a little, then folded her paws under her and blinked her eyes.
Olivia only said, “I am going to ask Tim.”
She found Tim in the front of the store behind the clerks desk opening boxes. When he saw Olivia he said, “Well no wonder Jerry Spinelli’s publishers billed so much more, so far there are fifty more books in this order then what ordered.”
Olivia walked behind the desk up to Tim, “Look uh, Tim do you know anything about the Siamese cat in the office.”
Tim kept opening boxes and counting books, “Cat? No, I am allergic to cats, why is there a cat in the office?”
“I don’t know I thought you might know since you were here earlier.”
“Well I surely didn’t bring a cat here.”
Sam stamping a new pile of books asked, “There is a cat in the office?”
Olivia, whose back was facing Sam, turned and said, “Yes there is a Siamese cat in our office.”
Sam’s voice took on the tone of a grandmother, baby talking to you grandchild. “Well I want to see the little kitty witty.” She tiptoed from behind the desk and toward the back.
Olivia turned back to Tim and threw her hands in the air. “Well what are we going to do with a randomly cat in our store.”
Tim was marking ticks on a sticky note, “Seventy-eight too many books, no wonder they charged so much and I know we made an agreement.”
Olivia put her hands down, “Then just call them Tim.”
He came out from around the front desk walking quick paced like he did when he became determined about something, “I will.”
But before he could walk too much farther toward the office, Sam came bouncing up, bundling the cat in her arms like she would a baby. “Look at such a pretty kitty.”
Before anyone could say a word, Tim sneezed into his arm twice. “That thing has got to go.”
Sam nuzzled the cats cheek against hers, “Oh what are you going to do just throw it out?”
Tim sneezed and responded, “Yes.”
Sam glared at him and nuzzled the cat closer, who started struggling in her arms. “Don’t worry kitty I won’t let the big ugly Tim get you.”
Tim sneezed again and walked off saying, “Keep that thing away from me.”
Sam turned to Olivia after Tim left. “Olivia we can’t just leave the poor cat out on the street, plus what if he it is one of our customers, they wouldn’t be very happy if we just abandoned it?”
“Sam people don’t bring their cats to shop with them.”
She stroked the cats head, who had repositioned himself tummy down across Sam’s arm and paws tucked under her belly. Sam cooed, “Yeah put with a cat this pretty who wouldn’t bring it everywhere with them.”
Olivia sighed. “Well, just kept it out of Tim’s sight and sniffers. We will keep it around for one day, otherwise it’s going to a shelter or home with someone, just out of here.”
Sam practically waltz the cat back to the brake room cooing the whole time, “Such a pretty kitty witty.”
Olivia shook her head and thought golly it is just a cat. She turned on her heels and standing at the desk was a plumb lady ready to check out. Olivia turned again and went behind the desk. “Hello there miss. Did you find everything you need alright?”
The lady was wearing a button up blouse with a lace trailed around the neck line, a skirt to her ankles, that bounced when she walked and around glasses on the end of her pung nose. She put a fat hand to her lips and giggled. “Yes I found everything splendidly well.”
Olivia started ringing up her books and looked at what she was getting, the entire set of Piggle Wiggle. Olivia said, “You must like miss Piggle- wiggle. You getting these for a grandchild?”
The customer giggled again. “No these are for me.”
“Oh I see. Well your total is thirty-five, fifty.”
The lady handed her a credit card, the signature was missing, so Olivia asked to see I.D. The lady giggled and got out her I.D.
Olivia stared and said, “This says you are Miss. Piggle-Wiggle.”
Miss. Piggle-Wiggle laughed. “Well of course that’s what it says. Wouldn’t say I was anything else other then who I am? Would it?”

Part 5; Koko

Olivia went back over to her desk. She started looking through a pile of mail and listened to the two messages on her machine from Mike. He sounded pretty calm and collected. “Tim, I got your message, I called Olivia myself, but she isn’t picking up. If she is not in but twelve, give me a call and I can drive down to her apartment and see what’s up. Let me know. K, Bye.”
The second message, he sounded a little more worried, not about Olivia, but Tim, “Tim I know you are worried about Olivia, but I need you to calm down, don’t call any hospitals yet. I forgot that I used Olivia’s phone this morning to find mine and I don’t think I put it back in her purse,” Olivia muttered under her breath, “Uh you think.”, “so if she didn’t see it and put it in her purse and the bus is late or anything, she won’t have her phone to call you. Oh plus, Olivia I used your phone this morning and didn’t put it back in your purse, hope that doesn’t throw off your morning to much,” Olivia laughed, “K, well don’t call me back until twelve, unless you hear something. K, bye.”
Olivia was opening a package from a local author who had been trying to get Olivia to shelf her book for two months now. This would be the third copy Olivia had been sent. There was a letter attached explaining this was a new edition of the book, with some changes Olivia might like. She opened the book flipped through the first couple chapters and put it down. Her first impulse was to throw it in the trash, instead she threw it in Tim’s stack. Olivia liked to personally read the books they put on the shelf, ensuring she could put her mark of approval for a book they endorsed. When she first opened up she did do all the reading. Now a days Tim and her split the pile, but Tim always got the ify ones. He had a more critical eye and was willing to throw out a book not worth it’s grit. As she looked up to throw the book, out of the corner of her eye she saw some movement. She turned her head toward the back wall of the office and saw nothing. She went down back to her mail. She saw another of flicker of movement right ahead of her, she looked up and there sitting on the lazyboy chair across from the desk was a Siamese cat, sitting up straight and looking directly at her. Olivia jumped in her seat. She clutched her chest and took a deep breath. “How did you get in here?”
The cat blinked its eyes. Olivia looked back, stare back more like it. The cat looked like he was ready to say something, but started licking it’s paw instead. Olivia shook her head. She got up and walked around her desk, she was a little unnerved to walk pass the cat and did so gingerly, trying to keep her eye on the cat. Olivia peeked her head out of the office and asked, “Rad do you know anything about this cat?”
Rad stopped half way down the latter and only said, “Cat?”
Olivia nodded her head, “Yeah, a Saimese cat, here in the office.” she turned and the cat was still sitting on the lazyboy, no longer licking herself, but watching Olivia.
Rad started down the latter again, trying to sweep his hair from his eyes so could see the steps. “No, Miss Liv I know nothing about a cat.”
“K,” she started to walk away, but stopped short, “Oh Rad, I just got a letter from a publisher wanting me to shelf a book by a Norm Cartwright, have you ever heard of her. She writes mystery novels and I know that is your thing.”
Rad was down off the latter. Olivia knew he looked like a punk kid which unsetteled a lot of shoppers, but he was a loaded source of books, she was just glad he finally bought a belt and not so much of his skull boxers where showing. “I have heard the name, she is more for the hard core mystery novel reader, even I haven’t delved into her quite yet.”

Part 4: Work

Olivia threw up her hands. “Alright, back to work. Rad, what are you putting up after you take Jane Austin down?”
Rad bobbed his head again, “Oh Dude, my fav, Sherlock Holmes. All this hype about the new movie, thought it should be the next on the wall.”
Olivia looked at him with her brow scrunched, “Sherlock Holmes?”
“Yeah thought I might print up the quote, ‘You know my methods Watson’ or ‘…when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth…’ or may fav ‘Now, Watson, the fair sex is your department…’ can’t decide. What do you think Miss. Liv?”
Right when Rad starts to quote Shakespeare or Emily or Anne Bronte or Jack Kerouac or J K Rowling and Olivia has almost forgotten Rad was Rad, he calls her Miss. Liv and she remembers Rad was Rad. “Rad I think you are the only kid like you that could quote Sherlock.”
Rad smiled. “Thanks Miss. Liv.”
“Sure thing Rad, I am not sure, put up whichever you feel catches the spirit of Sherlock Holmes the most. Which reminds me,” Olivia walked into the office were Tim had returned and was looking through some papers, Olivia started setting down her purse and jacket, sat down at the desk and started riffling through papers, “I saw the strangest thing at the bus stop this morning. Two men dressed in nineteenth century clothing walked by, one was holding a cane and pipe and referred to the other as Watson. Isn’t that odd?”
Tim nodded his head vaguely, “Yeah, not near as odd as these numbers though. Look at this charge from Jerry Spinelli’s publishers, that can’t be near right?”
Olivia got up from her seat again, “Didn’t you hear me at all?”
Tim handed the bill to look at, “Yeah, yeah two goof balls dressed up like Holmes and Watson, probably nut cases, look at that five-seventy three, I thought they said four-fifty flat, we wanted to see how the book did before getting into it for too much money.”
Olivia gave up on her story, “Well call them up, see what happened.”
Tim took the folder back from Olivia and closed it, “I will. You have two messages from Mike on the phone by the way. You might want to call him and tell him you’re ok. Oh you might want to call your Mom too, oh and your sister Monica.”
Olivia folded her arms and gave Tim a disdained look, “Is there anyone else you called for the Olivia search party I want to call and let know I am not dead despite your panic.”
Tim gently placed his hands on each of her shoulders, “Now Olivia, dear, how could you be mad at me, you were the one late and didn’t call-” Olivia tried to cut him off but Tim started before she could, “And any way I did it in concern for you. Now please tell me before you have another crazy morning!” and stalked off before Olivia could say another word.
Tim was the first person who lived in Fairfax she met, besides her sister’s family. After she had rented out the space for the book store she had put a sign for a manager of a quaint book store and put a few adds in the local papers. After the sign had been out for one week, she already had five emails and four phone messages from Tim Vlousky. He even stopped by the store still under construction twice. He was a little over enthusiastic for Olivia, but somehow his named managed to pop up everywhere, always swimming to the top of her paper work. She finally agreed to have an interview, which of course he went over the top about and suggested he bye them lunch, but his credentials were unbeatable. He had studied English in. He even minored in business during his bachelor’s degree. He got a little easily worked out about some things, but not too bad of a fellow and, actually, made for some stimulating conversation once he calmed down a bit.
Tim had worked at the book store for about as long as Olivia had, give or take a week and he invested as about as much care and effort into the pace as she did. Most of the time, Tim was closer to a partner then a manager. And most of the time, Tim was closer to a friend then a partner. Tim had introduced her to Fairfax and was a large part of her adjusting to a new place. The both held their friendship in high regard.

Part 3; Arriving at work

This maybe not be exactly two and a half pages, but it was such a funny spot to stop at that I have to.

The next bus rolled in five minutes late, at 8:40. After the bus took twice the amount of customers it usually did to accommodate the broken down one, it was already pretty crowded, but after its’ second stop it was getting pretty ridiculous. After its’ third stop, it was getting unbearable.
Olivia was sitting on an aisle seat. The man standing beside her had his hair slicked back and was wearing a fancy suit and a large wrist watch. He was stacked between a lady that looked just like Mike’s land lady, plump and holding a flowery carpet bag and a kid holding a skate board. The flowery bag kept hit Olivia in the knee and the wheel of the skate board kept bumping her head. The man with slicked hair, took out a coin from his back pocket and started flicking it in the air, threatening to hit Olivia in the nose. Every wave of his arm sent a strong smell of cologne into Olivia’s face and mixed with the body odor of the kid behind him, Olivia’s eyes watered a few times. The man sharing her seat looked respectable enough, it was the same man she had spotted rocking back and forth on his heels at the bus stop. His mannerism made Olivia more nervous about being late. He sat stiff as a board in his seat, back straight and eyes straight ahead and only strayed to look at his watch on his wrist resting on a brief case on his lap.
Every stop took twice as long to situate. People getting off the bus had to battle their way through the crowd and people coming on had to find places to squish. Olivia couldn’t see out of the window on the other side of the bus because of so many people. Her stop came. First she had to get by the slicked hair. Then she managed to trip over two pairs of feet and one back pack. She felt like she was going through a trash compactor till she popped off the bus and reinflated like a cartoon character. The store was only one block down Timpa, which was the intersection her bus stops at. By the time she got to the front door it was 9:20.
She swung the door open. Sam, stamping books, was standing behind the dark wood front desk that lined the front of the store. When she saw Olivia walk in she said, “Olivia! Are you alright? Twenty minutes late for opening, we thought you died.”
Olivia smiled, “No just a crazy morning.”
Sam shrugged, “You? Have a crazy morning? I thought you tackled those kind of things out of your life.”
“Well, I guess, sometimes, they fight back.”
Olivia kept walking to the back of the store, toward the stores small office space. Mark, a tall blond man, was stacking books on a shelf in the horror section. “Olivia! You ok? The store’s in a panic.”
Olivia shook her head, “Good morning Mark. Yes, everything is fine.”
She turned down the row of horror books and turned again toward the back wall. Next to the office door Rad was on a latter, leaning against the back wall, taking down the display of Jane Austin off the wall. Olivia looked up at him. “Rad, what are you doing here? I thought you worked tomorrow?”
Rad flicked his head, so his long brown hair swept away from his eyes, “Oh, dude, Miss. Liv. Tim is gonna be thrilled to see you. He called me all worked up cause you hadn’t shown, wanted me to come down for a bit. I think he locked himself in the office.”
Olivia smiled, “Thanks Rad.”
Rad gave her double thumbs up sign. “Yeah, no prob Miss. Liv.”
When Rad started working there three months ago, she tried to correct his grammar and stop him from calling her Miss. Liv. Most of the time he would just respond, “Oh man, sorry Miss. Liv.” Olivia eventually gave up.
She checked the door and indeed it was locked. Tim must have heard the doorknob jingling because he said, “I am little busy right now. Come back later.”
She could hear the hint of panic in his voice. “Tim, come answer the door.”
His voice raised another pitch, “I just need some time ok. I am feeling a little anxious in here. I am not sure where Olivia is,” Olivia started to talk as well, causing Tim’s voice to only get louder and more high pitched.
“She is almost an hour late.”
“Tim, this is Olivia.”
“She is not picking up her home phone or her cell phone. She has never been late a single day the past three years that I have worked with her here, ever.”
Rad looked down at her. She smiled and said to him, “He is just a little panicked.” Then went on talking to the door, “Tim would you stop, this is Olivia!”
Tim’s voice started to pick up pace as well, “and every time I have ever called her she has picked up, if not the first time I ring, then always the second.”
“Tiiim… Tim… Tim, IT’S ME.”
“She could be hurt or dead or-” Tim finally heard her scream, there was a pause then, “who’s me?”
“It’s Olivia.”
“Olivia? Olivia!” The door knob started to jijjle and Tim swung the door wide open. He stood and stared at Olivia for a moment, then barreled into her with a hug. “Don’t ever do that to me again.”
Rad shook his head. “Man, Tim you have got to learn to chill out.”
Tim let go and started turning Olivia around. “So what happened to you, were you mugged? I thought you would have been all muddy and torn up when you came in. Did someone hassle you? What happened?”
“No. It was just a crazy morning.”
Tim looked at her, “Crazy morning? I have crazy mornings, Samantha has crazy mornings, Tom Cruise has crazy mornings, but Olivia Daven just gives “crazy morning” a look and it is neat and orderly.”
Olivia tossed her hands in the air, “Well not this morning.”
Tim crossed his arms, “What could have possibly thrown off Olivia Daven’s grove so much she had a crazy morning?”
She started digging through her purse for no particular reason and nonchanlotely said, “Well Mike stayed over last night and-”
Tim leaned down trying to look at her with her nose buried in her purse and interrupted, “Whoa, Mike stayed over last night? Last time I asked about this you said, and I quote, “I have my boundaries.”
Rad gave another double thumbs up sign and nodded his head like a swaying turtle. “Way to go Miss. Liv, showing Mikyrooster a good time.”
Olivia looked up from her purse at Rad, but avoided Tim’s eyes, “I did not show Mikyrooster a good time.”
Both Tim and Rad waited for farther explanation as they stared at her. Olivia indulged them. “We watched a movie last night and he was too tired to drive home, so he stayed the night.”
Sam walked around the corner dragging a cart of books, “Who stayed over last night? Did Mike? Did you guys finally…” She waved her fingers in the air looking for the right words and ended with, “…you know?”
Olivia cut the air with her hands and made big gestures, “No, Mike stayed over, but we did not have intercourse.”
Mark yelled from a few aisles away, “You didn’t have intercourse? Why not? Are you two ok? Did you guys fight? Is that why you were late?”
Olivia pursed her lips together and ran her fingers through her hair, “No. We did not have a fight. Not that this is anyone business, but I just don’t want to get into an intimate physical relationship until we are married and Mike is a respectable person, who is ok with that. So Mike and I will not be having any kind of sex until we are married. He just used the last of my cereal, messed up my coffee maker, used my toothbrush, moved my towel and my cell phone, which all together, made me miss my bus which broke down anyway, making me late. Any other questions?”
A gruff lady’s voice from behind Olivia asked, “Are guys about done with your coffee break? I would like to check out.”
Sam let go of the handle of her cart and walked over to the customer, an elderly lady, wearing a pink crotched shawl and jeweled sunglasses. Sam motioned to the front of the store with her hand. “Right this way miss. Did you find everything you need?”
The older lady answered, “Where’s your medical section? My husband started complaining about this rash on his private parts and I thought I’d look it up before we went to the doctor.”
After Sam controlled her gagged reflex, she said, “Right this way.”

Part 2; Sherlock Holmes

Mike chose a family owned café down the street from Olivia’s work. It was one of those places Olivia had always wanted to go eat in, but never got around to it. The décor was mainly vintage things. An entire wall was filled with old covers for records in a checkerboard pattern. It had records from The Beatles, The Who, The Animals, Etta James. Each table was dark wood and in a different style, but old and classy, a set of tables that weren’t all the same, but defiantly went together. They served paninis and sandwiches for lunch.
Olivia learned that Mike had just graduated with his masters in journalism from college in (a state I haven't decided yet) and had three interviews in town as a reporter the next day. “It’s not the most glamorous pay or life style, but I love the work.”
He was smart, witty, and laid back. Olivia had no idea why he took so much interest in her. She spent most of the lunch laughing and could only think of things to say concerning the book they were supposed to be discussing. Mean while, he told stories about the one time he was in Bangalore, India, or his funny plumb landlady who smelt like cooked cabbage and carried around a large flowery carpet bag, or a relative painting he saw in the Louvre that depicted the literary device she was talking about. She felt so boring. He encompassed the ideal thirty year old reporter living life, while Olivia encompassed the image of a stiff librarian. She tried not to, but it was the demeanor she took when she was nervous.
At the end of the hour she had allotted, Mike asked, “So what do you think of movies?”
Holding her coffee mid air, Olivia replied, “I think they are worth seeing, if tactful and well done. I like a lot of older movies.”
He grinned. “Well what would you think of seeing a tactful and well done movie with me?”
Olivia was caught off guard by the grin and said, “Sure.”
Mike cocked his head. “That easy huh?”
Olivia hesitated, “I mean…I…am-”
Mike cut her off, “Tomorrow night, 6:30 at The Krox. I will meet you there, unless I could come pick you up at your place?”
Olivia only said, “The Krox? That theater only shows foreign films.”
“Sure does.” He had already paid the check, despite Olivia’s insistent demands she pay her own bill. He stood up and walked around the table. He picked up Olivia’s hand, not holding her coffee, and held it, leaned over and asked, “I will see you tomorrow night then.”
Unsure what to do, she answered, “I suppose.”
He smirked. “Good.” He gently kissed her hand and gave it back. As he left he said, “Till tomorrow night then.”
Olivia responded, “Tomorrow night.”
When she told the story to Sam at work, Olivia felt ridiculous for falling for it, but she did. Now Mike was using the last of her cereal and toilet paper and she loved it.
Olivia, leaning against the candy store, figured it wasn’t worth going home, not even to make her lunch, by the time she got there she would have to turn around and go back. She rested her head back on the brick and took a few breaths. She started to dig through her purse looking for her phone. She didn’t want any one at work to worry about her and if she was more than five minutes late, it would cause alarm, after an hour, they might call the police. She started taking things out of her purse and holding them in her hand. “Where would I have put it?” Olivia could have sworn she left it in her purse last night and never used it, but it wasn’t there. The only thing she could conclude was Mike must have moved it. Last night was the first time he had slept at her place, she would defiantly have to set some ground rules.
She hadn’t had time to grab her book either, so Olivia people watched to pass the time. The man with the walking cane who she talked to earlier was now discussing politics with a man in a business suit who didn’t look very interested in what he had to say. The suit man kept glancing at his watch, nodding his head a lot and rocked on his feet, back and forth from his toes to his heels. He even yawned a couple times.
The bench was still full of people. On one of the edges, closest to Olivia, was an elderly black woman with a purple coat that seemed too heavy for the spring cool air. She was hugging a large brown paper sack full of groceries. Her hair was short and graying. It looked like, after years of fighting with her hair to look how she wanted, she had given up and let her hair win the fight. It was crimpy and laid all over the place. Next to her was a white girl, no more the twenty-five. She had shorts to short for the cool spring air. She wore sunglasses that hide most of her face and wore a tank top. Suddenly, Olivia was distracted by two interesting characters walking up the street.
They both where wearing 1800’s clothes with top hats, scarves tucked into their vests and tailed coats. One was holding a walking cane and was rambling insistently, hardly taking notice of his partner. His partner was trying to keep up with him, asking questions and listening intently. The one with the cane was saying, “You know my methods, Watson. For instance, this lady,” He walked over and stood beside the older black women, “Her coat is far too warm for the spring day it is turning out to be, unless, she came from a long distance and was out early this morning, when the day was still chilly. In order to constitute the use of the coat, she must live at least an hour away and based on the south bound bus she is taking and the sack from the specialty store, that is nowhere else in the city but the north end, I conclude she is from either the Treeline neighborhood or Chipsome.”
The black lady roughly said, “Treeline.”
His partner, who he referred to as Watson, asked, “Why would she have been up so early?”
He smiled, “Excellent question, my dear Watson. From the prescription bottle of antibiotics I perceived on the top of her bag, I would say she had a doctor’s appointment. She lives in a residential area and there is a building of offices right over there.” He pointed to a tall building, rising over the small corner stores. “But no point in making the long journey twice, so detoured to Milcoe for their doughnuts, it is the only thing they are really good for.”
The black lady once again confirmed his theory, “Dang ear infection, been trying to get rid of it for weeks.”
“Excellent!” Watson cried.
The man holding the cane stated, “Elementary. It is one of those instances where the reasoner can produce an effect which seems remarkable to his neighbour, because the latter has missed the one little point which is the basis of the deduction.”
He started walking away from the bench saying, “Observation of the details, my dear Watson.”
Olivia watched them walking down the street. She was grinning to ear to ear. Surely, Sherlock Holmes had just jumped off a page and landed right on Boulevard Blvd. Olivia kept cocking her head sideways, watching their tail coats flap behind them and the steady swing of Holmes’ cane as he walked. As Holmes turned to Watson, Olivia could see his profile. A pipe was dangling out of his moth and smoke was swirling out of it. He must have produced it out of his pocket. She looked around expecting people to be gawking at them, maybe not in awe like her, but at least in confusion or looks of “what weirdoes”. Instead, no one even seemed to notice something odd had happened, not even the black lady, still hugging her bag.
Despite that, Olivia’s day defiantly had brightened, even if they were weirdoes or paid actors. It is not every day one sees one of the most famous book characters come to life.

Olivia Daven; part 1

Olivia Daven was running for the bus. She looked harried and desperate as her short heeled shoes clacked on the side walk. She kept pulling the black leather straps of her purse over her shoulder, while trying to keep hold of her jacket in the other hand. The ruffs on the collar of her blouse bounce with each step. She usually had her jacket on and was holding a sack lunch instead, but not today.
She had ran past all the apartment complexes and turned into Boulevard, Blvd, a busy street lined with shops. It was five blocks up Boulevard to her bus stop, she had already ran two and had two minutes to run the last three and the bus driver was as timely as Olivia usually was, he never came late.
Olivia looked back to see if the bus was coming. She saw it stopped at a light, its wide tinted black window shield looked menacingly at her. The digital sign above the window shield flashed the green letters: E-24 Downtown. Olivia put on an extra spurt of speed. She squeezed between a biker and the boxes a man was taking out of his truck, careful not to bump either one, only to bump into a lady coming out of her car. She vaguely heard her yell, “Hey!” but Olivia muttered a sorry and kept running.
She looked back again and saw the bus moving from the stop light catching up with her. One block down, two more to go. The bus’s dirty front smudged with brown stains was now neck and neck with her and passing. She glanced at her watch, “One minute early. Figures.”
A block and a half away the bus stopped at her stop. Olivia started to yell, “Wait! Wait!” But as she crossed the street the bus puffed out a plum of black smoke from its muffler, but it didn’t go. The bus driver must have seen her and stopped. Olivia sprinted the last block and with a wide grin started toward the door of the bus and was met by a crowd of people coming off the bus.
She asked a man in front of the crowd, “What’s going on?”
The man was holding a newspaper and coffee in one hand above his pop belly covered by a blue shirt and a walking cane in his other hand. He puffed as he climbed down the stairs of the bus, “Bus just broke down. At least Fairfax could replace it’s busten buses.”
“When does the next bus come by?”
Once on the sidewalk, the man looked at his watch. “Not for another half hour. 8:35.”
Exasperated she said, “Thank you.”
He smiled, “Tough morning?”
“Yeah.”
“It will get better.”
“Yeah.”
Olivia wasn’t sure if she believed him. Fate had already sent a sure sign how this day was going to go. She turned to sit on the bench by her stop and found it already full by those coming off the bus. Instead she walked across the side walk and leaned up against the brick wall of the little candy store. The little book store she owned, The Spiral Stair Case, would just have to wait for her. Tim would be there to open too any way. She signed and thought, “If Mike hadn’t stayed over last night none of this would have happened.”
After their movie last night, Mike decided he was too tired to drive home. So he slept on the couch. It was the first time he slept over. They were dating but Olivia just couldn’t get into an intimate physical relationship until she knew it was safe to commit, till they were married.
The next morning, Mike got up earlier then Olivia and got ready for work at her apartment. Olivia got up at the first buzz of her alarm at 6:50, giving her a perfect hour to get ready and out the door at 7:50 to catch the bus at 8:05 getting her to the book store at 8:35 to open for 9:00, but as she went about her routine she found a trail of Mike’s disturbances to her order. She unveiled herself from under her big green comforter and made her way to the bathroom.
First off, the toilet paper roll was out, Mike must have emptied it without putting on a new one and she had to reach around the cabinet from the toilet seat to get one. Still in her light blue pj, she shuffled into the kitchen and opened the cupboard. Her Corn Checks cereal box was missing. She opened a few more cupboards, thinking where else she would have put it, and saw from the corner of her eye the empty box sitting in the trash. Mike must have eaten the last of her cereal she was planning to eat. With a deep breath Olivia thought, “At least I can rely on my coffee makers.” After Olivia washed out her favorite mug that Mike must have used, she pour herself a cup of coffee and took a sip and promptly spit it back out. The coffee was cold and tasted awful. Mike must have messed with the coffee maker which usually had a pot of coffee ready for her by 6:55.
Olivia restarted the coffee maker and made toast instead. She went in the living room on her big brown couch to eat while watching the news. She finished with her toast and went to get her cup of coffee. When she went into the kitchen her mouth gaped open. While the coffee maker was pouring coffee into the pot, coffee was spilling over the pot onto the hot plate and counter. She had forgotten to pour out the full pot before starting the new pot. As coffee poured off the counter and onto the floor she grabbed a wash cloth from the sink and found it dripping with milk. Olivia stomped her foot and yelled, “Mike!”
After the coffee fiasco, it was already 7:30 twenty minutes behind her normal schedule. Her tooth brush and tooth paste had been misplaces and after looking in every drawer and cabinet for it she tried not to grimace at the thought Mike had used her tooth brush. She quickly striped off her clothes and took a shower. Ordered by body wash, shampooing and face wash. After turning the water off she reached around the corner groping for her towel, to find nothing there. She peeked her head around the corner and the towel rack was empty. Her other towels were in the closet outside the bathroom. She bowed her head in dismay, took a deep breath and ran out to the closet dripping water everywhere. Once Olivia got out of the shower dressed, makeuped and blown dry there was no time to make her lunch. She usually made her lunch the night before, but Mike messed with her routine last night too and she forgot.
Now she was leaning against a store at the bus stop waiting for the next one. She had never not been at her store to open since it had opened three years before. She was a biology major in college and like so many gradates decided she was sick of it by the time she left school. Her sister Monica, living in Fairfax, had tried to convince her to move there for ages, and after finding the store space on Timpa road for sale, she got out a loan and bought it.
Mike had randomly walked into her store nine months ago and was perusing the science fiction section, not something Olivia was necessarily interested in, but he did have Jane Austin’s Emma in his basket. Mike had been eyeing her the whole time while in the book store. She was standing behind the front check out desk, leaning over the desk and writing in a note book. As another worker was checking him out, he asked the clerk so what’s your favorite book in here.
She smiled and answered, “The Dawn Treader of the Chronicles of Narnia is a personal favorite.”
He nodded. He then looked at Olivia.“How about you?”
The clerk looked back at Olivia, but Olivia didn’t hear him and kept writing. He tried again, “What’s your favorite book?”
The clerk looked unsure what to do and whispered, “Olivia.”
Olivia looked up. “Huh?” She saw Mike looking at her with a wide grin, sat up and asked, “Oh may I help you.”
Mike nodded seriously and asked, “Uh, yes. So, what’s your favorite book in here?”
Olivia smiled, “They are all good. I see you bought Emma already, that’s a good one. Do you need help finding a particular one?”
“Oh, Emma’s not for me, it is for my sister. I am much more an alien heads getting blown off kinda guy. No, I just wanted a reason to talk to you.”
The clerk girl, now helping another customer chocked in a laugh. Olivia smiled, “Well if that is all.” And went back to writing. She ignored his other attempts at conversation. He stayed twenty minutes more and she declined three offers to dinner and two requests for her number. Within the next two weeks she avoided his many visits, declined eight more dinner dates, twenty-four requests for her number two coffee invites and one teddy bear, but she did take the new book, Suzie, and read it too. It was good. It was about a little girl’s survival in World War II. Of course it was sci fi, so the German’s were controlled by aliens unbeknownst to the rest of the world, except the little girl Suzie and a small band of people that saved the world. But it had depth and was tactfully done, even with alien heads blowing up.
Olivia was shocked. She agreed to one lunch to discuss the great implications of the book.
Mike smiled, “You must have enjoyed it.”
Olivia did not smile back, “One lunch, one hour.”
“So what got you most the adorable Suzie with her impeccable morals or Mr. Smith with his proven ways that work?”
Olivia still did not smile back, “One lunch, Wednesday, and it is not a date. It is an academic discussion.”
Mike smiled wider, “Bold and up front I like that.”
She repeated, “One lunch that is all you get.”
And that was all he needed.