[identity profile] npc-excolo.livejournal.com posting in [community profile] estdeus_innobis
Sunday, February 14th
Valentine's Day


I sit on my bed with my legs crossed, writing real careful in my notebook. MRS CLARA GRANGER I write, all tidy, then underneath I practice my signature. Clara Granger. That nice man at the market swore it wouldn't take too long for him to propose after he drank the potion. After I practice my signature a few times I write our names together. PETER AND CLARA, and I put them inside a nice big heart.

I hear Momma shouting for me and I sigh. I know she won't approve when Peter and I get together, cos he is a bunch older than me and she says seventeen is way too young to settle down. But I know she married Pop at nineteen, so she's just a hypocrite. And Peter's a real good catch - got his own job, his own place. There's that Maya of course to worry about, I think, and I push my pencil a bit too hard into the page and the point breaks. But once Peter's had the potion he won't remember that he likes her. I just need to work out how to get it to him.

Momma shouts again.

"Coming!" I shout. I know she wants me to go to that dumb Valentine's market and help her sell quilts. Ugh. But Peter might be around town, so I check my hair is nice before I go down.

***


This punch just don't look too appetising. I sigh and shout for Clara again. What is that girl doing? Probably dreaming about that barman. She thinks I don't know she's moony about him. I'm just glad he's got a sweetheart, or else he might go for my Clara - she's real pretty and men like adoring girls. He's much too old for her. I taste the punch and it's real nice, course it is, made from our fruits, but the colour just don't pop. Feeling a bit guilty, I get out some food colourant and drop it in, and it goes a nice reddish colour. That's about right for Valentine's, ain't it? I stopper up the barrel. Clara comes down.

"Get those quilts in the cart, will you?" I say, hustling her out and then getting the punch on the wagon. Roads are clear, so we get set up easy. Just a few stalls for this - jewellery, flowers, all kinds of novelties. I put out the prettiest quilts - maybe some guy'll think one'd make a nice present for his wife, and more practical than earbobs - and set up the punch.

"Free punch, sir?" I say, holding out a cup. After a bit of prodding I get Clara dishing up punch too. Hopefully it'll be a good day.

[OPEN]
[Closed]

Date: 2010-10-01 08:32 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lei-miao-shan.livejournal.com
"Nice of you to ask, sweet," he says gently, but I can hear the rejection in his voice, see it in his eyes, before he ever speaks the words. "but I ain't the dating kind."

I am startled by how disappointed I am. I had hoped....well, I do not know what I had hoped, but I truly did wish to spend more time with this man. And I wonder what it was that I did to make him not want the same. "But you want to have a friendly dinnah some day, I can do that."

Well, that is not quite what I had hoped for, but that shows he does not completely dislike me. And I am always glad to make new friends. "Yes," I say, looking up at him and smiling, "I should like that very much. I am sorry if...if what I said was somehow improper." Perhaps he is chaste, or has a wife or boyfriend or lover waiting at home. Foolis woman, presuming so much.

Date: 2010-10-03 05:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nunaunet.livejournal.com
"I should like that very much. I am sorry if...if what I said was somehow improper."

Sort of strange to heah a whore wondah if she's bein' impropah cos she asked someone out on a date, but I'm old enough to know that people's work lives an' private lives ain't the same, so I smile an' shake my head.

"Ain't nothing impropah, sweet. Like I said, I ain't one for dating. Not something I need. But flattahed you asked, ayuh. You come by the carnival, ask for Nu, you'll find me, have some tea." Smile at her. Don't offah my hand, cos I remembah that wasn't the Chinese way. Give her a little bow. Seems the least I can do. "You have a good day," I say, an' I go on my way.

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