A Tale Of Technological Serendipity

I know I've posted this over on the other forum but I thought I'd share it here as well.





**Disclaimer** I own nothing, I just write these pieces for the pleasure of writing. It's a complete work of fiction and I mean no harm toward any of the faces that are in the banner. They are but faces claims. If you would like to post my work elsewhere please ask me first, I promise I don't bite.  
Summary -

A string of failed relationships, an upcoming birthday (this is the second year she's turning 27), and the day to day of running a small used book store situated in the outskirts of Melbourne are leaving Evie Hatcher gasping for air. She figured she would have done something more with her life by now. Some unscheduled time off is just what the doctor ordered (literally) So off she goes to collect her thoughts in a far flung place, little does she know that a bit of serendipity will touch her life and change it for the better.

Attire - (slightly revamped)

http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/collection?id=2845384

Playlist (revamped)

http://open.spotify.com/user/highlandfling22/playlist/2KlQMxqSq0d1lXPV1i7tY1

Waterstone AU, July

"Bill, bill, junk, junk, ooh coupons! Junk, junk. Oh, look another damn bill."

I muttered to myself as a I flicked through the mail on my way into the backroom to start getting the new arrivals out of their boxes. It was much like any other day, my morning started promptly at seven in which I rolled out of bed, tripped over the cat, stumbled into the shower managed to get changed into something coordinated and hurried through a quick breakfast. All of this was done in a blur as I stumbled out the door of my little bungalow that was situated in the older part of town on Donaldson Street. From there I trudged, for lack of a better word, out to my equally ancient hatchback and drove ten minutes to my little patch of a business, which took up a very sparse area of a worn out strip mall. Once Upon A Tome, is it's name and it's a thing of utter beauty, well, at least to me and my small base of loyal customers. I had scrimped and saved for three years to buy the store front out, at the time it was a prime spot, back then it was situated between a tiny consignment shop and a lovely antique store both of which had since gone out when I went in. I was now sandwiched in between a "Walt's Wondrous Waterbed Emporium" and a quirky little bakery named Half Baked Patisserie, Lottie and her fellow professors were always raving about their scones and croissants, urging me to go in. I'd meant to; I'd just never found the time. A bit further down there was a rather worn down looking branch of Kmart that I frequented for a number of things, two of the mains being cat food for my aforementioned cat, Wallace, and household cleaner because a vast majority of my time was spent cleaning my crumby little bungalow when I couldn't sleep, which was often. This morning was like all most others, the weather had turned gray and chilly for the later part of July here in the land Down Under. Although I'd awoken this morning with a rather nasty stomachache, most likely from last night's dinner and I already felt a headache forming between my eyes. It wasn't even nine yet and I was always feeling horrible. I hurried my way into the back room and threw the mail onto the rickety corner desk and went about sorting the abundance of romance novels I'd received through an anonymous donor just this past Monday.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me!"

I grumbled as the power flickered and then returned to normal. It was an almost daily occurrence that the power to the strip mall would flicker and at times go out completely. Not entirely helpful when your heat source is at the front of the store and your book catalog and ledgers are all in the back but one gets used to those sorts of set backs in life. Lets just say I was certainly no stranger to those, my life had an abundance of them. In fact, I would even hazard enough guff to say that the entire basis of my love life was one giant set back, no matter what my sister, Lottie, said to try and tell me otherwise. Lottie was the younger of the two of us by two years and was certainly the more outgoing of the two, not to mention much more adventurous. Our father always said that she was the spirit and I was the brain and if you put us together we'd make an entire person. Although, I had to politely disagree with him on that one. I was in no way the brains of the operation, I was just the serious one with a quirky sense of humor who loved to read and lived in a dream world immersed in music and fictional characters. The places I dreamed of going to one day Lottie went to and sent me a myriad of post cards and photos and brought me back a thing or two. She, was like the wind, wild, untamed, and everywhere all at once. I, on the other hand was very much akin to a clump of parched Australian dirt. Slightly cracked and jagged and would crumble into a pile of dust at the slightest touch never actually going anywhere except straight back down. I also sported a head of thick red hair that nearly matched the color of said dirt and stuck out like a sore thumb at every family get together the Hatcher clan ever threw. I longed to share the dark brown locks that united Lottie and Mom and Dad and not have to worry about scorching myself every time I went outside, because like most redheads I was "blessed" with a lily white complexion and an abundance of freckles to go along with it and my lovely red locks. I'd learned early on that SPF and an umbrella were two things I couldn't live without.


Overhead the power flickered yet again as I was now precariously perched atop a very unstable ladder attempting to reach a box of return forms that were somehow on the highest shelf behind my desk. The lights went out leaving me totally in the dark just as the ladder decided to teeter away from me. I let out a strangled scream and a few expletives as I hit the wall with a sound thud and crashed landed on my ancient desk with an even louder thump; sending all of my carefully sorted books onto the floor.

“Are you alright over there?”

Came a cautious query from a male voice on the other side of the wall, I'd forgotten that these walls were like paper and any sound I made over here would undoubtedly be heard over there. I was left startled for a moment before I answered.

“Yes...I'm fine, thanks. The power just went out again, nothing new. Sorry to have disturbed you.”
I was now beet red even though I couldn't be seen. My morning was off to a wonderful start. I quickly dusted myself off and collected my wits before resorting the books that had fallen. The less I thought about my klutzy side the better.

I was so engrossed in sorting and boxing new releases to put out that I failed to hear the bell ring until someone called out if anyone was there.

“I'll be right with you!”

I hurried around my tiny office/storeroom and lugged a heavy box through the threshold and gave my first customer of the day a bright grin.

“Don't hurry on my part, Ev. I'm just here to drop off the Maugham you lent me and bring you lunch and a coffee.”

My ears perked up at the mention of coffee and food. I glanced at the clock and noticed that it was well past two in the afternoon. Fridays were usually a dull day but I had never in my life been so engrossed in sorting out new arrivals that I'd totally skipped lunch all together. Although I had to admit the thought of food turned my stomach slightly. My stomach was certainly making me pay for the take away Vindaloo I'd had the night before. I stumbled from between the stacks burdened down with a box of books for Lottie's newest expedition I must have looked a mess because the look on her face said it all.

“How many times do I have to tell you not to eat spicy foods, Ev? They never sit well with you, have a seat and give me that box before you give yourself a hernia.”

Lottie tutted after me before shooing me into a tiny alcove to have a seat in one of many mismatched second hand overstuffed chairs that were scattered about the store for easy reading spots. She calmly took the box from me and set it down and handed me the take away container and a travel mug of what I assumed was her home brewed tea before settling across from me in a plum colored paisley printed wing back that was her official spot.

“So, tell me dear sister how are you feeling?”

I inwardly cringed at Lottie's question. She genuinely cared about me, as I did about her. The only reason she asked was that she knew how our grandmother, the esteemed society lady Gwendoline Rutherford-Hatcher was always on me about finding someone to settle down with and give up my silly little dream of running a used/new book and record shop, no matter how well I was doing with business. Our parents were unwaveringly supportive of our differing ventures and were always there to lend us sound advice no matter if we were trekking across the Sahara (Lottie's the adventurous one remember.) or trying to figure out which edition of Frost's or Elliot's respected works to stock first. But when we were children we were left in our Grandmother's care as our parents went off to the wilds of Borneo or Bangladesh to study lost tribes. Our time spent with Grandmother was a veritable powder keg of contention. Partnered with my lack of dress sense, my inability to travel, and my love of all things printed I was the black sheep of her two grandchildren. Put that together with my red hair, gangly limbs, and soft speech and I was a walking target for that woman's wrath. Grandmother detested dreamers of any kind and I was quite the dreamer, always mucking about with my nose in a book, writing fairy stories, or exploring the local junk shops. I was shipped off to a rather dreary boarding school in the middle of the Yorkshire moors called Ripperton to combat my dreaminess but it only made me more isolated. A year later Lottie was enrolled because Grandmother refused to tolerate her “wild child” behavior. Needless to say once Mom and Dad got back they were fit to be tied and we were yanked out of Ripperton before you could say Ancient Ni-mu peoples. We were then enrolled in the local prep school just outside Melbourne where we thrived. Come to think of it what upsets Grandmother the most was that I still found time to do all of those aforementioned things at the age of 27.

“Uh...uhmph. Fine...good...okay...horrible. Just horrible. She called again last night just as I sat down to dinner and it threw me off. That's why I'm paying the price now. I hardly slept last night and now...here I am. Wallowing.”

I attempted a bite of the salad Lottie had brought over to me and groaned as my stomach turned into a tighter coil. The burning was so intense that tears welled up into my eyes and I nearly doubled over.

“You really shouldn't let the old bat bother you so. Mom and Dad are perfectly fine with your line of work, and so am I. Where else in the world would we bookworms of Melbourne be able to come in grab a book preview said book or album and get offered a complimentary cup of tea and biscuits? Nowhere else. You should be proud of yourself, Ev. You've got your English degree and fronted the money from your own pocket for this place.”

Deep down I was but the conversation, or rather berating I got from our dear Grandmother last evening made me second guess myself.

“You're right but that doesn't change how that woman feels about me.”

Grandmother's words still stung, I was never entirely sure why but I'd always wanted her to like me. Maybe I tried too hard? Who knows but it was one of my major character flaws. At this particular moment my stomach felt like it held a red hot fiery mass right in the pit. A wave of nausea swept over me and I bolted for the bathroom as I broke out into a cold sweat. I emerged a dull shade of grey and quite shaky. Before I could tell Lottie what was going on I was doubled over and Lottie was hurrying me out to her car and driving me toward hospital.

An hour and a few hundred needle sticks later I was told that I, Evelyn Perdita Hatcher had an ulcer. A particularly nasty one at that, I was nearly peptic by the time we got to Queen's Memorial and was very nearly in need of surgery to correct it. There I sat, in that horrid stark white and gray room in an equally horrid hospital gown listening to what the on call was telling me.

“Here's my advice to you. No spicy food, no fried food, no alcohol, and for the love of all that's holy no stress. Just go through your phone book and start crossing people out if you have to.”

I was already fidgeting with the sheets as I looked from Lottie to the Doctor and sighed.

“I can't, too many people depend on me, I do a children's story hour at my book shop and offer tutoring in English on the weekends and that would only upset our Grandmother even more if she found out I blocked her number.”

The doctor thought for a moment before scribbling down a script and smiled as he handed it to me. I took it and let out a laugh.

“One vacation with no interruptions needed ASAP. Two MG melatonin needed for flight.”

Lottie looked over my shoulder and shook her head.

“See, doctor's orders. You could always ask Mom and Dad to look after the place for you and I can pop in to check on Wallace for you and if Grandmother calls I'll tell her to take a long walk off a short pier. Everything's fixed, see? Now, lets go home and start planning this vacation of yours, huh?”

I am loving this first update and awaiting the second as patiently as I can. I feel awful for Evie, what with how her grandmother treats her - along with that nasty ulcer! urgh, the poor woman has a lot upon her shoulders already. I hope she sticks to the doctors advice and goes away for a little while - and hopefully, her sister can make sure there's no further stress or worry for her along the way!

Aww why thank you my dear! I'm so so glad you enjoyed it. :-D I've got a feeling Evie's going to have her revenge against her Grandmother in the future, don't worry. I felt horrible about putting her through that ulcer (having been there myself in the past) but she'll sort herself out. Currently bouncing between this and another piece (this time related to the lovely and divine Steve Clark and my lovely female muse) so I do apologize. I really wish I could just force myself to stick to one until it's finished but alas I can't. I know, I'm a bad bad Maggie. I can't thank you enough for being a constant reader and lovely supporter my dear, it really means the world to me and I'm forever in your debt.

I must mention that I'm over the moon about your newest piece Dusk And Her Embrace! I'm doing my happy dance over here over it!

I really hope she can come up with something to get her own back! that grandmother of theirs sounds really horrid. An ulcer sounds as though it'd be so, so painful, urgh. I hope she recovers very soon and jets off where she can finally find a bit of peace. No worries at all over jumping back + forth. I do the very same thing and feel like a bad person for it, but it's all good, so never fear. Everything you write, I look forward to reading, so go right ahead with whichever is holding your attention

{I should be making a start on that sequel this evening, so there'll be a post up later on tonight!}

I'm sure she will, she's quite the resilient little thing...even if she is quite tall. Ulcers are horrible things, I wasn't peptic but I was put on a soft foods diet and told to avoid stress, something easily said rather than done, at one point I was eating baby food and mashed bananas. *shudders and gags*

Please don't ever ever feel bad about jumping back and forth, your creations are always a work of art and please know I look forward to each and every one. I thank you kindly, it seems the Steve muse wanted a bit of play time with Evie (I dare say they're smitten) so we'll have to see what they cook up together.)   P.S. I'm so damn excited about your upcoming works that's downright illegal! Over the moon over here!