Post by Nita Elwyn on Jul 9, 2016 16:15:08 GMT -6
Bright Tower Books was always busy in the first weeks of the new school term. As the only book store in Snowy Vale, the shop was the best place for students to pick up any textbooks they might have forgotten. Ordinarily Nita Elwyn didn't mind having a lot of customers in the shop, but today's crowd was larger and louder than she'd seen in quite a while. She couldn't even hear the music she knew was playing. In addition, the number of new students in the shop meant that she couldn't just sit behind the counter all day. At the moment, she was on her knees in the middle of the shop, searching for textbooks.
“This should be the last one--The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1…” Nita pushed herself to her feet, then levitated the thick volume onto the already impressive pile by her side. “That should do it for you, kiddo,” she said to the wide-eyed first year who was walking a few paces behind her. “Let’s see if we can make it up to the counter and I’ll get you all rung up.”
She swung her wand around so that the books floated ahead of her. “Look out!” she called. “Coming through!” The people in the crowded aisles shifted to get out of her way but it still felt like she was threading her way through a needle. Had she really set up the shelves to be this close together? Surely she hadn’t meant to make her shop into a maze. She heard the first year following after her, apologizing for stepping on people’s toes along the way. As soon as this day was over, Nita swore to herself, she was going to figure out how to perform an Undetectable Extension charm and use it to make her shop twice as big on the inside as it was on the outside.
The counter was just ahead now. She would be there in just a few steps. She just had to—
“Ow! Watch it!” Nita snapped as someone banged into her, knocking her to the carpeted floor and forcing her to lose control of the levitating books. They fell to the floor around her. The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1 landed hard on her wrist. She shifted it off and rubbed the sore place, checking to make sure the heavy tome hadn’t broken anything. Reassured that she’d probably just have a nasty bruise, she pushed herself back to her feet and looked around to see who it was that had knocked her down.
“This should be the last one--The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1…” Nita pushed herself to her feet, then levitated the thick volume onto the already impressive pile by her side. “That should do it for you, kiddo,” she said to the wide-eyed first year who was walking a few paces behind her. “Let’s see if we can make it up to the counter and I’ll get you all rung up.”
She swung her wand around so that the books floated ahead of her. “Look out!” she called. “Coming through!” The people in the crowded aisles shifted to get out of her way but it still felt like she was threading her way through a needle. Had she really set up the shelves to be this close together? Surely she hadn’t meant to make her shop into a maze. She heard the first year following after her, apologizing for stepping on people’s toes along the way. As soon as this day was over, Nita swore to herself, she was going to figure out how to perform an Undetectable Extension charm and use it to make her shop twice as big on the inside as it was on the outside.
The counter was just ahead now. She would be there in just a few steps. She just had to—
“Ow! Watch it!” Nita snapped as someone banged into her, knocking her to the carpeted floor and forcing her to lose control of the levitating books. They fell to the floor around her. The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1 landed hard on her wrist. She shifted it off and rubbed the sore place, checking to make sure the heavy tome hadn’t broken anything. Reassured that she’d probably just have a nasty bruise, she pushed herself back to her feet and looked around to see who it was that had knocked her down.
))
