by Lucia Winchester 15th May 2021, 9:10 pm
-The outskirts of Capital Crocus, four hours later-
It was early afternoon when Lucia and Stella finally reached the outskirts of Capital Crocus. They had not run into any trouble on the way here because it was daytime and they must have passed by the bandits while the outlaws were asleep after a night of lying in wait to ambush travelers or prowling the roads in search of prey. Now that they were close to their destination the need for vigilance was not quite as intense, but they still needed to keep an eye out for trouble from local hoodlums.
Lucia and Stella paused a moment to catch their breath and determine where they were taking the package Stella was holding. Stella handed the package to Lucia and pulled a piece of paper out of the right pocket of her leather jacket. She unfolded it and read it.
"According to this job notice, Mr. Pryce lives at 1416 Monarch's Bridge. Unfortunately, I have no idea where that is." Stella informed Lucia. Lucia shrugged her shoulders.
"Me neither." Lucia admitted.
"Well, this is gonna be fun. Capital Crocus is a big place and neither one of us know where we're going." Stella commented sarcastically. Lucia kept quiet. It was not the latter's fault that Stella did not know her way around Capital Crocus, but chances were that the comment was not directed at Lucia. It was just the taller blonde's way of talking through a setback. Lucia took it in stride and moved on.
"Maybe we can find a map or a brochure. Maybe we can even find a friendly local who's willing to point us in the right direction." Lucia suggested. Stella shrugged her shoulders.
"Maybe, but I wouldn't hold my breath on that. Anyway, let's get going before traffic gets really bad. The pedestrian traffic's bad enough, but the vehicular traffic's even worse and some drivers around here are... reckless, to put it lightly." Stella suggested to Lucia and added a warning about how bad the city's pedestrian and vehicular traffic could get. Lucia nodded.
"OK then, Stella. Let's get going." Lucia said. Stella folded up the job notice, put it back in her right jacket pocket, and took the package back from Lucia before walking into the city proper.
-1416 Monarch's Bridge, two hours and twenty minutes later-
Thanks to directions from a kind local, Lucia and Stella arrived at 1416 Monarch's Bridge more than a little tired but otherwise intact. Other than aching feet from the lengthy walk and having to endure quite a few unwanted touches on the backside from handsy teenage males and young adult males during the walk on the crowded sidewalks, the two blondes had made it without too much difficulty. However difficult the walk on foot was, they were thankful that they had not decided to drive or to ride on public transportation.
Just as Stella had said, the lanes were full of vehicles and there were quite a few traffic jams. There were also quite a few reckless drivers who had gotten into fender benders because they were either looking at their iLacs while driving or they were people who considered obeying the speed limit and obeying traffic lights to be polite suggestions. There were even a couple of verbal fights between irate drivers that were threatening to escalate into physical brawls. Monarch's Bridge was a relatively peaceful neighborhood with nice houses and sensible drivers who obeyed the speed limit.
"Well, there's the house we're supposed to make the delivery to." Stella said to Lucia, pointing out the house at 1416 Monarch's Bridge. It was nice-looking two-story home with a newly added garage and a lot of security cameras. There were cameras positioned above the front door, at the sides of the house and above the garage, and in the back yard that was further protected by a six-foot-high wrought iron fence. The house looked like a small fortress, but maybe all the security cameras were a sensible precaution considering that Mr. Pryce might have a vintage car in the garage he was looking to protect.
"Which one of us is gonna ring the doorbell?" Lucia asked Stella.
"I don't know. Why don't you do it?" Stella suggested. Lucia was reluctant to do so because the house was so fortified that she expected a pack of angry guard dogs to be released if anyone got near the place, but she would go ring the doorbell.
"OK. I'll do it." Lucia said, taking on the task. She calmly walked up the driveway, walked up to the front door, and reached for the doorbell when an angry bald man opened the door and immediately began waving a wooden cane at her. He was well-dressed; he wore a blue long-sleeved shirt with a gray sweater vest over it, khaki pants, and black dress shoes that were immaculately polished and shined. He looked like a university professor or another type of academic.
"YOU DAMN CORPORATE SPIES! COMING TO STEAL MY BOOKS, ARE YOU? I WON'T STAND FOR IT!" He yelled at Lucia and began to swing at her head with the cane. Lucia put her arms up in front of her face and blocked the blows without fighting back because he was just an old man who might be suffering from dementia or some other issue associated with old age. Stella ran up to the front doorstep and interceded before things could get any worse.
"If you'd quit trying to beat my partner with your cane for just a moment, I have a package for you, Mr. Pryce." Stella said, offering up the package with both hands. Mr. Pryce quit trying to beat Lucia with the cane and took the package from Stella. As he looked at it he calmed down and forgot all about Lucia. Lucia took advantage of the distraction to back away from Mr. Pryce before he remembered what he was doing and went after her again.
"This must be that rare book I ordered a month ago! Well, it took them long enough to ship it, but better late than never, I suppose. I thought that it had gotten lost in transit!" Mr. Pryce groused about how late the book's shipping was before lightening up with the last sentence. Lucia and Stella remained silent. Lucia was just glad that he was not trying to hit her with that cane any more.
[Post Word Count: 1,070]
[Total Word Count: 1,938/5,000]
Last edited by Lucia Winchester on 16th May 2021, 10:50 am; edited 1 time in total