Sunday, February 15, 2009

Chapter 16

Bill finally got his suitcase back and left the airport. Even with a couple hours' time difference it was still getting dark there. He yawned, stretched and got on the bus to the city center. It was still not the end of Bill's journey. He was now in the capital of Summerland and his destination was a town called Moonshadow. That meant a couple more hours spent on a bus.
When he got the center of the country's capital it was already dark. He bought the ticket and got on the bus to Moonshadow. The bus set off soon after. The regular sounds of the engine and Bill's being tired soon made him fall asleep.

***

A man's voice woke Bill up. He opened his eyes and for a moment could not remember where he was. He looked around and saw the man who woke him up. Apart from the two of them the bus was empty.
-You finally woke up! - said the man. - That's the last stop, time to get off.
-Are we in Moonshadow? - asked Bill.
-No, we passed Moonshadow two hours ago.
When Bill heard that, he was very disappointed. He asked if there is any way to get to Moonshadow.
-There is no bus until 1 pm tomorrow. You could take a taxi, but that would be very expensive - the man said. He paused for a moment, then spoke again. - You know what? You look really tired. Go to the hotel, get some sleep, eat something and come back here tomorrow. There's nothing in Moonshadow that we don't have here.
Bill agreed that it probably was the best solution and asked the man how to get to the hotel he mentioned. When he learned where to go, Bill thanked the man, took his suitcase and began to walk, following the man's directions.

***

A couple of turns later Bill was passing through a park. He started to feel lost. According to the directions he got, he should already reach the hotel. He saw two men walking towards him and decided to ask them about the hotel.
-Ah, information. That's a might tool. And nothing comes for free - said on of the men when he heard Bill's question. - Oh, and what a pretty suitcase you have. I bet I would look great with a suitcase like that. - he smiled in an ugly way.
Bill tried to get rid of those men, but it was too late. The same, black-haired man spoke:
-Where are you going? You don't know where the hotel is, we'll help you! We'll show you what the true hospitality is. Dan, – he said to the other man – help our friend carry his suitcase.
At that point Bill was very nervous and quite unsure. If there was only one man, he could probably cope with him, but since there were two of them, the only solution was to run away. He was waiting for the right moment and trying to excuse himself from the men's 'help'.
He didn't manage to put his plans into action, because he was suddenly hit in his head with something heavy, and lost consciousness.

***

If there was someone walking through the park in Boggings around 3 am that night they would see three men talking. A while later they would see one of the men hitting another one in the head with a big stone. They would also see one of the men falling to the ground, and other two surrounding him, and bending above him like vultures. Then they would see the unconscious man being dragged among the bushes growing there, and two shadow-like figures running out of the bushes and going in two opposite directions, one of the figures carrying something big and rectangular. But there was no-one there. All citizens of Boggings were fast asleep, resting before yet another tiring day. The only witness of the whole incident was a squirrel jumping from one end of the park to the other, but it soon forgot about the whole scene, concerned with far more important matters.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Chapter 15

Roma woke up and looked at the clock on her bedside table. It was 8 am. Bill was probably already on the plane. There was a long journey ahead of him. He promised to call her right after he reaches the hotel he was to stay in.
She got up, took a shower, ate breakfast and started to work on another painting.

***

As she was working, she started to feel more and more anxious.

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Her sixth sense told her there was something wrong. Or if it was not wrong already, it will be soon. She immediately thought of Bill. There was no way to contact him, so she turned on the radio and full of fear listened if there was any report of a plane crash. The news ended, and luckily the words „plane” and „crash” were not uttered. She felt a bit reassured, but the strange feeling would not go away. She thought to herself that she was probably worrying too much and went back to painting.

***

In the evening the feeling of anxiety was even stronger. She was eagerly awaiting the sound of the phone ringing, but minutes upon minutes passed and it remained silent. She had to argue with herself to prevent herself from panicking: there was probably a delay and Bill is still on his way to the hotel, or the journey was so tiring that he went to sleep right after reaching the hotel, or he just simply forgot and the next morning he will call her, feeling guilty, and apologize. Yes, that must be the case.
She finally was calm enough to fall asleep.

***

Creaking of the front door woke her up. For a moment she remained silent and fished for any further sounds, unsure if what she just heard was just a dream or reality. She heard the door creak again. It was real, someone was trying to enter her house.

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She grabbed something heavy and hoped that the alarm she bought would work.
And it did. Faster than she could do anything herself, the police was there. When she ran into her living room she saw the policeman and a woman dressed in black and white fight in the center of it.

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A moment later the burglar was handcuffed and sitting in the police car. The policeman went back inside to make sure Roma is alright and tell her to call her insurance company. She promised to do so in the morning and went back to bed.
The strange feeling was almost gone.

Chapter 14

A month has passed since Bill and Bella's visit in Challengeville. Bill and Roma continued on their traditional telephone conversations, and both were looking forward to them from the moment they woke up. But this day was special. Usually it was Roma calling, but on that day Bill hurried back to his dorm so that he could call her as soon as possible. She picked up the receiver immediately after he dialed her number.
-Roma, I have wonderful news! - he cried in excitement. - They picked me! I'm going to Summerland to chase some rare parrots around tropical forests!
She laughed and congratulated him. He went on for a while and told her a bit about the details of his trip, and about the decision, about the reactions of others. She listened to all of that and shared the excitement.
After a couple of minutes he calmed down enough to be interrupted.
-I have something to tell you too – Roma said.
-What is it, honey?
-You're going to be a father.
He said nothing for a second.
-That's... That's wonderful! - he said, beaming with happiness again, but suddenly grew serious. - But I'm not going to be with you for the first couple of months.
-I don't think you'll miss anything interesting. Morning sickness isn't very entertaining. You'll be back just in time when the real fun starts and I'll start to look like a beached whale.
-Just make sure to rest a lot, eat healthy, get a lot of sleep, avoid stressful situations,...
-OK, OK, I think I'll survive somehow - she said, laughing.