Sore feet
Sam left the book shop still thinking about her coin purse. She decided it was probably a good idea to head back to the Core building and get her bike. After all, Sol was still at Mo’s inn, and she had promised to help him investigate his situation when she got back. She walked down the road, appreciating the city for just a bit longer before arriving in front of the Core building.
“Sam, Sam!” She heard the sound of footsteps running up behind her.
Sol’s blond hair was sticking to his face from the sweat that had only begun to dry. “Sam, that this place is amazing! You won’t believe all the things I’ve seen so far, and I’ve only been here for a little bit. They have these shops with walls and walls of clothes, and there are ones with books, and the food! Oh my goodness it all smells so delicious.”
As Sol took a moment to breath, Sam took the moment to interject “yes, it’s all very awesome!” She did her best to match Sol’s excitement, wasn’t very hard because his excitement was contagious. “But Sol, how did you get here? It’s almost 10 miles.” I thought you were going to stay with Mo until I got back tonight?”
“Do you think we could go to one of the clothes shops? There was this one just down there that looked awesome…” He paused for a second before remembering to address what Sam said. “Oh, it was dreadful there, so I walked. Mo told me the road was basically just a straight shot to the city anyways.” Sol went on to rave about all the interesting buildings and various other things he had seen. “So, what do you think, could we go to one of those clothes shops?”
Sam looked at him and the excited expression on his face. His eyes were wide open, and he was more excited about being in the city than Sam had been about pretty much anything recently. She was suddenly glad she had saved a bit of money not buying books. There was no way she would be able to tell him no, not today anyways. Besides, she had just been paid, so why the hell not? “Okay, okay,” she smiled at him. “We can go to a couple stores, but you have to be patient and listen to me alright?”
Sol did a little excited jump, which is when Sam noticed the little brown bag Sol had in his hand.
“… Where did you get that, Sol?” she said curiously.
“Oh this? I got hungry from walking over here and I passed a place that just smelled amazing, so I went in!” Sol unrolled the top of his paper bag to show Sam the two donuts he had procured. “Although, I think I was supposed to give them money for it… but the lady said it was ok and just gave them to me. Isn’t that awesome? I got you one too.”
“Sol, I’m not going to have somebody’s register get ruined or even worse cover your food from their tips. Can I see the bag?” Sol handed it to her, and she lifted it up to look at the branding on the front.
Don’t be Latte
Sam let out sigh and rubbed the bridge of her nose. Of course it was there. “Come on Sol, let’s go pay for the food, Alice was super nice to give this to you.
“The lady from the shop?” Sol asked puzzled.
“Yes, I met her earlier when I bought myself a coffee,” Sam said, wondering if it was normal to remember the name of someone you had only met once in a coffee shop and barely had a conversation with.
~
After walking back to the shop, Sol watched Sam count out some coins before handing them over to him. “Here, that should be enough to cover the doughnuts, and a little bit more as a tip.”
Sol took the bright coins from her and moved them around in his hands, watching as the sun brilliantly reflected in distinct but subtle shades of copper and silver. He took a step towards the entry but paused, thought about the way Sam had gotten embarrassed when talking about Alice, and had an idea. “Hey, I really don’t want to mess it up, would you mind coming in with me to help me count it out?”
Sam gave him that incredulous look, the same one she always gave him when he didn’t know something that was probably either ordinary or just obvious. “I already counted it out, you should be able to just remind her what you ordered and hand it over.”
“Yeah but…” Sol tried to think of a believable excuse for why he couldn’t go in. “I’m just embarrassed that I didn’t pay earlier, you know?”
“So… wait? You don’t want to go in at all?”
“Not this time, maybe next time after you’ve shown me how paying people works somewhere else?” Sol tried to put on a sort of sad pitiful look, which felt rather transparent and silly. He held the coins out hopefully. Apparently, it worked because she shrugged, took the coins, and shoved them into her jacket pocket.
Sam went over to a window of a neighboring shop and quickly ran her fingers through her hair, then opened the door and took a step into the Café.
Sol watched Sam walk up to the counter and pay for the doughnuts, and smiled to himself as he watched her introduce herself. He went and sat down at a table, not wanting to be so intrusive.
~
Sam pushed the door open and walked back outside. Sol was sitting at one of the patio tables, so she walked over and sat across from him. “Well, I got it all paid for,” she said while setting down the bag of donuts.
Sol peered into the bag while asking, “So, did she seem annoyed about me coming in earlier?” He fished out a doughnut with green sugar crystals scattered along the top and pushed the bag over to Sam for her to have one.
“No, she was very gracious actually, and tried to refuse the payment,” Sam said thoughtfully as she casually pulled her doughnut out of the bag and looked up at the shiny glass walls of the Core building. “We actually had a pretty nice conversation, she asked about my bag, and I told her a little bit about my work.”
“She is quite beautiful too.”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Sam froze for a minute, surprised, before her gaze turned to Sol and she stared at him intensely. “You weren’t embarrassed to go in there were you,” she said definitively.
Sol smiled and took a bite of his donut, letting the silence answer for him.
~
Sam led Sol to the closest thrift store, where the clerk stopped them and informed Sol, who was barefoot, that he would need to put on shoes for entry. He began to say something to her before Sam pulled him to the side.
“I don’t get why I need them,” Sol protested. “I like to be able to feel the ground. I tried on a pair of yours and I don’t like how they wrap around my feet.”
“You do need them, look at you.” Sam pointed at his feet, whose soles were dark from walking all the way from Shoehorn on dirt roads, never bothering to clean them up. It’s not just about the safety of your feet, you’ll track dirt into their store. If I was Alice, I would have kicked you out of the Café earlier. Why didn’t you put on a pair of my shoes before you left, or asked Mo for a pair?”
Sol balked, but agreed to wear a pair of sandals after Sam described how they don’t wrap your feet like normal shoes. She put her boot next to his and saw that they had around the same shoe size. Keeping that in mind, she went inside and purchased a plain pair of sandals she thought wouldn’t bother him too much. Sol put them on, and they both went inside.
Sam felt self-conscious about taking him to a thrift store at first, before she observed how absolutely delighted Sol was by the selection of clothes. He didn’t really have a sense of something being dated and would pull out a woman’s blouses from more than a couple generations ago with the exact same excitement as any other colorful, more modern looking shirt.
He wandered around the store looking for clothes that he liked, getting particularly distracted by the appliance section every time he came near it, trying to play with all the old gadgets and devices. Sam swayed him away from any particularly ridiculous clothes selections, and by the end he had picked out a couple of tank tops and pairs of shorts. He said that anything with sleeves made him feel too hot and he didn’t like it.
As they were walking up to the counter to pay, Sol wandered off to the hat rack and was staring up in awe of something. Sam looked around to make sure she wouldn’t lose her place in line and went to see what he was gawking at.
“It’s amazing!” he breathed.
Sam raised an eyebrow; she hadn’t found anything in this store that she would describe as particularly ‘amazing’. She reached up and pulled down the hat he was looking at. “This one? she asked, turning the hat over in her hands. It was a monochrome yellow cap with a bill for shading your eyes from the sun.
Sol nodded excitedly and reached for it and put it on his head, backwards. “So, what do you think?”
“Hmm, you know, it suits you quite well actually.” The yellow of the hat quite nicely complimented Sol’s golden eyes, and made them look even more gold than before, almost unnatural.
“So, can I get it then?”
Sam agreed and paid for his things.
When Sol and Sam went outside, Sam looked at a clock posted on the street and realized that they should head back to Shoehorn soon. “So, you walked here huh? We should probably get going if we want to get back before it’s dark.”
Sam took all of Sol’s new clothes and folded and stacked them neatly into the basket of her bike. Sol wore his yellow hat but took off his new sandals, saying he would rather go barefoot.
~
There was a single town between Mosel and Shoehorn called Applewood. After almost two hours of walking, Sam and Sol found themselves walking through the center of it. Applewood was largely a farming town just like Shoehorn, but its location also meant it was a central point between Shoehorn, Mosel, and a couple other farming towns, so it saw quite a bit of trade between the communities. There was a bustling marketplace in the city center. Sam came here frequently to stock up on supplies she needed since Shoehorn’s market would be closed until most of the residents returned. She decided it would be a good opportunity to pick up the next couple days of food for the inn.
“Alright, I’m just going to grab a couple things. You can go look around at stuff, but make sure you’re back here in twenty minutes alright?” Sam said and pointed to a wooden street sign set up at the edge of the market. Sol agreed and they split off, Sol in the direction of the trades people, artisans and other craftsmen, and Sam towards the section of mostly produce and cooking utensils.
~
Sam was waiting by a street sign when Sol emerged from the market pushing a bike. It was a bit rusty, but overall, it looked like it was in fairly good condition.
“I know, I know, I’m supposed to pay for things when people give them to me, but he didn’t let me!”
Sam raised an eyebrow. “Is there just something about your face that makes people want to give you free things? How does this keep happening?” She joked, while in the back of her mind also considering how quickly she had decided to help Sol after meeting him, and realizing she wasn’t immune to the effect.
“Well, I was talking to this man who runs a jewelry stand, which had all sorts of very cool things, when he asked me about where I was from because he didn’t recognize me. Then he asked why I was barefoot, and I told him I just didn’t like shoes very much. Well anyways, one thing led to another, and he asked if I wanted his old bike because he was too old to travel anyways, and it seemed like I could use it.” Sol shrugged and gestured towards the bike. “I did refuse it, but he insisted! Said it was crazy to go traveling around between cities without one.”
“Well, he’s not wrong. It is crazy to travel without one.” Sams feet were aching just from the walk from Mosel to here. She hadn’t planned on walking so much or she would have put on her hiking boots this morning instead of the lighter ones she preferred for riding.
“So, you thanked him, right?”
“Yes! He said the only thing he wanted was an update on how I was doing next time we come through town.”
“Welp, you’re going to have to help me out then, this stuff was going to be a pain to push around in just my basket.” Sam took a bag of flour and a couple other produce items and threw them into Sol’s basket.
Sol seemed to be able to strike up a conversation with just about anybody. Despite not knowing anyone, he seemed to be getting along well and learning very quickly. “So, did you talk to anyone else while you were looking around?”
“Yeah! “Sol said and began telling Sam about the other people he met in those last 20 minutes while they started off back to shoehorn. Sam nodded along and asked questions when she had them. She had never made too many friends out here, despite being here for a few months now. It was interesting to hear about people she had seen around. An hour passed before she knew it, and before long they were posting up their bikes under the swaying sign of Mo’s inn.