Sarah tried the front door, finding it not budging no matter how much she jiggled the knob, pushed or pulled.

“Di…” she started the call, only for the woman to appear at her side immediately. Thankfully dressed, though the velvet mini dress didn’t seem to exist to cover up much.

“Sorry, dear,” she said, reaching for a rack of keys in the hallway, “It’s locked from this side.”

“...Why?”

“I’ve had some uninvited visitors.”

“You do seem the type to attract those,” Sarah mumbled. Diana just smiled and pushed a rainbow-colored key into Sarah’s hand.

“Don’t lose the key,” she said, “I can’t replace them.”

The key looked, apart from the color, like an ordinary house key to Sarah, who couldn’t imagine what made it so irreplaceable. She still nodded, said she’d watch it carefully, then put the key into the lock. Diana let out of a soft gasp, smiled innocently when Sarah turned around, then just gently let her out.

“Have a safe trip, dear. Remember, bus stop is left, then right, then left again, then out the street and go left, take the third right and it should be there. If it’s the stop for the school bus, you’ve gone too far.”

Sarah smiled, not mentioning that she already had entered the stop in her phone.

“Thanks, Diana. Have a good day.”

“Oh,” Diana said, a devilish smile playing on her lips, “I’m bound to…”

“A...ha,” Sarah said, shrugged as the door closed behind her, and started to walk.

She hadn’t noticed inside the house, but she appeared to be walking in a scented cloud of whatever detergent Diana used. A scent she couldn’t quite place, but she wanted to say it was a mix of cinnamon, and a high note of ginger.

“Go right,” the robotic woman’s voice of her phone's route planner said and Sarah mechanically turned, still more concerned with placing the specific perfume than the world around her. As such, she didn’t notice the strange response people had to her passing by. Parents taking their playing children inside when they saw her, others crossing themselves and even one child openly glaring at her.

She casually kept walking until she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. She pulled away, ducked and turned around, only to find herself eye to eye with the man that lived across from Diana and, by extension, her.

“Hello, my child,” he said. It seemed a strange way to address a stranger until she realized that the man wore the black cassock of a priest. Sarah sighed. Barely a day in the neighborhood and already the fundies seemed to be after her.

“Do you need help crossing the street,” Sarah asked, not feeling the urge to deal with this man.

“I’d like to ask you a question,” the man said, patiently folding his hands in front of him, continuing without waiting for permission, “What is your favorite bible passage?”

Sarah was ready for the question.

“When I’m talking to your kind, Psalms 22:2 comes to mind.”

“Very witty,” the priest continued, “Are you aware you’ve wandered into a den of sin?”

“My aunt did invite me to Vegas once, but I didn’t have the time to go.”

“Your jokes won’t protect you when you stand face to face with the lord, my child. How would your mother feel about you having dealings with one of the daughters of the whore of Babylon?”

Sarah looked at the man as if he were crazy, then a mischievous thought popped into her head.

“I’m afraid my mother is dead, sir.”

“Is she?” the man seemed unconvinced.

“Sure is,” Sarah continued, “A dark wizard killed her when I was little and left a lightning bolt shaped scar on my forehead.”

Before the man had a chance to formulate a response, Sarah pulled her bangs back and when the man leaned in for a closer look, she placed her middle finger on her forehead.

“See?” she said testily, then turned around to continue on her way, “Now leave me alone.”

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“The Lord Jesus will be here when you’re ready to be saved,” the priest called after her.

“I’ll hold out for Superman,” she snapped back over her shoulder, then crossed the road to be away from the man, barely avoiding being hit by a speeding car.

“Could’ve used him there,” she mumbled to herself as she caught her breath and checked over her shoulder. The priest was gone.

“Weird,” she said to herself and continued on her way.

Sarah had picked up her new car and the stuff from her old apartment, then dropped off the morning’s research at Bredero’s office. Now she was sauntering downtown, trying to find a florist to buy flowers to thank Diana for welcoming her into her home.

As she walked down the road, hands in her pockets and her thoughts elsewhere, she slowly started to notice that men were paying more attention to her than usual. Men, and even some women. When one seemed to follow her, she quickly ducked into the first store she passed.

“Can I help you, ma’am?” the man behind the counter said, “I don’t think is this your kind of es-tah-blish-men-tah...”

Sarah took a moment to check where she had hidden herself, finding it was an upscale jewelers.

“Just browsing,” Sarah said casually. A voice in the back in her head urged her to splurge the returned security deposit of her previous apartment, just to prove the man that she had just as much right to be in the store as him.

“Around the corner there’s a,” the man pretended to think for a moment, before adding the name of the store with a theatrical detestation, “Hot top-pick-kuh”

When Sarah didn’t respond, he added, “Maybe that’s more your type of es-tah-blish-ment-tah.”

Sarah ignored him, continuing to browse the store until something caught her eye. A crucifix, made of soft pink gemstones, lined with gold.

“How much for this…”

“Fivvvvve hundred and fiffff-ty doh-llars, ma’am.”

“You’re joking?”

“Afraid noh-tah, ma’am.”

“Maybe I’ll go check out Hot Topic,” Sarah said, heading out the door.

“You do tha-tch, ma’am.”

Sarah rolled her eyes and left the store, “Have a nice day, ass.”

“My ass will have a nice day, ma’am.”

Still annoyed, Sarah continued to the florist, where she was welcomed by the sight a cheerful dark skinned woman putting sunflowers in her hair to amuse a child that was the spitting image of herself.

“Excuse me,” Sarah said, ducking under a low hanging plant, “I need some advice.”

The woman pulled the flower from her hair, gave it to the child to put in her own, then warmly smiled at her customer.

“What can I help you with, sweetie?”

“I recently got a new roommate and I wanted to give her some flowers, but I don’t know which would suit the...Miss?”

The woman closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, before offering her a conspiratorial look.

“You’re living with Diana, aren’t you? I know exactly which to get her.”

“...How’d you know?” Sarah asked, nonplussed. The woman responded by tapping her pierced nose.

“Makes sense.”

“Please wait a minute,” the woman said and Sarah watched her head through the store, collecting flowers.

The woman quickly worked to finish the bouquet, mentioning their names to Sarah as she did.

“These are white camellias,” she explained as she built a perimeter of them, only for a series of orange ones to follow.

“Marigolds. African to be exact, then these are peach blossoms and finally, just one Bachelor’s button.”

There was some quick cutting and a moment later there was a pink ribbon around around the flowers.

“Twenty dollars, sweetie,” the woman said, “And that’s a steal, and only cause they’re for Diana.”

“Popular woman, huh?”

“Without her I wouldn’t have my shop.”

“Aha…”

Sarah paid the woman, then leaned in, “Do you know what’s up with her hate of religious symbols?”

“I do,” the woman said, her smile momentarily gone, “And if she hasn’t told you, you’re not ready to know. Have a nice day now.”

Sarah nodded, took her flowers and headed out the store, back to her car.

Her car wasn’t much, but it moved, which was enough for her. An almost box shaped car from somewhere in Europe, ideal for the city. The only problem seemed to be an unbalanced steering wheel, which would start to wobble at speeds over fifty. Another issue was that there was a CD stuck in the player and the previous owner had no idea what was on it.

“Devil music,” the old lady had said.

Sarah opened the volume as she merged into traffic, smiling when a familiar guitar started to play. A light turned green right as the drums set in and a moment later she was singing off key along to the music.

“Living easy,” she started, trying to roll the window down, finding it stuck after a few inches, shrugged and hit the gas.

The rest of the CD was rock music she had never heard of, but it didn’t bother her in the fifteen minute drive to her new home.

When she passed the bus stop, she saw the priest that had accosted her earlier. Bible in hand and either waiting for the bus, or her to return. She was glad she could speed by and found Diana outside. She was relaxing on the stairs to the front door. Basking in the autumn sun with a glass of something brown.

Sarah rolled her car onto the driveway, getting a curious glance from Diana, though the woman made no effort to stand up.

“I guess she’s used to people showing up,” Sarah mumbled, struggled to get the key from the ignition, then headed up to the door.

“Are those for me?” Diana said, delighted at the bouquet, “Am I glad I took you in. So thoughtful.”

“Just a thank you for the… very generous rent.”

Diana smiled, put her drink down and took the flowers from Sarah.

“That looks like a piece of junk,” she said about the car.

“It moves,” Sarah shrugged, then returned to the car to unload her boxes.

“Need help?” Diana called, then ducked her face into the flowers, before looking up again.

“Just some books and clothes,” Sarah shrugged, “I can handle it.”

“Suit yourself. Now, about these flowers… That’s a bachelor’s knot. You got these from Nia.”

“Who?”

“The florist downtown.”

“Can’t say I caught her name.”

“They’re hers,” Diana said, “I should call her.”

“You do that,” Sarah mumbled, “Popular, aren’t you?”

“You have no idea, dear,” Diana said. Even though Sarah couldn’t see her, she heard the smile in her words.

Sarah turned around to see how close Diana was for her to have heard that, but the woman had disappeared into the house. Shrugging her shoulders, Sarah set to getting the boxes inside.