Blow, blow, thou winter wind
Wednesday lunchtime
I look out of the window again and bite my lip. The snow is still falling, and I am certain that in the last hour it has begun to get thicker. The wind has picked up, too, and just as I think that the door flies open, a gust of cold air and snow blowing in. The bell rings madly, and I shut the door with effort, making sure that this time it catches on the latch properly. I'm glad that my fireplace and scuttle are well stocked with firewood and coals, because I know that this sort of weather can sometimes knock out the power. The store itself only has an electric heater, but there is a grate in the store room - but if the snow gets much worse I imagine I'll be shutting the store up for the day anyway. It's been a quiet morning, with only a few customers.
I sit down behind the cash register again and pull out Wanda's invitation for the third time this morning. Surely, surely she can't know what she is doing. Surely she can't. I keep avoiding looking at the Dormouse in case I can no longer resist running over there and pleading with her not to throw her life away. Well, maybe I should do that, although I am certain people who know her better have already tried. Just the thought of it makes me feel sick and my teeth ache in the way they do when I hear chalk scrape across a board or I bite into icecream that is too cold. I rub my arms, even though I am quite warm, and put the invitation aside, instead opening my ledger and looking through this week's accounts.
[OPEN]
I look out of the window again and bite my lip. The snow is still falling, and I am certain that in the last hour it has begun to get thicker. The wind has picked up, too, and just as I think that the door flies open, a gust of cold air and snow blowing in. The bell rings madly, and I shut the door with effort, making sure that this time it catches on the latch properly. I'm glad that my fireplace and scuttle are well stocked with firewood and coals, because I know that this sort of weather can sometimes knock out the power. The store itself only has an electric heater, but there is a grate in the store room - but if the snow gets much worse I imagine I'll be shutting the store up for the day anyway. It's been a quiet morning, with only a few customers.
I sit down behind the cash register again and pull out Wanda's invitation for the third time this morning. Surely, surely she can't know what she is doing. Surely she can't. I keep avoiding looking at the Dormouse in case I can no longer resist running over there and pleading with her not to throw her life away. Well, maybe I should do that, although I am certain people who know her better have already tried. Just the thought of it makes me feel sick and my teeth ache in the way they do when I hear chalk scrape across a board or I bite into icecream that is too cold. I rub my arms, even though I am quite warm, and put the invitation aside, instead opening my ledger and looking through this week's accounts.
[OPEN]