Animal Space
Muriel sighed at the table in the Sunny Plum.
“What’s wrong?” Lewis asked. The old biddy rubbed her forehead.
“It’s my daughter,” she said. “She’s coming home.” Everyone in the café turned
their attention to her.
“What?!” the old biddies asked.
“Why?” Lewis asked.
“She says that she’s moving here for work,” Muriel complained. Aisha blinked at
first.
“So… Is she moving back into the house?” she asked. The middle-classed old biddy
shook her head.
“Not permanently,” she said. “Only for a short time.” Clyde lowered her head and
took off her hat.
“Sorry ta hear tat,” she said. Aisha smacked her in the head.
“Ow!” she complained.
“Talk properly,” the leader hissed under her breath.
“No!” Clyde barked.
“Cheers, guys,” Muriel said. Her friends looked up at her. The old biddy rubbed
her forehead.
“I don’t know what to do,” she said. The old biddies could hear someone clear
their throat. They turned to see Annie standing behind the counter, frowning
with her arms folded across her chest.
“Are you going to order something?” she asked. The old biddies looked at each
other for a moment.
“Four teas,” Aisha said.
“Coming up,” Annie said. Muriel put her head down on the table and groaned.
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Meanwhile, the ten o’clock train pulled up at the station. The crowd of people
all walked off. One of them was a woman dressed in a white dress suit with
shades. She pulled her dark purple suitcase along with her. The woman lowered
her shades and looked around. She frowned at what she saw.
She’s not here yet,
the woman thought. She looked at her watch.
I should’ve told her what time to meet me.
The woman looked at her watch. I guess
that it’s too early. She began her exit from the station.
“It feels good to be back,” she said to herself.
----------
The woman made it into town. Everything looked the same as it did when she first
left for university. Despite the charm, she couldn’t get what her bosses saw in
this place. Sure, Brit-Wales looked cozy, but why would anyone want to do
business out here? The woman looked around and shook her head.
“There isn’t much out here,” she said under her breath. When she turned around,
she noticed an old man with two young ladies by his side walking out of the post
office. The woman lowered her shades and tilted her head. After a few seconds of
staring, a light bulb went off in her brain.
“William?” she asked. The old man looked up at her. At first, he made a strange
face at her. Clover turned her head.
“Who is that?” she asked. The woman walked over to William and his nieces. She
broke into a huge smile.
“It’s me!” the woman said. William narrowed his eyes.
“Huh? Juliet?” he asked. “Is that you?”
“Yeah,” the woman answered. Liz and Clover looked at her confused.
“Juliet?” they asked. Juliet took off her shades.
“Oh that’s right,” she said. “You girls were really young when I went off to
college.” William blinked at her.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“I’m here for business,” the woman said. “My company is looking to expand out
here in Brit-Wales.”
“Why?” William asked. Juliet shrugged her shoulders.
“I just go where the boss sends me,” she said.
“Does Muriel know you’re here?”
“I told mum over the phone, but I don’t think I told her what time I was
coming.” Juliet nervously laughed as she rubbed the back of her head. “I think
that was an error on my part.”
“Oh,” William said.
“Say, is the Sunny Plum open yet?” Juliet asked. “I am feeling a bit peckish.”
“I think so,” Liz said. “I’m not too sure.”
“Cheers,” Juliet said. “I guess I will see you all later.” The woman dragged
along her suitcase as walked down the road. William waved with a nervous look on
his face.
“Oh boy…” he muttered.
“What’s the matter?” Clover asked.
“Muriel’s not going to be too happy to see her,” William answered with clinched
teeth.
“Why is that?” Liz asked.
“She likes her freedom too much,” her uncle muttered. He turned and walked down
the road. His nieces followed behind, confused.
----------
Juliet walked up to the Sunny Plum. She smiled as she
put her hand to the glass door. Wow, how
long since I have been here? The woman wondered if Annie and Tucker were
still there. Only one way to see. Juliet pushed open the glass door. When she
stepped inside, the woman found herself in for such a shock.
“Mom?!” she asked when she looked at the table in the middle of the room. Muriel
and the other old biddies looked up with big eyes.
“Jules,” Muriel said. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to get something eat,” her daughter said. “What are you doing here?”
“Same,” Muriel said. Clyde started making faces like a money as she could see
where this was heading.
“Excuse me,” Aisha said. “Where do you plan to be staying until you get your own
place?”
“I’m moving back home,” Juliet said. Muriel quickly shook her head in a panic.
Her daughter pushed back her short blonde hair.
“It’s only going to be temporary, though,” she said. “This will just be a start.
I will be out at work for most of the day, anyway.” Her mother pressed her hand
to her forehead. Juliet looked up to see Annie and Tucker staring at her from
behind the counter.
“You’ve grown so much,” Tucker said.
“How have you been?” Annie asked.
“Fine,” Juliet said. “Do you still have the breakfast special?”
“Coming up,” the older woman said. Juliet pulled out a chair from another table
and sat down with the old biddies. Muriel forced herself to smile but screamed
on the inside.
But, Juliet wasn’t going to the only one to come back into Muriel’s life.
Family Life