Under the Moon of Love

Clyde walked up to the Sunny Plum Café every in the morning. Her boots made a terrible dragging noise as she walked up to the glass door.

“Oi!” she shouted. “Where be everyone?” Annie rolled her eyes behind the counter.

“Not so loud,” Tucker complained. “She’s in a bad mood today.” Clyde made an odd face at him.

“Why?” she asked.

“Please don’t ask,” he pleaded. Clyde drew her mouth closed as she nodded. She took her seat at the center table.

“You eating alone this morning?” Tucker asked.

“Nope!” Clyde said aloud. Annie raised an eyebrow at her.

“They’re coming here too?” she asked in a sharp tone.

“Yep!” Clyde said with a grin. Both owners tried not to look at her blackened, messed up teeth. She probably didn’t bathe either today. The bell at the door rang and in walked Lewis and Muriel. Clyde clapped her hands in the air.

“Oi! Right here!” she shouted.

“Don’t be so loud!” Annie barked as her friends hurried to the table. Clyde ignored her as she looked over her friends’ shoulders.

“’here’s Polly?” she asked with a puzzled look on her face.

“She left Brit Wales, remember?” Lewis asked. Clyde looked rather confused.

“When was this?” she asked.

“Three weeks ago,” the farmer answered. “She went to the big city to get married.” It took the train in Clyde’s brain to reach the station for a moment before the lights came on in her head.

“Oh!” she said. “’Hat’s right! Yeah!”

“I got a letter this morning,” Muriel added. She pulled out a pale envelope. “You will never guess who it’s from,” the old biddy added.

“Who?” Lewis asked. Muriel smiled as she held up the envelope in question.

“Aisha Taylor!” she exclaimed. The other two old biddies looked up at her with shock in their eyes.

“No way!” Clyde murmured.

“Are you serious?” Lewis asked.

“Aye,” Muriel answered. “Just got her letter today.”

“And you haven’t read it yet?” Tucker asked.

“I’m about to now,” the old biddy answered. She picked up a knife and opened the letter. Muriel pulled out the paper and began reading to herself.

“’Hat it say?” Clyde asked. Muriel held up her hand. She read faster in the lines.

“She says that she’s coming here to Brit Wales,” the old biddy answered. “Aisha’s going to be arriving at Graham Station around noon today.”

“Today?” Lewis asked.

“Well, she said the twenty-sixth,” Muriel answered, reading on. “Oh…”

“’Hat is it?” Clyde asked.

“Says here that she’s been stuck in the burrows for the past five months,” her friend replied. Clyde and Lewis hung their heads in pity. Muriel pressed her lips together and nodded.

“Yeah,” she said. “Anyway, she says that she’ll be happy to see us.”

“What time is it now?” Lewis asked.

“About ten,” Tucker answered.

“We have time,” the farmer said.

“Did you forget how Aisha was?” Muriel asked. “She’s a stickler for timing. She was married to an army officer, you know.”

“That’s true,” she mumbled with a frown.

“Hm…” all three of them mumbled. They lowered their heads, frowning.

-------

Muriel looked at the clock at Graham Station. “She said that she was coming on the Blue Line today,” she informed them.

“Which ‘hat be?” Clyde asked. She, Muriel, and Lewis all looked on the train route map.

“I see it there,” Lewis said as she pointed to the blue line on the other side of the station.

“Oh…” Muriel muttered.

“I told you we came on the wrong side!” Lewis shouted at Clyde. She lightly smacked the dirty old biddy on the head.

“Ow!” Clyde muttered. “My mistake!”

“We better hurry,” Muriel cut in. “We’ve only got about twenty minutes to get there!” The three friends took off running as fast as they could.

-------

The three old biddies raced up the opposite end of the platform. Lewis looked up and saw an old woman looking around with her hands on her hips.

“There!” she shouted. The farmer and the other two old biddies sped up to the woman in question. Their goal target looked up and flagged them down. Her friends finally met up with her after battling the crowd.

“We’re here!” Lewis exclaimed with a pant. The amber-eyed woman glared at them through her silver-framed glasses.

“You’re late,” she hissed. Her black kitten heels gave her an inch over her friends.

“We’re sorry,” the other three old biddies muttered. Aisha’s orange and yellow dress made a swish noise as she walked past them.

“My things are already at my new house,” she told them. “I need help moving them.” The other three tried to put on a brave face as they saw where this was headed.

“Let’s get moving!” Aisha shouted. “I want to get this done before sundown!” Her friends raced to catch up with her.

“Say, ya got any fags on ya?” Clyde asked as they passed the exit. Aisha wrinkled her nose at her.

“No way!” she barked. “Smoking is a disgusting habit!” Clyde backed off with her darkened hands in front of her.

“Okay, okay,” she muttered. The other three hung their heads. Now, they began to remember how Aisha really was.

New Summer Headaches

listube - free online on-demand music player