Chapter Two: Cephalla:

“Bye grandma, I’m leaving now!” fifteen-year-old Cephalla called from the front door.

“Take care, dear,” her grandmother said.

“I will,” the teenage girl replied. She walked out to the garage and unchained her red bicycle. Once she pulled it out on the smooth pathway, she headed out on her way around her neighborhood.

Cephalla loved the warm island air hitting her face as she rode around on her bicycle. The narrow roads couldn’t hold cars, so everyone either walked or rode bicycles or motorbikes. The only “modern” vehicle that could come on the island was the occasional airplane dropping off wounded soldiers and tourists. Frankly, the residents enjoyed having no cars on the island.

“Why do you want such ugly things ruining natural beauty?” Cephalla’s grandmother asked when her seven-year-old granddaughter asked why there were no cars. “They are too much of a hassle to maintain and they won’t fit anyway.” The youth came to accept not having a car and some even took to happily getting their motorbike license instead.

Cephalla rode past the doctor’s office where she and her grandmother worked. It used to belong to her grandfather before he died. His wife proudly took over to show the residents that her family could survive.

“We do not take charity if we don’t need to,” her grandmother told her. “We are not that desperate.” At the moment, the doctor’s office is getting a fresh coat of paint on its interior walls. So, the grandmother has been treating patients in the house. In fact, Cephalla was out to the pharmacy getting herbs for the treatments needed today.

“Hi, Cephalla!” Aither greeted her from his year.

“Hello!” she said back.

“Out running errands today?”

“Yep!”

The blonde-haired boy leaned over the white-painted gate. His blue eyes reminded her of the ocean. Cephalla had known him since they were seven. “Your grandma sure is busy these days,” Aither said.

“Yep,” she replied. “Our house has turned into the clinic.”

“When is it going to be open again?” he asked. Cephalla held up her bike as she counted down in her head.

“I think in about three to four days,” she said.

“Not fast enough!”

“Yes, yes. I would like my own bed back.”

Aither made an odd face at her. “You’re still sleeping on that old couch in the den?”

“Yep.” Cephalla happened to look down at her Mickey Mouse watch. “Oh no! I have to get going! Talk to you later!”

“Bye…” Aither mumbled while she rode away on her bike.

Cephalla sped around the corner towards town. She had to get to the Drug Store first before the government aids got all of the good stuff first. Her grandmother gave her enough money to buy enough herbs to last the week.

“You know which ones to get, right?” she asked the teenage girl.

“Yes,” Cephalla replied as she straightened her shorty messy cut light brown hair in the living room mirror. “I still haven’t forgotten.” With that exchange in mind, she made it all the way to the drugstore called Lotus. She looked down at her watch. Only ten more minutes to do, she thought. The girl pulled up her bike to the bike rank and put the kick stand down. Cephalla paced around in front of the locked glass doors. She already played out what would happen next on this warm Wednesday morning.

It’s 8:50 now, the girl mapped out in her head. Mr. Gikas will come in through the back and turn on the lights. He’ll take a sip of his morning black coffee before he sees me waving at the door. We’ll play charades in how I need to wait until the store opens. I will pace around as he goes back to the counter to answer the phone. Every second I look up, Mr. Gikas will keep talking until he realizes it’s time to open. Then all of the rest will follow accordingly. Cephalla went over the scene in her head. Yep, that’s about to happen right about… now.

She looked up to see an old man dressed in a long white coat walked into the drugstore in the darkness. Cephalla pressed her face against the glass in anticipation. Mr. Gikas held his big plastic cup in his hand as he took a sip of his morning black coffee.

“Damn good coffee,” the girl mouthed along with him like she always did. Mr. Gikas happened to look up and see his regular customer with her face pressed against the fogging glass. Cephalla counted the sits it would take before he made it over to the doors. She held up her grandmother’s list for him to see. Automatically, the old man pointed to the time painted down the glass.

“Yes,” she said, nodding. “I know it’s not time to open yet, but I’m showing you the list anyway.” The girl already knew that he can’t really hear her through the glass, but that doesn’t stop her from trying to explain her away. As expected, Mr. Gikas pointed at the time until he turned behind him in the store. And he’s going to be on the phone for the next five or six minutes, Cephalla thought. Her eyes trailed up to the clouded blue sky above. Like clockwork, a fighter jet soared over the town to drop supplies to the warring neighbor islands. To Cephalla and the rest of her generation, they became common sight around the island of Creila. The elderly found them rather unsightly.

“They’re an ugly thing to behold, aren’t they?” Mr. Gikas asked her last Wednesday while she was getting the money to pay for the medicine. Cephalla shrugged her shoulders.

“It doesn’t really bother me anymore,” she admitted.

“Oh, you’re youth,” he brushed off. “You didn’t witness war with your own eyes. I envy you kids when I think about it.” In present day, the Lotus Drugstore opened for business as soon as the old owner unlocked the glass doors.