@yourpensandink
Flashback, summer 1924
Due to a scheduling mixup, Mabel showed up to work only to be turned back around and sent out into the mid-morning heat. She didn’t have a reason to buy anything, and had hardly any money to do so, but she still found herself meandering in and out of shops of all kinds. The only other place she had to go was back to the rooming house, and no matter how hot it was, she couldn’t imagine sticking herself inside a stifling room with a window so dusty she could barely see the sun.
In clothing stores and grocers, she was careful to keep her hands to herself. She didn’t want to ruin the fabric with a sweaty grip, or get scolded for handling food she wasn’t planning on buying. It was difficult to follow the same policy in the bookstore she soon entered. Her parents didn’t have many books in the house, but her father did tend to reread them all throughout the year. The schoolhouse had several books for the students, but some were so poorly cared for, they were sad to see. Mabel picked up a book at random, only to realize upon slowly reading the first line that it must be for someone with some advanced understanding of philosophy. “Oh my,” she muttered as she closed the book and started to scan the other covers nearby. “Are they all like this?”