The early afternoon was decidedly heavy, so I turned up the volume when I stepped outside. There was powder in the air, powder everywhere, and soon I was snowblind.
As I stepped on the bus, I looked at my watch and realized that I was leaving almost two hours early for class. How had I made such a mistake?
I decided to use the best of my time and do some browsing. I saw what appeared to be Nadine in the mall, and would have approached her if:
- I was absolutely sure it was her
- a sudden case of shyness hadn’t taken over me
I took off to Zone to see if there was anything new, and alas, an open-air chime box was available. I was tempted to buy it, if the song wasn’t some Christmas carol. Afterwards, I set off for Folio, but to my disappointment, discovered that it’s been replaced with a soon-to-be furniture store.
I decided to peruse the bookstores in the area, and the first one I went to had nothing of interest. Even at Chapters I didn’t find any new translations of A Hero of Our Time, or the audio novel of Lolita read by the sultry voice of Jeremy Irons. The third bookstore I went to, a surprisingly modern store with eclectic finishings, had a very selective collection of books. Every wall or pillar had shelves set up with books of a different genre, and the entire place was quite a change from the bustle of the street right outside. At one corner, there was a mechanical fireplace with four very distinct flames warming up the air. The fire would have seemed much more realistic if not for the odd churning sound coming from the chimney. A couch was set up in front of the fireplace for people to read, but only a beautiful, navy blue, long-haired cat was sleeping on it, belly up, one paw lazily stretched out towards the fire.
Put in a different mood by the serenity of the store, I set off for class, and promptly changed my playlist.