Rose pushed her hands into the small of her back and stretched, letting out a satisfied Ahhh as her spine popped, relieving some of the tension that had been building up throughout the day. It had been a few days since she and her son, Cyril, moved into this little town and it was her first day at work.
She had spent most of it being shown around the clinic and shadowing her colleagues. She was now staying late to help the coworker who had been training her finish up reports.
So far, Rose really liked her new home and she hoped that Cyril would come to like it here too. She worried that he was cooped up alone at the house by himself all day. Sure, he said he didn't mind, but it couldn't be good for his social development, right?
Hopefully, he'd at least be able to make friends at his new school when classes start in a couple of months, since it didn't seem like many kids lived nearby their house. The two of them had done a little exploring and met the other neighbors that lived further up the mountain.
They had both been surprised to discover a little town square of sorts with old fashioned buildings. There had been a market for groceries, some clothing shops, and even a salon. All of which was only about a five-minute drive from their home.
Rose was very pleased to discover that the prices were much cheaper in this town square than the one at the base of the mountain. She had a feeling that her and Cyril would become regular shoppers at that town square.
Rose suddenly remembered that she had forgotten to pick up some ingredients that Cyril had asked her to pick up for dinner tomorrow. Pulling out her phone, Rose decided she would text him to let him know.
_ _ _
Rose:
Heads up. I forgot to get the stuff from the market for the recipe you wanted to make tomorrow. I can run by and get it in the morning.
Cyril:
I can just go and get it now. It's not that far on bike.
Rose:
Are you sure? It's going to rain soon, I don't want you to get caught in the storm.
Cyril:
There's not a cloud in the sky. Plus, my weather app says the rain doesn't start for another 2 hours. I can get there and back.
Rose:
Alright. Be safe and text me when you get home. Love you.
Cyril:
Okay. Love you too.
_ _ _
Cyril shoved his phone in his pocket along with his house keys and a wad of cash from the cookie jar his mom kept on the counter for extra spending money. He pulled a backpack over his shoulder to carry the groceries and headed out. The door squeaked loudly on its rusted hinges as Cyril exited the house and locked it behind him.
He picked up his bike and walked it out to the main road, before getting on it and peddling away. Cyril looked around at the woods and admired the scenery as he biked. The sky was clear and blue, the sun's rays shining through the leaves and creating little concentrated rays of light.
After around seventeen minutes, he finally pulled up to the market. He locked his bike around a wooden post on the short fence that bordered the sides of the market and went inside.
He went down the aisle, grabbing ingredients as he went. Fresh stalks of asparagus, some chicken broth, cream, and a couple of different spices. Luckily, the cream was the only thing they needed that was refrigerated and Cyril felt confident it would be fine on the ride home.
Cyril went up to the front where the owner, Mr. Smith, was waiting at the cash register.
"Hi there again, young man." Mr. Smith was an elderly man with grey hair and kind eyes. He gave off a welcoming feeling that Cyril assumed would be what a grandfather would be like. "Cyril, right."
How did Mr. Smith know his name? Cyril didn't remember talking to Mr. Smith when he came with his mother. "Yeah, how'd you know?"
"Your mother mentioned it when she introduced herself." Mr. Smith started typing the information into the old mechanical register, the keys landing with an audible clack every time he pushed down.
That's one thing that had spiked Cyril's curiosity when he had come to the town square with his mother earlier. All the shops seemed to only have a minimal amount of technology and all of them used old-fashioned mechanical cash registers and only accepted cash.
Cyril decided to voice his curiosity and asked, "So, how come everyone uses old cash registers, like this one, up here?"
Mr. Smith chucked. "Well, kiddo. It may seem rather old-fashioned to you, but to all the old folks like me around here this here register is state-of-the-art. To be frank with you, it's just that people living around these parts tend to be a bit old-fashioned. I don't know if you've noticed, but you're probably the only child living up here. The rest of the kids live in the town at the bottom of the mountain."
"Oh." Cyril thought back and realized he hadn't seen any kids his age or younger when he was exploring the trails or his new neighborhood. "Why's that?"
Mr. Smith was bagging up Cyril's things into a brown paper bag and he shrugged.
"Well, it used to be a lot busier up here and we would get a lot of tourists even in the past, but ever since they started developing at the base of the mountain, up here has just gotten less and less popular. Now we really only see visitors for the walking trails, but those don't go past the town square here. I suppose we've really just become a secret area only locals know about. Makes the place seem more exclusive, doesn't it!"
Mr. Smith folded the paper bags top over and handed it out to Cyril. Cyril grabbed it and then, realizing he hadn't paid, he rummaged around in his pocket before pulling out the cash.
"How much was it again?"
Mr. Smith waved off the offered money. "It's on the house for you today. Consider it a welcome gift. I hope you and your mother love it here!"
"Oh," Cyril was surprised at the old man's generosity. "Are you sure?"
Mr. Smith nodded. "I'm sure. Now, you had better get going back home before the storm comes in. It can be dangerous to get caught outside in a storm. Especially on a bike. It can get slippery on the roads, so be careful that you don't fall off your bike."
"Okay, will do. Thank you so much for the groceries."
"It's no problem, kiddo."
Cyril was confused by the man's warnings as he had only been in the store for a little while and it was bright and sunny when he had come in. When he exited the market, Cyril was surprised to see that the sky had darkened considerably and grey storm clouds had moved across the sky to cover up the sun.
Where the heck did those clouds come from? It was sunny like just a second ago?!
A low rumble from the sky brought Cyril out of his musings and spurred him forward towards his bike, now in a hurry to get home. He shoved the groceries into his backpack and zipped it up.
He unlocked his bike from the fence and got on. As he peddled away, Cyril felt the first drops of the coming storm land on his cheek.