Day 7

Day 7

March 7th, 2009

30-Day Challege

Picture submitted by: Cerena Humphreys

Loud and Laughter

She was feeling exuberant.  Hanging out with Rick always made her feel that way.  He had the kind of energy that’s so contagious that entire groups of people around him erupted into boisterous activity.  Today there were no groups of people, just Laura, and she had caught onto his energy.

They had already dashed through a supermarket, Rick pushing the cart and Laura riding inside.  They had also danced on a fountain, acted like statues, and walked an old lady across the street.  Just now, they had asked some person walking by if they would take a picture of them acting out a signboard behind Rick and Laura.

“Is the coffee house open yet?” asked Laura, glancing at her watch.  “It’s almost 6:00 now.”

Rick glanced down the street.  “Don’t think so.  Maybe they open at 7:00.”

Laura sighed.  “This is almost too much trouble for a cup of coffee.”

Rick laughed.  “No.  This is one really good cup of coffee.  It’s completely worth it.”

“It better be.”  Laura paused, looking confused.  “If it’s so good, why don’t you know when the restaurant opens?”

“I always come around 9:00 at night.  How am I supposed to know when it opens?”

Laura strode down the street until they reached the store.  She pointed at a tiny sign in the window, hand-written in marker.

HOURS:  

MONDAY - SATURDAY

7:00 P.M. – 1:00 P.M.

Rick stared at it, then burst out laughing.  “And did you notice that the first time we were here?”

Laura grinned sheepishly.  “No.”

“Well, we have an hour left.  What do you want to do?”

“I haven’t the faintest idea.  How about if we explore some alleys?”

“Sounds fun!”

So they ran down an alley.  Then down another.  At the third, they stopped short.  Shocked, their expressions froze into a look of panic.  They weren’t the only ones frozen in position.  

Not far down the alley, a man in a black jacket stared back at them.  Surprisingly, his clothing looked very nice, and his hair was neatly combed.  In his hand, he held a gun pointed at the other occupant of the alley.  The other man wore a tan jacket, well-worn jeans, and a red t-shirt.  Like the robber, his hair looked well trimmed.  The terrified victim alternated his gaze from the gun to the two youths who had interrupted the robbery.  For a few horrible seconds, no one moved.

And then everything happened at once.

Suddenly, the man being robbed reached out and knocked the gun out of his assailant’s hand, Rick lunged forward to tackle the assailant, and Laura grabbed the gun up from the ground.

“Don’t move!” shouted Laura.  She held the gun as steadily as she could, hoping that the panic pumping through her didn’t show up in her voice and hand.  The assailant, currently lying prostrate under Rick, stayed very still.

The oddest thought came to Laura then, with the adrenaline pumping through her.  That better be one heck of a good cup of coffee.