A wallpad ORANGE

Chapter 2. This Is My Lucky Day!

It was hot.

She quickly wrapped her beloved dirty well-used "snot-rag" around her hand, grasped the steel handle, and lifted up the hot canister lid.

The canister was full to the brim of thick steaming tofu-cabbage soup.

"YES! This is my lucky day!"

Quickly looking around she spied a robust red-painted iron hand truck.

"Blimey, this is definitely my lucky day! And the hand-push trolley even has air-filled tyres!"

Then for a split second, Julie had doubts. "I hope this isn't some sort of wallpad setup? But no, even I'm not that paranoid. I might be a little mad, and talk to myself and all, but I'll bet my bottom walldollar this is not a wallpad setup."

She swivelled the huge canister back and forth on the edge of its circular base, manoeuvring it onto the bottom ledge of the hand truck. She shoved the six loaves into a plastic carrier bag that was conveniently lying nearby, and tied the bag to the top horizontal rung of the vertical backing of the hand truck. She did all this at lightning speed. She wasn't hanging around.

Off she set for her East End basement one-room flat.

"This is my lucky day!"

All the while, the siren was wailing away in its undulating fashion like a mad mechanical monster screaming for death.

Then, as if in answer, darting jet planes screamed back at the siren. And they opened their mouths and spat their venom. Laser bombs of enormous energy pinged down from the London sky.

Julie simply cackled aloud like a mad woman—which perhaps she was.

Buildings all around her were slammed by laser bombs, exploding into deadly plumes of chunks and shards of molten metal and glass.

Craters were forming randomly on the road ahead of her bearing witness to the deadly laser bombs.

Still, Julie stubbornly shuffled on unhindered in a death-defying act of stupidity through the Hell on Earth exploding all about her.

"Ha, ha! Get stuffed you silly laser bombs! Go shove yerselves! Don't you see, this is my lucky day!"

And it certainly was her lucky day, because just then an amazing thing happened ...

As she trundled along defiantly with her hand truck bearing its huge canister of thick steaming glorious tofu-cabbage soup and the carrier bag of six loaves of sliced wholemeal bread, she was approaching a metal shuttered-up wallpad ORANGE eyeglass shop, when suddenly the metal shutters of the shop's front door clattered upwards with great speed. A voice from a speaker shouted loudly. Julie could only just about hear it because of the mayhem exploding all around her.

"Julie! Julie! It's me, Sally! Quick! Get down to the basement! It's bomb proof, just about! Julie! Julie! Can you hear me, you numpty?"

Julie quickly entered the shop along with her goodies and located a safety elevator that Sally's voice guided her to. She realised Sally was probably observing her with the shop's wallpad ORANGE closed circuit security cameras.

The elevator's steel double doors were open, showing the inviting view of an empty elevator cab. Julie urgently wheeled her load into the cab.

"Press the big button with the letter "B" on it," sounded Sally's voice, this time from the cab's speakers.

"Doing it!" shouted Julie, pressing the over-sized plasticised "B" button.

The cab doors closed in perfect synchronisation with the outer elevator doors.

Julie felt a shudder followed by a temporary loss of weight as the cab accelerated on its journey down to the basement.

"Can it really be Sally?" questioned Julie excitedly. "This is unquestionably, quite definitely, without doubt, beyond doubt, shake it all about doubt, my lucky day!"

The cab decelerated to a comfortable stop within thirty seconds.

The cab's double doors opened simultaneously with the elevator's outer doors ... and there was her long lost friend to greet her.

"Julie!" cried Sally.

"Sally!" cried Julie.

And the two of them hugged and cried their eyes out.

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I hope you enjoyed this Chapter. I welcome any votes, comments or constructive criticisms (style, spelling, grammar and punctuation errors).

T. J. P. CAMPBELL.