carpe diem ⊶ joseph descamps

15 | hey now come on over

—
[fifteen]
a desperate plea
—

Sadie watched as the leaves fell, taking in the beauty of the world around her as she journeyed to the market. Her mother had been in the middle of an important piece when she begged her to pick up groceries for their dinner that night. She easily agreed since she could do with stretching her legs for a bit. She had been sitting around the house the entire weekend, seeing as Martine and her family went on a short trip to visit her grandparents. This left her with little to do. She had been practicing her guitar out of pure boredom before her mother came and saved her. Now, she walked along the path and down the hills with her mom's tote bag for the fruits and food she would bring back.

Along the way, she had passed Mrs. Dubois, as well as some of her neighbors who had also been out and about. There weren't many shops on her street like there were near where Michèle was, but there were enough for people to frequent for dinner. What she really enjoyed was the street that had all of the vendors. There, she could watch as kids ran along, musicians came out to play, and tourists got jipped by the locals. Granted, there weren't that many tourists at this time of year, but the atmosphere was just as lively.

She could already hear it, as she finally got to the corner street. Living in a small town, it was easy to know of the people around you, including the regular who traveled here. She even knew the traveling buskers fairly well since she'd always shown interest in their performances and tipped them well every time. Few times, they would let her mess around with some of their instruments as well.

"Good evening, Sadie," one of them, Antoine, greeted, causing the rest to catch her as well. Antoine had a goatee and wore a beret on the top of his head, which she knew was used to hide the widening bald spot underneath.

He was sitting as he took a break from playing his saxophone, while another friend, Alex, finished his own part on the drums, running a hand through his long salt and pepper hair. There was another man there that had a guitar strapped to him, who she knew to be as Raphael. Raphael's messy hair had even less patches of the typical brown, making his gray eyes hidden behind his wireframe glasses pop out even more. Typically, a woman named Maude would come to sing as well, but it looked like it was just the three of them today. Each of them were in their late thirties, all traveling around France and playing as a passion. Sadie loved watching them over the past few years, first finding them in Paris, and wanting to support them whenever they happened to be around.

"Hi, guys, how's the night been?" she asked, taking a second to catch up. She honestly hadn't been able to see much of them since the summer, considering she was so busy with school, and hoped they were doing alright.

"It's been a lot better today than lately," said Raphael, finger plucking his guitar mindlessly. "With the school year picking up for you kiddos, business has been slower. But we can always thank the few tourists who help keep the streets moving.