Two Old Farts

Chapter Two

The next day flew by without a second thought. Reese watched TV, slept, listened to old CDs, and for once cleaned up a bit. He didn't do much, but he now had clean clothes and fewer things to trip over. Steph showed up ten minutes before seven and helped with some dishes, just to check in. She left as soon as she'd came, save a few minutes of banter about the alleged doctor's appointment. And Reese was left with the entire house unfortunately all to himself again.

After an uninterrupted TV dinner, Reese attempted sleep on the bed upstairs. After a long cold hour he gave up and went back to the couch.

Finally, the sun was shining almost painfully bright and Reese felt a bit more energetic today. He left the house almost immediately after noon and shuffled back to the library, wanting to get this book nonsense dealt with early today, while he still had the energy.

The library was nearly silent today. Good, Reese remarked as he lumbered to the horror section. It was empty until suddenly around the corner came the batty lady from the other day. Reese groaned inwardly and immediately turned away, praying she wouldn't gather the nerve to speak to him again. She didn't.

It wasn't until Reese had spent nearly twenty minutes walking up and down aisle after aisle when he could feel her eyes on his back. Damn library, he thought, still not finding the novel Steph needed anywhere. He figured it was too late to ask anyone for help, now that he'd made himself look positively ignorant stalking around the same aisles fifty times. Maybe he could just quit for the day and go in again sometime.

"Lost a lamb or two?"

Reese turned around. It was that infernal woman again. She had young eyes like the sky and wispy white hair that fell just short of her shoulders which were rather hunched. "Ah, no," He said, feeling suddenly bad for all his rude thoughts and words towards the stranger.

She nodded absentmindedly, "Right, right. Well I'll let you get back to it. Sorry, not sure why I keep bothering you," She laughed shortly.

"I can't find a book," He blurted suddenly. What am I doing? He screamed at himself. "Um, my daughter asked me to fetch a Steven King book for her and I haven't a clue where it is." Reese jammed his hands into his pockets to keep them from fidgeting. What's wrong with you? His mind muttered distastefully.

"Oh," The lady's blue eyes brightened up immediately, "Steven's right over here," She pointed, a smile playing at the ends of her doll-like lips.

Reese muttered thanks and looked to where she was pointing. He'd walked past this shelf probably a dozen times, how did he miss it? He spotted the novel swiftly and picked it up from the shelf.

"I'm not much of a King reader," She said idly.

"I'm not much of a reader," Reese replied. So now your chums with this nutter? He frowned at himself.

She looked to him, bewildered, "How can you not like reading?"

He shrugged, "More of a listener,"

She smiled, a full one now, one that stretched up to her wide eyes and teased them, crumpling the edges. Reese remained stoic but still found something amiable in the way she smiled.

"Nova," She stuck out her hand but then hastily withdrew it, "Sorry, not sure why I went for that. Hope I'm not that old," Nova giggled uneasily.

"Reese," He stated and grabbed Nova's fallen hand, gripping it in a tight handshake, the ghost of a smile on his lips. What an odd bird, he thought warmly.

Nova grinned back and the two talked, although briefly.

"Well, I'd better be off," She said with another smile. Never ending smiles, it didn't make sense to Reese. "Got a bus to catch,"