Read Online Watery Graves by Kelli Bradicich - Free Book Online Page B

that day didn’t speak and was dressed in black. They were about the same age, but from the beginning, Emmy felt they could share nothing else.
    It was a brief exchange. The girl picked up a quiche. Emmy opened her palm. The girl placed a twenty in it and walked away before Emmy could find the cash tin to give her change. While it happened, it was as though the world went quiet just for that instant. But then the claps, bangs and screeches of market day in Mercy Falls square took over again.
    Just after sunrise, the markets began when the first w hiff of freshly baked bread wafted through the streets. Emmy was one of the first to arrive with Sebastian and Kristian. As soon as they propped up the fold-out trestle table, Emmy hid behind it. That was her safe zone.
    Emmy helped set up. But it wasn’t long before she realized that everything she unpacked and positioned was quickly shuffled to another more appropriate location. She didn’t know what she was doing or where to put anything. Her mind was distracted by the sea of movement beyond the counter. The crowds were gathering, filled with people she didn’t know. But many of them gave her more than a passing glance as though they knew her. She didn’t want to be there, but with Maya sick she would have to get used to it.
    The clap of boxes and grunts of men setting up stalls in a sweat gradually transformed into banter, the clinking of money and produce changing hands. Coat hangers clacked, as women stormed the clothes racks for the first pick of an original outfit no other in town would own. The ticking clocks at the clockmakers and the grinding and pounding at the shoe repairs, side by side, set a rhythm. Music played and art was on display. People from all around hovered over the great range of cheeses and deli mixes, and filled their bags with local organic produce. There was so much to take in, and so many people staring at her as though she was some kind of freaky attraction that it made it hard for her to think.
    She doubted she would ever grow accustomed to it. After the peacefulness of the mountain, the waves of noise, colour and smells were overwhelming.  She soaked up the town’s bustle, and felt it scour and scrape through her body, draining her energy. The expressions on strangers ’ faces and the fear of not knowing the right thing to say rattled her. Too much was happening all at once.
    Kristian hauled more boxes of fresh produce out of the van and Sebastian set up the display. In the back corner, Emmy counted the cash tin, sorting the money as though she were the banker in a monopoly game. She carefully recorded the amounts in the notebook.
    The younger women in town were gathering at the stall. Kristian smiled and joked his way through their requests. Emmy noticed that each one of them walked away feeling as though they were something special. All it took was a nod, smile, a brief how are you today , asking them about something in their lives and dropping in an extra tomato, apple or goat milk soap. An outsider could say he was a great salesman, but Emmy knew it was just the way he was. She felt special to Kristian and he hadn’t sold her a thing. Females were their greatest customers.
    “Em, can you do me a favour and get the shopping?” Kristian asked digging Ingrid’s shopping list out of his back pocket and handing it to her.
    Emmy looked down at the list, then up at him, tilting her head.
    “Off you go,” Kristian encouraged, “just like we did a few weeks ago. You know you can do it on your own.”
    “But the cheese? How do I-”
    “Ask Mrs Archer to weigh it for you. The nuts – just fill a bag- ”
    Emmy nodded. “And weigh it?”
    “The shopkeepers do all that. Not you,” Sebastian added.
    Emmy took a hundred dollar note. With one last look at Sebastian and Kristian arranging the fruit, she braved the growing crowd, holding an empty box to her chest.
    “Don’t leave this square, Em,” Kristian called after her.
    She waved her