SUDDEN STORM 1.

MAY 29, 1801

GRIFFINWALD

Under the heat of the blazing sun, soft pellets streamed down her hairline. She would not dab away the sweat. She stopped. And cursed, inwardly, at the tide of people milling through the market square. She clenched her teeth with disdain. There was a lot she did not like about this place; the noise and unpleasant body smell!

She had no other choice but to keep moving. So she did, picking up her chin as she marched forward.

It wasn't meant to be so hard; shopping for groceries. If only she'd been more curious to learn from Bessie; the retired housekeeper.

Well, truth be told, she did not regret her reluctance to learn the skill, even now.

She kept moving, slowly forward. Then she saw the garland of carrots and tomatoes; cabbages and onions, all set out in a fine display. She hated the stench of peppers and the fishes the most. She was innately fighting the difficulty of wanting to puke her guts out. Why did they have to smell so bad?

Louisa turned, veering her feet in the opposite direction. She kept grunting and cursing under her breath. She still needed to buy the melons. And it was the same trader who sold the peppers that had what she wanted.

'Ugh! I hate mother for this.'

Unexpectedly, a heavy-sounding baritone encroached her ears from behind.

"You there!" shouted the man.

Louisa turned, boldly yet hesitantly, to see the person who'd called. She had scarcely done so when a slightly brisk figure breezed past her, crushing her shoes in the process.

"Argh!" She shouted, sucking up the pain in her toes. "Stupid little brat! Can't watch where she is going. Huff!" 

When she turned back around, she was immediately scorned for her rude remarks. Old grannies, and suckling mothers, in particular, shot her a disdainful look but she did not care. She huffed and decided to make an orbit about the market before returning to the pepper stand. That girl; the mischief-bearer, and the onlookers had ruined her mood.

"Ah," she wished for a handkerchief. "I thought the rains had come already. Is the sun supposed to burn this hot in the Fall?" 

She let her eyes dart downward, to the bag she was holding. Inside it lay a swarm of perishables she'd gotten at her mother's request. Since she was no good at bargaining, the woman was going to have to deal with her outrageous spending. Her father too. If he had also been around the house. But he wasn't. Not at the moment.

She sweated again, but this time it truly worried her. She took up her left arm, allowing it to linger near her brow area. A little too close. But she could not do it. She let it drop. And hissed. What if a handsome gentleman was watching? She did not want to miss out on a possible suitor simply because…

When she finished rounding the market, she returned to the melon stand. She had barely opened her mouth to express her request when a violent breeze slammed her mouth shut. It swished her hair about. 

As she looked about her, she saw the feisty storm picking up minimal obstacles in its path. Its wheezes caused her to become chilly and she started to shiver slightly. But it wasn't for the cold. She was frightfully upset that it was about to rain at all. The marketplace was the poorest choice to get trapped by the rain. She could die from so much moistness and dirt!

"Hey, Hermit! Pack up the kitchenware!"

A man; a vendor, shouted as he began clearing out his stuff in a hurry. Lightening flashed and the clouds rumbled smothering his subsequent talk in addition to the harsh clattering of the many loose house-top sheets. Several stalls were fated to become naked from the storm's rage.

Louisa clasped her chest as the many windows shut up with a bang. Her heart ached, also with the sight of everyone running helter-skelter.

"Where on earth's my baby?" A woman shrieked in the near distance, searching for him.

Louisa picked up her heels by then. She ran her best but not as fast. The clouds rumbled and the torrents started to rain down on the soil, slapping her dress against her thighs until it clung tightly to her like a second skin.

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