The bell on the supermarket door clanged noisily as the new sheriff of Ferntree Falls walked out carrying a loaf of bread. Alexandria stood bolt upright. She would come back to the bookshop another day, she told herself.
The sheriff looked at her quizzically for a moment, then said, "Are you the girl from the accident the other day?"
She nodded. "Yes, sheriff. I hope your wife and little girl are okay."
He held out his hand. "I never really got to say thank you, or ask you your name."
Alexandria shook his hand. "Alexandria," she said, pleasantly.
"Sheriff Winterflood," he said. "My wife, Kerry, and our little girl, Mallory, are doing just fine, thank you."
She nodded. "I'm glad to hear that."
"Have you settled in okay? Your friend that gave us the lift, Kat, tells me you're living up at the old Witchwood Estate house."
"Yes, that's right."
"Well, if you have any problem with thieves, let me know. Some of my clothes have been going missing off the clothesline in the last couple of days. Probably just a vagrant, but you never know."
"I will, thank you, sheriff."
He nodded his head. "Well, I should let you go," he said. "You going in there?" He gestured to the supermarket door with his head.
"Actually, I am. I got distracted by the bookstore. I'm always a complete sucker when it comes to bookstores, especially ones that stocks secondhand books, as well."
"A girl after my own heart," he said, holding open the supermarket door for her.
"Thank you," she said, ducking past him.
"Alexandria," he called after her.
She spun around. "Yes."
"I don't suppose you would consider babysitting sometime?"
She thought about the possibility of the extra income. "Truthfully, I never have, but I would be more than happy to."
"Great." He dug down into his trousers and pulled out a slip of paper to write down her phone number on. "Fire away," he said, resting the piece of paper on his loaf of bread, a pen poised in his hand.
"I'm sorry. I don't have the phone on at the house yet, and there's no cell phone service out that far, but it's due on this week sometime, so if you give me your number, I could call you as soon as it's connected."
"Just as good," he said, scribbling down his number for her. "Here you go." He handed her the piece of paper. "I'll wait for your call." He tipped his head in farewell, and was gone, whistling as he walked down the street, his loaf of bread swinging in his hand.
Once inside, Alexandria whizzed through the items on her shopping list and was finished in twenty minutes. After loading the shopping into the back seat of her car, she made her way to the newsagent to buy a receipt book. She only got as far as the front window. A small snow globe, almost identical to her own, sat on a small pedestal with a label that said, 'created by Raven – Ferntree local.' She went quickly inside and walked up to the counter. The store looked deserted, so she tapped the small brass bell on the counter, once, then twice, her finger poised for a third.
"Hold your horses," came a man's voice from the rear of the store. "Kettle's just boiled, and I tend to get cranky when I don't have my tea. Would you like a cup? The Missus makes a fine scone with vanilla frosting. Mind you, I blame her, and the scones, for the extra inches on my expanding waistline."
"Um… Thank you, but no. I'd just like to know more about the snow globe in the window," she called back.
"Enough with the shouting, princess, I'm half blind, not half deaf, and the mind is as sharp as a tack."
A trill of a woman's chuckle.
The old man paid it no attention as he waddled up to the counter, his baggy pants not concealing his bowed legs. Setting his cup and saucer down on the glass counter, he studied her over the rim of his spectacles, then pulled his trousers up. He took a long sip of his tea, instantly fogging up his spectacles. Without complaint, he plucked them off the end of his nose, and cleaned the lens with the corner of his plaid shirt. "Are you sure you wouldn't like a tea? It's no trouble. As I said, kettle's just boiled."
"No, but thank you. Maybe next time, when I'm not in so much of a hurry."
"Next time," he agreed, combing fine wisps of hair down on his head with his fingers. "So, the snow globe, it's locally made by one of our own, you know. It's a replica of the carousel in Circular Park."
The carousel in Circular Park, yes of course it is, she realized suddenly, and wondered why she hadn't thought of that. "Yes," she said, turning slightly to glance at it over her shoulder. "The thing is, I have one almost just like it, and I'd really like to know how I can contact Raven."