His Conundrums

Chapter 31

A Bagel in the Meadow

It’s 6 a.m. when Joe arrived at the coffee shop. It was raining and cold, but Sirius asked him to wake up early. He saw Sirius enjoying his morning newspaper and coffee while eating some freshly baked bagel.

“You dare to come here with a bread you bought from the other store? You have no respect in his holy shop. You must be lucky Mr. Lauve didn’t throw you out,” Joe told him.

“Jeez. I knew it was Joe’s voice even though I’m in the kitchen. Would you please shut your mouth? It’s still too early in the morning, and you might wake the neighbors.” Mr. Lauve scolded him, carrying a tray of freshly baked bagel from his kitchen.

“Y-you…” Joe cleared his eyes.

“You baked this, Mr. Lauve?” Joe asked Mr. Lauve.

Sirius was still reading his newspaper and didn’t even bother to look who’s noisy in front.

“Sirius asked me to,” Mr. Lauve said while smiling.

“Oh, so you baked this because he requested?” Joe asked him.

“Well, I’m thinking of adding this to my menu. You know, espresso is kind of lonely, so that I might pair him up with this,” he laughed.

“Drink your coffee, and then we leave,” Sirius commanded Joe.

“Do you have a paper bag, Mr. Lauve?” Sirius asked the old man.

“Of course, just wait here, and I’ll get some of your bagel and paper bag to put them in,” Mr. Lauve excused.

“You ordered some more bagel?” Joe asked him.

Sirius nodded his head, saying, “You told me I should bear the expenses. Well, food, check!” he smirked.

“Food? You plan to eat bagel until we arrive at Rook?” Joe can’t imagine only eating a bagel for their 6 hours ride.

“Correction, until we came back at Hallray.” Sirius flipped and fixed his newspaper to hide his smile.

“Oh God, I think I’m still dreaming. Bring me back to my body.” Joe slapped his face, but it was too rough. He squeaked in pain.

-0-0-0-

Sirius was driving when they left Hallray. Joe was sound asleep. Sirius didn’t know the road and only relied on the GPS. But Joe told him that when they passed through a subway in Middletown, he would switch with Sirius.

He tried to remember the road, hoping he might get something. They traveled for almost 3 hours, and Middletown is only 20 minutes ahead. He woke up Joe, who’s been in a deep sleep. Sirius kicked his foot.

“Oh God of Bagel!” he shouted when he woke up.

“Middletown’s ahead,” Sirius told him.

“Yeah? Okay. Where’s your water jug?” Joe asked him.

“At the back of your seat,” he answered.

“Where?” Joe asked him again.

“At the back of your seat,” Sirius changed his tone.

“It’s not here,” Joe told him.

“What?” Sirius said in disbelief.

“But I put it there.”

“You check it out. It’s not there.”

Sirius scratched the back of his head. He checked if there were other cars on the road, but luckily they are the only ones driving.

“Check the road and hold the steering wheel for a bit,” he told Joe while he stretched out his upper body and checked where he might put the water jug.

“Here,” he grabbed the water jug which was placed behind the bag of bagel they bought from Mr. Lauve’s place. He handed it over to Joe while trying to get back to his place.

“Oh, nice and cold.”

“JOE!”

“AAHH!” they both shouted when a lady suddenly crossed the road.

Sirius immediately took a sudden break, and a fragment of his memory suddenly flashed.

“I’m sorry, please forgive us. I’m sorry…”

“ARGGH!” Sirius grunted.

He pulled his hair out of pain and softly punched his head with pressure.

Joe panicked and didn’t know what to do. A lady collapsed in front of their vehicle, and Sirius has his random headaches.

“Are you okay, Sirius?” Joe asked him first.

Sirius tried to calm himself.

“Ugh, get… my medicine.”

Joe immediately looked for his bag and searched for his pain reliever. He handed it to Sirius along with the water jug. Sirius took medicine and took a deep breath.

“Th-there’s a lady,” Joe gulped and was about to let himself cry.

Sirius went down from the car, and Joe did the same to see the lady who crossed the road and also to get some fresh air, but shock filled their stomach when they saw the lady still wearing his clothes but covered with blood.

-0-0-0-

“Are you sure you didn’t hit her?” Joe asked Sirius a lot of times.

“I didn’t,” Sirius answered.

Joe nervously sighed.

“You saw it. There was no blood on the road. If we really hit her, our car would have made a bump noise, and blood will spill all over the road.” Sirius explained.

“Right. Right.”

They took the lady inside their car and drove slowly, looking for any small town nearby that might have some hospital or clinic. But unluckily, they were in the middle of a wide meadow. It looks like a paradise full of blooming flowers but carrying a lady covered with blood made it less dreamy.

“How long does she take to wake up?” Joe was a bit worried.

“She’ll wake up soon,” Sirius told him.

Not too long after their conversation, they heard a soft grunt. Sirius stopped the car, and they both looked at the lady at the same time. They saw the lady slowly opened her eyes, but tears came down.

“No. Please don’t kill me. Please,” she pleaded.

“N-no no no. We’re not you think we are. We saw you cross the road covered with blood, so we decided to take you to the nearest hospital, but how can we find a hospital in this field of flowers? We should have taken you back to Lamberton so we could find a doctor who could see you.” Joe talked as fast as he could.

“What are the signs when you’re nervous?” Sirius asked Joe.

“Seriously? You really asked me that right now? I talk fast. Why?” Joe unknowingly answered.

Sirius looked at him.

“I’m… I’m not nervous.” Joe realized it himself.

“You shouldn’t be. You’re making her more nervous.”

Sirius faced the lady who tried to sit on her own at the back seat.

“Since we couldn’t abandon you at the middle of the road where no one seems to pass by, we decided to take you with us. Could you please tell us what happened before and what’s your name?” Sirius asked her.

“I-I’m Penelope,” she covered her mouth to suppress her sob.

“My family was murdered,” she added.

Sirius felt it the moment she said those words. He felt electricity ran throughout his body, making his heart beats faster than it normally does.