Gemotions

“Just pick one!” Maya snapped at the bookseller, her voice rising slightly. She'd been hunting for a specific edition of “Pride and Prejudice” for an hour. It was taking an age, and she was already late.

She finally settled on a tattered, well-loved copy. As she paid, a folded sheet of paper tumbled out from the spine. Maya glared at it.

It was a shopping list, scrawled in a frantic hand. “Milk. Bread. Forget-me-nots.” The simplicity of it, juxtaposed with the grand romance of the book, made her momentarily forget the time. She tucked the list into her purse.