First Page Blogfest! The Goddess of Vengeance Wore Pink Galoshes

Continuing with the alphabet theme challenge discussed yesterday... B is for Blogfest!

Thanks to Kelly for this awesome blogfest! Be sure to stop by her site to check out the first pages on other sites!


This is the (admittedly rough) first page of The Goddess of Vengeance Wore Pink Galoshes:

Lauren Reed was in the middle of making a vanilla latte when she was first visited by the goddess of vengeance.

The old lady’s shoulders slumped, one lower than the other, weighed down by a totebag brimming with notebooks. “Tea, please,” she said. “And a cranberry-orange muffin.”

Lauren smiled at her over the espresso machine. “What sort of tea would you like?”

“I don’t care about kinds of tea,” the lady said.

“Would you like me to pick something for you?” Lauren asked. “Maybe the traditional Earl Gray, or a raspberry green tea?”

“Sure,” the lady said. “Like I said, I don’t care about tea.”

Lauren topped off the tall cup with foamed milk and set it down on the counter. “Here you go, Beth,” she called towards the table by the windows. Most of the folks in the Burnt Sugar Coffee House were regulars, but Lauren hadn’t seen this grouchy woman before.  She glanced back over at her. The woman was swaying on her feet.

“You know what, if you’d like to sit down, I can bring this over to you.”

The old woman looked at her sharply, as if she hadn’t noticed Lauren before. “That’s very kind of you,” she said. “Yes, I think I’d like that. I’ll go sit down.”   She shuffled over to one of the tables near the counter, groaned as she swung the tote bag of notebooks off her shoulder.

Lauren put a wedge of lemon and two sugar packets with the tea bag on the edge of the saucer, and carried the tea and plated muffin out. The woman was engrossed in looking over one of her notebooks, and started when Lauren set the plate down besides her hand. “Oh,” she murmured. “You’re kind. Very kind. Perfect.”

“You’re welcome,” Lauren said, and then felt awkward, since the lady hadn’t said thank you. “It’s three-seventy-five for the tea and muffins.”

“All the great old institutions are disempowered. All gone. Now we must all bumble on as best we can.”

Lauren was always patient with customers.  “What institutions are those?”

In response for her efforts, the woman raised her eyebrows as if she were stupid. “The small gods, of course. All the small gods have been disempowered. They drift around, out of form.”

“Ah,” Lauren said. “You know what? The tea and muffin are on the house. Enjoy.”

The lady reached out and grabbed her arm as she turned to go. “You look like a strong girl. A nice, strong girl. Broad in the shoulders.”