#64: Pill-Bug Cart

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“That worked out fairly well” Elvira remarked later, in the apartment.

“Hard to carry all the books home though.” Shelby grumped “Damn small bags...and they rip.”

“I have an idea...” Elvira told him.

She grew a small cart using a little bit of his blood and odds and ends of trash that he hadn’t taken out yet. Rather than wheels it had legs, much like the exoskeleton back in the tunnel. The legs weren’t visible though. They were hidden under the cart. The legs made the cart all terrain. Curbs or stairs were NO problem. It looked a little bit like a “pill-bug” with a small shopping cart basket on it’s back. It could carry several pounds easily.

In subsequent expeditions to bookstores the pillbug cart made it easier for Shelby to transport what he bought home. He began to buy more and more books. One to two hundred dollars worth of books per trip became the norm. He was branching out from Science Fiction and delving MUCH more deeply into Science Fact. Nothing was safe from Shelby’s curiosity. Some of the bookstore managers took note.

Shelby idly thought he might have to sell more at the shop to pay for his habit. Then he realized he had no idea how much money Sam paid him. He always seemed to have enough for what ever he wanted to do so he forgot about it.

Oddly enough...the manager of the bookstore HAD been paying attention. They had noticed that Elvira and the other dragon were “draws.” (The young vet had, naturally, showed up at Shelby’s shop the next day. He had, naturally, requested the ‘seeing eye dragon’ option for his mono-wheel. )

When the little dragons were fluttering back and forth in the BookStore there seemed to be more customers. There were certainly more sales. For that reason he surprised Shelby at the checkout counter one day.

“What’s this?” Shelby looked at the bill. It was noticeably less than what he had been expecting.

“A little token of appreciation from the resident Micro-encelphathic sub-sapient neurological degenerates.” he said with a smile. “ A discount on your purchases. We appreciate your business.”

Shelby grinned at him in surprise. “You forgot the Coelenterate part. Keep practicing. Thank you very much.”

So it went.

Life was good.

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The Next Episode will be
#65: River City Dragon
The Previous Episode was
#63: BookStore
the First episode was
#1 : Prologue

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I'm

@everittdmickey
.
I write
SPECULATIVE FICTION
I have books on Amazon too.
Sometimes I also comment on the news

Sometimes it's hard to tell fiction from the news.