After school, Richard queued at the bus stop.
Today, he did not go to the library to study, nor did he take a detour through the flea market.
There was serious business tonight. He had to conserve his strength.
Evelyn squeezed through the crowd to his side, with a little yellow flower of unknown origin tucked into her hair.
"Rare to see you taking the bus today."
"Mm."
"Not going to the library?"
"Not today."
"The Sun rose in the west."
"The Sun always sets in the west. That's nothing unusual."
Evelyn snorted and stopped bickering with him.
The bus arrived, and the two of them squeezed aboard, sitting down one behind the other.
Richard leaned against the window and watched Briston's streets slide backward outside.
Factory chimneys belched smoke, and coal ash drifted through the air.
When they got home, the siblings each returned to their rooms to change out of their school uniforms.
After changing, he waited a while, took Gray's pastry tin from his schoolbag, and knocked twice on his sister's door.
The door opened a crack, and Evelyn's face peeked out from behind it.
"What?"
"I'm treating you to afternoon tea." He handed the tin through the gap.
None of these pastries had much of a shelf life, especially the fruit tarts. If they were not eaten that day, they would spoil.
Evelyn took it, opened the lid, and lowered her head to inspect the arrangement inside.
"Who made these?"
"A classmate."
"Which classmate?"
"A classmate who can bake."
Evelyn picked up a lemon scone, turned it over, and examined the browning on the bottom.
"This mold was handmade." Then she held a cookie up to the light.
"The curves around the edge are uneven. Factory stamping wouldn't look like this."
Richard had not expected her