#trembled — Public Fediverse posts on home.social

Market Open

The #market had just #opened, and Tina #trembled. This was her first show, a small affair in a neighboring village. There were a few farmers, a bored crafts person, a phone service vendor, one juggler, and a local musician.

Still, she was terrified. What if people thought her work was junk or that her display was sucky? Hopefully, no one from home would visit. That would be awful. She could hear the kids at school whispering about how cringe she was already.

Two old ladies stopped by, saying, “How cute! They’re darling.” Then they left without buying anything. Being treated like a cute kid was embarrassing. She’d worked hard on binding her stories and creating the cover art.

A man wearing a worn suit with leather patches on the elbows, like professors wore, stopped at her table.

He opened a few books, leafed through one, read a few lines to himself, and then looked at her and asked, "Did you make these?”

She nodded, then found her voice. “Yes, sir. I wrote them and bound them in-in-in the best leather-leather. I even made the cover art with old Tandy tools I found in the attic.”

“They’re good, and their prices are too low.”

He looked over her stock and selected five. “I’ll buy these if you give me a 20% discount. I’d like your email address. If they’re well-received, I’ll purchase more. At 20% off your new price. Maybe double at first, you can raise them later.”

“Yes, sir,” she said, wrapping them up.

“Here’s my card,” the man said. She looked at it and saw that it read, “Findle’s Rare and Exotic Books.”

#NMSL #NMV366 #NMPrompts #MicroFiction #TootFic #SliceOfLife