The return to the library was the first time I had seen the tornado-ravaged area of the city since the day after the dreaded event. Without all the emergency vehicles, the sights were almost bearable, although a week after the destruction had taken place, there were still people clearly in shock, unable to comprehend what had happened to their businesses and their homes.
The library looked almost normal when I arrived. There was still an atmosphere of disbelief, however, which was particularly pressing when on the east side of the library, for there had been a number of books and even some artwork on the east side of each floor which had been damaged, and not seeing those books and artworks in their usual places made the library seem eerie, almost creepy.
Fortunately, almost everything within the library was back to normal in terms of daily operations. The number of patrons was severely lacking, however, likely because most of them did not expect the library to be open again yet, so by Noon, some of the staff was sent home, including me. I could have stayed, but since I was living with my big brother and he was making enough money that in reality I really did not need to work, I volunteered to leave so that someone who needed the hours more than I did could get the hours and thus the income.
But, I did not want to go home quite yet. Instead, I had lunch at Quiznos and took a bus to a nearby mall. It was nice to be inside the large air-conditioned building, and there were not too many people there despite being a midsummer afternoon in an overly-hot city. I had no true objective -- I simply strolled from store to store, browsing, admiring the various clothes, wishing I had the breasts to support wearing a particularly low-cut dress, trying a perfume, checking what was available in a discount DVD bin, perusing the bookstore.
...finding a new bikini.
Since July 4 had already passed, the American Flag bikini was on sale. At first, I almost walked past it, as the mannequin modeling it was definitely far bustier than me, but I liked the design and the fact that there were strings at the back of the neck, at the mid-back, at the hips, and a purely-decorative knot between the breasts. I returned to that particular rack before leaving the store and was amazed to find one in my sizes.
I was torn. I liked it, and there was both a bottom and especially a top in sizes which would fit me and hopefully flatter me. I thought of the reasons why I should not buy the bikini, but then I thought of a significant reason why I should:
Eric.