Chapter four

Lyra, sitting happily on the floor by Kate's bed, was waiting patiently for her master to wake up and feed her. Kate sat up rubbing her eyes and brushing her fingers through her hair, to fix the frizz she got as she slept through the night. She looked at her clock that read nine o clock. She then looked down at Lyra and could see her wagging her tail and panting. She leaned down and began to stroke her head. "I know what you want," she said in a sleepy tone. "You want food, but Lance is going to have to feed you this morning since I have to get to work early." She placed her feet on the wooden floor this time ignoring the annoyingly cold sensation she always got from it, and hurried out the door to find Lance.

He was making toast for his breakfast peacefully in the kitchen as he listened to the radio. Every Wednesday, his favorite radio show came on called: " the best thing on the radio." It was a show that covered many subjects, those including: pop culture, most talked about news stories, Television, music, movies, finance (not his favorite topic), environmentalism, politics (again, not a favorite), and celebrity news and gossip. Lance mainly listened to the celebrity gossip, since he was a chatty person who loved to hear about all the lies and non lies of Hollywood. He turned the sound knob up on his radio, so he could hear the radio host talk about the latest issues going on with one of his favorite soap opera star, Brock Cratz. "And Brock has done it again ladies and gentlemen!" The host cried, with enthusiasm that was almost impossible for anyone to have at nine o clock on a Wednesday morning. "Brock has finally decided to marry his long time girlfriend super model, Lara Stance! All the details when we come back to the best thing on the radio! Don't go away!" "No! Lance cried, as if he was talking to the man on the radio show. "I need to know what happened during the proposal!"

Kate then came walking in with her robe on and Lyra close behind. She looked stressed and tired as she approached Lance who was still screaming at the radio. "Why are you screaming at an electrical box?" She asked looking at him like he was a nut job. "I need to know what happened to Brock and Lara!" He replied shaking the radio. "Do me a favor, feed Lyra for me this morning, I need to get ready for work now." She waited for a response, but all she got in return was utter silence, and Lance looking down at his feet, not willing to look at her and tell her he forgot to but Lyra's food yesterday. "Why are you so silent? Please Lance, I need the help." He knew she would be furious, but he told her how he forgot to buy the food yesterday. "I asked you to buy the food at the store Lance!" She cried with more stress coming onto her. "I'm sorry!" He cried. "What on earth where you doing all day yesterday while I was out?" "I was watching ghost adventures, I guess I forgot." He replied in a nervous tone. "Well they're going to fire me if I'm not in by eleven thirty!" She grabbed Lyra by the collar and began to guide her down the hallway for her bedroom. She shut her up giving her a squeaky toy for amusement, and hurried into the bathroom to take a shower.

Now she had not only work to get to, but now, she had to go get Lyra some food skipping her own meal. Getting ready for the day already takes an hour for her, which is quicker then how long it takes most of her girlfriends and even Lance, but that left only an hour and a half for her to get all her errands done and get to work on time. Luckily, she picked out her clothes for that day, before she went to bed last night so she could dress nicely for work. She put on a black blouse with long sleeves, and a pair of jean shorts she paired with sandals with two inch heels. She put her hair up in a little bun, leaving her bangs the way they where since she liked the mature look it gave her, and the only jewelry she wore was a silver cross, and a pair of hoop earrings.

She hurried back into her room and grabbed Lyra, her leash, and her bag with her car keys in it. She didn't bother trying to make the bed up, there was simply no time, and that was payback to Lance. She ran down the hallway and into the kitchen passing by Lance who was standing by the sink listening to his radio show. She opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water, and took a candy bar out of a jar that sat on one of the counter tops. She hit Lance on the shoulder with a fist making him yelp by the surprise. He looked at her ready to say something, but stopped when he saw how stressed out she looked, and how angry she was at him. "Thanks a lot for not helping me this morning Lance, and out of all the days this could have happened, you chose today!" She cried, as she began to put Lyra's leash on. "Sorry, I didn't think it would stress you out this bad!" He replied. "That's a stupid reply! Is that all you have to say?" He stayed silent hoping she would calm down, and she did after that brief moment of explosion. She said in an now more relaxed and calmer voice, "I am going to run down to the nearest store, and get her some food, but when I come back, you need to feed her! If I come home tonight and find out she went all day without food, I'll be angry!" He simply replied, thankful she didn't scream those orders at him, "message received," She ran out the front door with Lyra close behind and ran down the sidewalk for the nearest store, since it was only a few blocks away behind the apartment complex.

She almost busted through the automatic doors of the store, if they hadn't opened up in time for her to run in and tear the floors up running to get the pet food. She made it down the pet supply aisle almost running over a kid, and grabbed the first bag of dog food she could see that Lyra would eat. Running back to the front to check out, she almost ran into a woman pushing a cart, making her baby come flying out of it's carrier, but she managed to dodge everyone that where standing in her path of panic and rush. She saw once she made it to the check out lanes, that none where going to be available for a while, due to long lines. "Ten minutes!" She cried in her head, fearing that's how long it was going to take. It was already ten twenty five, and she wasn't even out of the store yet. She scanned around with her eyes looking for the fastest lane, she found one, and beat an old man, his wife, and a few teenaged boys to it. Ahead of her where about two big families of about six each at least, and a few bachelors buying liquor and instant popcorn. The line, after she had gotten in it, was now going slower. "Irritating!" She screamed in her head. The families up ahead where taking their sweet time placing their groceries on the conveyor belt. Their children where the ones placing the groceries on the conveyor belt, and all six of them where from youngest to oldest, four to eleven. This would have looked cute for her, but she was in a hurry, and the longer it took for the people to move, the closer she was to losing her dream job. She looked up at a clock that hung over the automatic doors, and to her horror, read, 10:35. "No!" She screamed, making the people in line stare at her. She saw them staring, and screamed in anger, "you people are moving like turtles!"

She ran out of the line figuring now, she had no way to feed Lyra, the look on her dogs face as she smelled the bag of food Kate was still holding, brought guilt to her owners heart. "Man! How am I going to feed you? She cried. Then she remembered there was a store next door, that had short lines to wait in, but here's the problem, they didn't sell dog food! "Curses!" She cried clenching the food and Lyra's leash. The clock face now read 10:40, forcing Kate to make an extreme decision that anyone reading this, should never try under any circumstances. With her idea in mind, she slowly with caution began to make her way towards the exit doors. She took care to make sure no one could see that she was leaving without paying for the food. She knew as she got closer to the exit, that the alarms where going to go off once she stepped through, and that's when she figured she would start running. Once she got through, someone who worked at the store, noticed her walking out and made his way over to her to see if she had a receipt. She looked out of the corner of her eye at him, and saw he was moving fast, so she moved faster. "Miss!" He cried to get her attention. He got it, but she wasn't planning on stopping. "Miss, did you pay for that?" That's when she broke out in a fast paced run with Lyra right behind. "Hey! Come back!" The man called running after her. She turned the right corner and could see the drug store only about forty feet away. She ran as fast as she could and glanced back occasionally to see if she was being followed. In desperate times like this, she was able to move in high heels, like wild horses running away from a predator. She ran into the drug store and made it to an open lane. She placed the bag of food on the counter and looked up at the check out lady. The woman stared at her and then the bag, and said in a confused tone, "Miss, where did you get that food? We don't sell dog food here." "The store next door, scan the food, and give the store next door the money." Kate replied getting impatient. The woman looked at her wondering if she was crazy, confused, or something worse, and picked up a phone sitting by the cash register, to call her manager. Kate reached into her purse and took out ten dollars, which was the unit price on the food and placed it on the counter. "Here, take this, and give it to the store next door!" She cried, picking up the food, and running out the exit before the woman could protest.

She ran down the sidewalk for the apartment complex carrying the ten pound bag of food under her arm, and once there, she tried to open the front door, but it was locked. She began to bang on the door to get Lance to come over and let her in, but he was in the kitchen listening to his ipod, on full blast volume. She screamed a cuss word in her head, and decided to run around the back, where the glass door was, and get in that way. She ran around the back with Lyra in one hand, and the ten pound bag of dog food in the other, and managed to open the heavily locked gate door. She ran around the side and up the porch. She looked in and could see Lance dancing like Beyonce, to her hit "single ladies". She knew he wouldn't hear her, and decided to try to squeeze it through the door crack, they usually had for the air conditioner to work it's best. She managed to slide the partially locked door open, and began to squeeze herself, and Lyra through.

Lance, twirling around, opened his shut eyes as his face passed by the back where the glass door was, and saw Kate coming in holding a heavy bag. He gasped and ran over to help her in. "Are you okay? Why are you coming in through the back door?" He asked as he took the heavy bag from her. She looked up at him, face covered with sweat, make-up running, and with absolute RAGE in her eyes. "Why didn't you open the dang door when I knocked on it!" She screamed. "I didn't hear it, I'm sorry," he replied in a scared voice. "Your just trying to make my day harder, aren't you?" She came in, and helped Lyra in. She handed Lance her leash and gave him a stern look before saying in an irritated tone, "feed her, since I had to run down the street and practically steal dog food!" "Steal?" He asked confused, "what do you mean?" "I took it out of the store, and ran down the sidewalk for the drug store, and tried to pay for it there, but they said no, so I left them ten bucks to give the store I got the food from, and ran back here." She took a sip of water after she finished explaining to him what had happened. "You know, I could have gone down there myself for you and gotten the food," he replied. I don't know if it was the race she just got done running, or what he just said that made her want to send Freddy Kruger after him, but she was ready to throw a nearby butchers knife at his head for his stupidity. He could tell right away he said something stupid. "I will murder you when I get back," she said angrily as she ran out the front door.

She got into her car, and the clock radio said eleven o clock exactly. "Oh!" She screamed, starting the car. She pulled out almost getting into a deadly crash with an old man driving his buggy behind her, and darted down the street for the studio.

She would have gotten to the studio faster, if it weren't for her mini adventure she just lived through, but she managed to make it five minutes early by taking short cuts she was lucky enough to find. She drove around to find a parking spot, and found one that had her name on it! "That's a surprise," she thought as she pulled in. She got out and hurried into the building. Once inside, she found a ladies room and fought her way to it through the busy people who flooded the floors. She fixed her make-up, making sure she got all the sweat off, and sprayed herself with perfume to take the sweat and dog food scent off of her. Once she was fixed to her liking, she walked out of the bathroom and hurried to the elevator. She pressed the button, and waited for it to open. It opened up and she nearly bumped into Nick who was getting off of it to meet her downstairs. "Oh, Kate, your here now," he said surprised to see her early. "I hope I'm not to late," she replied with a worried look on her face. "Not at all," he replied placing a hand on her shoulder. "Come up with me, I was coming down to find you so I could give you a tour of the floor, and give you a little info about your job, what we do, and explain to you how things work around here." She smiled and sighed with relief that she wasn't late. The horrible race had been completed. She nodded her head and went into the elevator with him.