16- Rayna's Fate
Rayna sat in the trunk of a car, huddled in a cardboard box. "Should I tell my new owner that plastic doesn't make good packing material?" she mused. The car stopped. Rayna was taken out of the car and into a building.
Rayna's next destination was a desk. She was plugged in.
"Betty, you have nice taste," a woman said. "That lamp is cute."
"Well, it was on sale," Betty said. "Tomorrow the shop's reopening." Rayna looked at the ceiling tiles.
"That leak really cost us business," the other woman said.
It was time to go home for the night. Rayna hopped over to an appointment book.
"Caramel, 11:00. Duchess, 2:00. Angus: 3:30." She raised her head. One of the hairdryers had started talking.
"We've got a new desk lamp," she said. The sound of plugs being pulled free from their outlets snapped Rayna out of her daze.
Rayna whirled around to face several appliances. A black hair dryer with red accents was dead center.
"Um, where am I?" Rayna asked.
"Take a look," a Dyson vacuum said. Rayna craned her neck to look at a series of business cards.
"Pretty Puppy Pet Grooming?" She read.
The hair dryer nodded.
"It gets a little wild here," she said. "But we love it." A pause. "Where'd you come from?"
"I worked at a repair shop," Rayna admitted. "We were going out of business, and..."
"You offered yourself as collateral?" the hair dryer, Vanessa, asked.