It was a sunny morning. Despite it being only 5 am, the birds were already singing their happy tunes, and a light breeze was blowing. Regardless of that, Alicia was already working. She never really paid attention to the weather. Every day, she started her day at approximately 4:30. By 5 o'clock, she took a cold shower to freshen up, made herself a healthy breakfast, and fed her two cats. Then she made her way out to the yard and greeted Benny, her German Shepherd. Alicia's morning chores were to feed all the animals, milk the goats, and put the horses into the paddock. Before 7 o'clock, she had to have the milk ready for the man who went to collect it every day. Afterwards, she had about an hour to muck out the stables. Once she did this, it was just about time to take one or two of the four horses for a ride.
Today, however, things went differently. When the milkman was gone, she hurried back home to change. This Saturday was particular. Her friend was gonna stop by. She wasn't quite used to having a visit, but in this person's case, she'd always be more than happy to see him.
Once she changed her work clothes for those more formal, she reached the living room. What a mess! she thought, looking at the table. With one big leap, she was there by its side, collecting the huge piles of books, pile after pile, while swearing mildly. One would think that she was preparing for some book sale. The truth was simple though. Reading was her favourite activity, but she would always read like ten books at a time. When she finally cleaned the table from all the books, she went to the adjoining kitchen and started searching through the cupboard in hope to find some cookies. In the end, she didn't find any, so she pulled herself from the cupboard, pulling her face. She then wanted to look through the other places in her kitchen, such as the refrigerator, but the sound of a car pulling up outside her house dragged her back to reality from her cookie-mania. She let out a slight groan as she realised what time it was. Eight o'clock sharp. She hurried outside only to run into her friend who had just arrived.
"Nick!" she exclaimed happily before she found herself in a friendly hug.
"I'm here too soon you wanna say, right?" he laughed. "You look great," he added as they pulled themselves from each other, which gave him a moment to carefully eye her.
"Thanks," she breathed, "I'm trying. But I'd never make it without your help,"
"Any time Alicia. I'm always here for you," he said, looking her in the eyes.
Their relationship was purely friendly. They met a while ago, at the Tangiers, while Nick was there as an investigator in a homicide, and she was there as a hooker. Fortunately for her, Nick saw her pimp beating her, and decided not to leave it that way. He was always trying to help other people, but he had never helped anyone as he had had her. There was something special about Alicia, something like her aura or whatnot that was telling people she indeed was a person of great capacity, only without the chance to show it to the world.
"So, how you doing here? Everything okay?" Nick asked once they were both comfortably seated in the living room.
"Yeah, it's my dream come true," she replied, smiling warmly.
"And what about the goats? You know, those funny ones…with long ears…They have babies already?" he continued. Alicia laughed warmly at his attempts to remember the name of the breed she raised there at the farm.
"You mean Anglo-Nubian goats?" she chuckled.
"Yeah yeah, those," he said, laughing.
"Three of them have already given birth, we can go and check them later. But I'd suggest a coffee first," she said.
"Sounds like a good plan," he nodded.
Alicia rose to her feet and headed for the kitchen, which was practically a part of the living room because there was no wall to separate those two rooms. Nick was peacefully reading a magazine about his favourite goat breed, which had been handed to him before. When Alicia reached the kitchen, she was still giggling at his quiet moans. She fished two mugs out of the cupboard, prepared the coffee, and put the kettle on. As she did so, it lit up with blue light, indicating that the water was being warmed up. She turned her back to it and watched the expression on Nick's face as he was getting deeper into the article. But his sixth sense told him he was being looked at, so he turned his head to Alicia. At that moment, they both heard the kettle click, and the blue light died.
Surprised, Nick voiced his thoughts, "Whoa, whoa, easy there. You've got a pretty fast kettle haven't you?"
"Must be the fresh air or something," she shot back, grinning. But the cheerful features of her face turned into a frown within a few seconds then. She poured the water into the mugs, but there was no steam rising from them. Slightly surprised, she cautiously touched one of them, only to find it stone cold. It didn't go unnoticed by Nick. He joined her in the kitchen.
"Iced coffee?" he asked, his dark eyes jumping playfully from the mugs to her. It earned him a friendly jab to the ribs.
"Looks like it said its goodbyes," she murmured, examining the kettle. "Whatever…Fancy some sandwiches?" she asked then, cursing the universe in her head for these things happening when least needed. Nick noticed the tension in her muscles and decided to ease it off her. He put his arm around her shoulders, which looked funny because of their height difference. While Nick was 5'11, Alicia was only 5'4.
"You know, it's Sod's Law. Every single time," she complained.
"Well, I can take you to the town later, so you can buy a new one," he offered her.
"Yeah, that's great. Thanks a lot," she replied, calmer now. She then opened the refrigerator, but there was another surprise waiting for her. All modern refrigerators had special light bulbs in them, which lit up every time you opened the fridge. But this time, no light shone.
"What the hell is wrong with this?!" she cried in disbelief.
"Hey, isn't it a bit too quiet?" Nick asked, leaning towards it.
"You're right," Alicia acknowledged. "The power must be off. I'll go and check the fuses," She closed the refrigerator and made her way to the lobby.
"Well, the problem's not here…" she mused later, staring at the fascinating system in front of her.
"Might be the circuit breaker then," Nick proposed, nodding towards the door.
"Yeah, that's it. It happens kinda frequently here," Alicia confirmed, and turned to the door. "I'll be back in a moment," she said, winking at him.
"Want a hand?" he asked.
"Nah, I'm good," she smiled at him, and the door shut behind her.
A/N: Thank you for reading! If you have a second, please review- it's much appreciated :) Also, I'd like to apologize for grammar etc.- I'm not native... Have a nice day :-)
