Huh. Public library. Not what Sonic expected. However, Shadow had already found a book and settled into a reading chair, so he might as well try to find something interesting. They had some magazines, after all.
Shadow watched Sonic go over to the magazine section. She'd been meaning to finish this book for awhile now, but more recently she'd had to leave books for real life excitement, like… Sonic. Shadow's cheeks darkened a bit at the thought. It really was Sonic who drew her away from books, wasn't it? Of course, Sonic was excitement incarnate; even sitting around, watching TV with him was fun. But that was probably just her.
"Chicken Soup for the soul, eh? Never thought you'd be one for anecdotes, Hedgehog."
Shadow looked up, a little surprised by the arrival of a man she didn't quite recognize.
"Oh, hi… Mr.…?"
"Zander. Ben Zander."
"Right, sorry. Bad with names."
"Especially when drunk, right?" laughed Mr. Zander. "Hey I saw you at the thing yesterday. At the mall."
"You were there?" asked Shadow, confused by this man's approach. Were they old friends? Acquaintances? He didn't look familiar.
"Yeah, my brother made me go. Alex Zander? You know him?"
Shadow's eyebrows rose. "Yes, I do know him! You're brothers? I never would have guessed!"
"We don't look much alike," said the man, sitting down on the circular couch next to Shadow. "I think we might have met at Nat's. Over on Fifth?"
Nat's? On Fifth street, there were only a couple of grocery stores and a bar. Nathanial's Bar, which Shadow had been to only once. Nobody called it "Nat's".
"I'm not sure," said Shadow, deciding that this man must have seen her there and at the mall and was kind of happy to see her. Why, she had no idea, but he seemed nice enough. "Do you… frequent… Nat's?"
"Some days. I don't live around here, so I don't come in that often. However, my brother's very needy about blah blah blahdy blah blah…"
Shadow retreated to her thoughts. Nobody called Nathanial's Bar "Nat's", nobody admits they "don't live around here" if they're not obviously tourists, and nobody talks about their homosexual brother to somebody they just met. Added to the fact that he was getting uncomfortably close on the couch, Ben Zander was now officially creepy. Shadow looked around, a bit desperately, to escape this man whose breath she could now smell. To her great relief, Sonic was coming their way right then; officially her knight in shining armor.
Sonic gave the stranger a look. "Excuse me, but I believe you're in my spot."
The man looked back at him; a bit of a sneer as well as a head-tilt suggested something wasn't right about this man. Let alone the fact that he was practically squishing Shadow against the arm of the couch. Sonic maintained his stature as the man stood and leaned into his face.
"What do you want?" asked the man, still all up in Sonic's grill with that obvious piece of spinach, or whatever it was, in his teeth.
Sonic glanced at Shadow, who was quickly making a silent getaway, before glancing around to his other side to throw the man off. He was moderately successful, the man was confused and he stood there for a minute or two as Shadow effectively escaped to the children's section.
"Nothing, really," said Sonic, zipping away in the opposite direction, only turning back when he reached the video section, to find the man whirling around to find either of them. He looked awfully mad.
'Did you see that guy? Goodness gracious, what terrible taste in clothing. He also really needs to brush his teeth. Did you see that- that thing? In between the front two? Eauugh!'
Uncharted Territory resumed his habit of bad timing as Sonic was distracted long enough for the strange man to see him. Of course, it wasn't too hard to spot a blue hedgehog through a bunch of DVD clear cases. Sonic turned and dashed to the reference section as the man almost caught up. This was too easy.
The children's section was color-coded. Red-labeled books were early reading: ABCs, 123s, etc. Blue-labeled books were intermediate reading: full sentences, actual stories, some grammar lessons. Yellow-labeled books were chapter books with easy stories and vocabulary lessons. Shadow momentarily wondered the organization of the colors; Red-Blue-Yellow, not Red-Yellow-Blue or Red-Yellow-Green or something more normal-color-ordered, until she saw the cardboard cutouts of Knuckles, Sonic, and Tails next to colored posters for parents to read about what their child was learning from that particular set of books. Well that was an interesting way of advertising literacy; compare your child's intelligence level to the levels of your favorite heroes! Shadow laughed a bit, looking around at the reading levels of some of the children when a familiar face started tugging her tail.
"Shadow!" he exclaimed, recognizing his acquaintance from months past. Shadow brightened up.
"Steven! It's nice to see you again! How are you doing?"
"I'm great!" exclaimed the boy, holding up a copy of Thomas the Tank Engine "Look what book Mommy got me!"
"She got you Thomas? I'm so jealous!" Shadow gushed, glancing at the blue label. Sonic-level.
"I'm getting this because I'm the best reader in my whole kindergarten!" he boasted, turning the binding with the label to Shadow. "I'm blue, see?"
"I see!" said Shadow, still beaming at Steven. She could see his mother talking to another lady nearby, but not near enough if she didn't want Shadow talking to her son.
"I'm like Sonic," said Steven., before changing the subject abruptly. "I saw you with Sonic the other day, downtown. Were you going to the party?"
"The party? What party?" asked Shadow, attention returning to Steven.
"They party at the mall, with all the color people."
"Color people?" asked Shadow, wondering when, where, and how this boy could have seen them going to a color people party at the mall.
"You know, the color people. They wear colors? Red and orange and green and blue and purple? They wear the colors all at once. My uncle is a color person. My daddy took him to the party. Did you go to the party with Sonic?"
Shadow scratched her head, a little embarrassed of the fact. "Actually, yes, but we didn't mean to. It was on accident."
"Oh. I do a lot of things on accident, too," said Steven, dropping the subject. He opened his book. "What's a co-al bin?"
Sonic had been taunting this man for far too long, but it was worth every minute. Every time he got close, Sonic would escape in another direction, watching the man's face get more and more red. However, it was getting old, and Sonic decided to let himself get caught, right in front of the checkout. The man stopped in front of him, out of breath, red-in-the-face, and not at all happy. He growled in anger at Sonic, as menacing a roar as a human could produce, getting the attention of several others as well as the ladies behind the checkout desks, their cell phones prepared to call in a 911 emergency.
Sonic raised a finger to his lips. "Shh! There are people reading."
The man realized where he was, looking up and around, his face paled. Sonic dashed over toward the Children's section while he was distracted; not looking back though he would have loved to see the stranger's face upon finding he was again left in the dust.
Steven was reading the book aloud to Shadow, sitting on her lap, as several other children circled around to listen. Shadow would help with some of the words he didn't know, but aside from that, it was quite easy for him. He finished the book and closed it, looking around at the other children.
"Wanna hear it again?" he asked cheerfully as a couple of the listeners raised their hands and more nodded their heads.
Steven hopped off of Shadow's lap and opened the book again, starting to read.
Shadow stood up and stretched her legs, interrupted by Steven's mother, who took her aside. "What did you do?"
"What do you mean?" asked Shadow, worried that she might have struck a nerve.
"My son never reads in public," said the mother, her smile proving Shadow's fear wrong. "How did you get him to do that?"
Shadow glanced at Steven. "That's strange; he's really enthusiastic about reading. I guess he just didn't know he could read out loud."
The lady raised an eyebrow. "He didn't… know?"
"He is a good reader, he knows the material, but does he read out loud or silently?"
"Silently, usually. I mean, I do like to hear him talk, but sometimes I just ask him to keep it quiet for me…"
"I understand," said Shadow, thoughtfully. "There's a communication barrier between children and their parents. I think he might have thought you meant keep quiet all the time, and that reading aloud either wasn't good or was entirely impossible."
The woman nodded, turning from her son to Shadow. "I'm Elizabeth. Elizabeth Williams."
"I'm Shadow the Hedgehog. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Oh! You're Shadow? I'm so sorry, I didn't, I mean-… Steven is such a big fan!"
Shadow raised an eyebrow in curiosity. She had fans?
"Actually, I thought you were his imaginary friend! He talks about you all the time, saying he saw you on television or in the newspaper. Sometimes he draws pictures, but I guess I never really could make them out very well. He really likes you, though."
Shadow smiled at Mrs. Williams. "Well, I'm glad your son sees me as a suitable role model."
"Hey, Shadow!"
Shadow looked up, as did Mrs. Williams and most of the children in the area. Sonic the Hedgehog had just entered the Children's section.
"I finally lost that creepy guy in the Earth Keepers. You wanna keep hidin' out, here or what?"
Steven, as well as the rest of the grade-schoolers, slowly went to their parents; whispers of "It's Sonic" filled the air.
"My ex-husband wears Earth Keepers," muttered Mrs. Williams, as Steven tugged on her skirt.
"Mommy, it's Sonic," he said, reverently, his eyes shining.
Shadow sighed, rolling her eyes and gesturing for Sonic to come over to them.
"What?" asked Sonic, upon reaching proper library hearing range.
"Wouldn't you like to read a few books with these kids before we go?"