Bed of Roses 1

I wrote this to the Thimbleful Thursday prompt "Bed of Roses" as the first of a pair of stories.


“Congratulations on getting the cool gig!”

“What are you talking about?  I wanted field work and instead I’m stuck with being dogsbody on the archival deep dive team.”
“Coriander Evans!  Here you are with a paying job in your field, in the capital, under a respected professor, and you don’t even have to leave your dishy boyfriend behind to take it up because he’s already working there.  Why aren’t you happy?”

“Oh, I wanted field work not a job going over stuff collected and acquired by other people that’s been in storage ever since it was received because it was so boring or irrelevant in the first place.  Trust me when I say that the salary is more of a stipend and it barely covers the cost of living in the capital.  The professor is so important that he doesn’t look at me when I’m speaking or pay any attention to what I say.”

“There’s still Richard.  He’s dreamy….”

“He also won’t listen when I tell him that I’m not interested in him.  Yes, he’s gorgeous and what he sees in me is a low maintenance girl with spare capacity to help maintain him.”

“Coriander….”

“Yes, Petula?”

“Are you trying to have lemons instead of roses?”


And here is Bed of Roses 2.

Bed of Roses 2

This is a few months after Bed of Roses 1.


“So, how’s things going?  Last time I saw you there was a sour taste in your mouth about everything.”

“I was out of sorts with the world wasn’t I?  Let me buy you a drink for unloading on you last time.  What’ll you have?”

“Thank you!  The usual please.  So did something happen to make you feel better?”

“Two vodka and limes, please Jeremy.  Thanks.  Well, the salary’s still not much and the cost of living is still high, but work is better than I thought.  A lot of it was shoved away into storage because it wasn’t made of gold when everyone was after kingly treasures, although there are a few expeditions’ worth of stuff that made it back here when the expeditioners didn’t.  That stuff went into storage to wait for people who never turned up.  Except, it turned out, for Professor Trevallen.  All these years he’s been listed as missing when he was in that sarcophagus and the canopic jars from Upper Punt the whole time.”

“What?”

“Yes, exactly.  And Professor Liversey wasn’t ignoring me, he’s deaf as a post!  Can’t hear anyone after all those explosions, poor man.”

“He could wear hearing aids.”

“The explosions are an ongoing issue.”

“Oh.  And Richard?”

“Came by to bother me at work about something, picked up a thing he was told not to touch, and turned into some sort of hippogriff-centaur.  I think he looks better with feathers, but….”

“But?”

“I still refuse to be his girlfriend.”