Chapter 819 - Queen of Mystery?

It was a cold, wet afternoon in London. There was a bitter chill and there was a threat of a snowstorm on the horizon. Most of the shoppers decided to stay indoors rather than head out into the chilly weather. Still, there are more audacious members of the public both men and women openly spoke on the streets as they chat. Very few women dress in a lady-like fashion that is wearing matching tweedy jackets or skirts along with a sheer pantyhose and low heels nor do the men wear dress formal suits. Rather, this was a younger crowd with young women wearing trousers, shorter skirts with jumpers, or denim jackets. The young men were jackets, bellbottom jeans with patterned or sleek shirts.

Several popular cars of the era can be seen zooming down the city streets on errands or other business, such as the Ford Cortina or Escort, the Mini, the Austin/Morris, the sporty Vauxhall Viva, the Ford Capri, the Hillman Avenger, and last but not least the good old Austin Maxi. It truly was the seventies. It was a tumult age of progress and unrest. The most recent IRA bombing had only just taken place on November 18th at a restaurant near the Knightsbridge killing two civilians and injuring over twenty others!

It certainly did not help with all the riots and protests that it had been far from a tranquil year in the whole of London! Why even Leeds United Lodge had the UEFA place a three-year ban on the club due to the unruly hooligan behavior of their fans! (Though Leeds United Lodge had filed an appeal and had the ban reduced to a single season). Or that Donald Neilson is arrested in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire under suspicion of being the "Black Panther," murderer, who carried out five murders in only two years!

It was a troubling year, and many wished the year to end and to usher in the new year of 1976.. The only good bit of news that year was the Employment Protection Act that passed recently in November that established the first-ever Maternity Pay fund to provide maternity leave or the Sex Discriminant Act of 1975 to punish discrimination against women (or men) in the workplace.

[(There were still plenty of issues of discrimination against people of other races or sėx in the workplace or even homophobia. It wasn't until 1970 that the Gay Liberation Front was founded, and it was still very much a subject that polite society did not talk about. And wouldn't truly be talked about really until the 1980's when the AIDS epidemic began in the populace taking many away causing depression in the Gay (LGBT) community and causing many to turn to drugs primarily heroin which resulted in a deadly overdosing pandemic.)]

With the riots, murders, and unrest shoppers had been a lot warier when shopping, and sales had plummeted as a direct result. It was going to be a bad fiscal quarter at this rate, but the hope was that Christmas would hopefully set things right again. At least that was the desperate hope of the shop owners.

In a simple bookstore on Gower Street, a balding middle-aged man with a protruding nose lets out a loud sigh as he stacks the bookshelves. The store was empty of any customers and it had been a rather downtrend all year long for sales. At this rate, he going to go out of business by next year. His books were almost in the red, but he'd just managed to stay in the clear but only just. The rent was due at the end of the month and he knew with just how bad book sales had been this month, he was finally going to go into the red. That is unless a Christmas miracle happened, and a large influx of Christmas shoppers saved him from the inevitable.

A loud tinkling bell at the door alerts him that a customer had entered the book shop. Pulling himself out of his misery, he switches into a cheerful business mode to greet the hopeful shoppers. Hopefully, they were not browsing, but actually buying this time. "Coming, I'll be there in just a jiff," he cried out, before hastily climbing down the ladder. He hurriedly pats his clothes down, before hurrying to see the customers.

"Welcome-," he said before his voice trailed incredulously at seeing two couples straight out of a Victorian novel. The first couple was dark-haired with dark eyes with the Misses having long, dark curly hair pulled up into an elegant updo. The Mister had a prominent chin with an air of boldness about him. While the second couple was a light-haired couple. The Misses had an arrogant, self-righteous expression on her face and the look of turning red when angry. Her husband was large with wire-like hair just as arrogant, but a handsome man.

In turn, the two pureblood families study the balding shopkeeper before them. They had not wished to traverse into MUGGLE London, but Flourish and Blotts had yet to add the new muggle literature section. It was nearly completed, but they would have to wait one more week before the official opening. And with Christmas approaching, it would be a madhouse to attempt to browse through the section. With the incredible popularity of the muggle writer, Jane Austen, no proper witch of society could stand to be left behind. It was all the rage, and they must be in tune with the height of fashion.

After a long discussion with close friends and acquaintances, they were finally recommended a quiet book shop by a squib relative of one of their friends. So far, the book shop appeared to be kept rather clean and thankfully devoid of any rift-raft. It was a most promising start, but they were still a tad unnerved to be in the MUGGLE part of London. The sooner, they finished purchasing the novels, the better!

The balding shopkeeper privately concludes that the two men and women in his bookstore must be all method actors. Theatre actors tended to be poor, but true to their craft. And he had always had a soft spot for Theatre.

Deciding to play along, the shopkeeper bows his head and gives them a small bow. "How can I help you, gentlemen and ladies." He really needed the sales after all, and every little bit did count. He could afford to set down his pride and compile with their play.

"The Vane family," loudly replied the dark-haired husband in a dramatic voice, (who greatly resembled the unborn Romilda Vane).

"The McLaggen family," confidently said the fair-haired husband, (who greatly resembled the yet unborn Cormac McLaggen).

"The Vane and McLaggen family, how may this humble shopkeeper be of service this afternoon?" The shopkeeper said playing along with the method actor's script.

"We have come to acquire two greatly recommended novellas by the name of Pride & Prejudice, and Jane Eyre by the novelist, Jane Austen," Mrs. Vane firmly said. "Granted, we also dėsɨrė to inquire for other or similar interesting novellas."

"Naturally, right this way milady's," the shopkeeper said as he led the couple to an area filled with classic literature. "Might I recommend Mansfield Park and Sense & Sensibility by the novelist, Jane Austen as well. They are highly popular reads as well," he persuasively said.

"Show us, shopkeeper," Mrs. McLaggen eagerly demanded with a gleam of interest in her eyes. If she was able to introduce new popular literature into her circle of friends, she would be greatly lauded for her superior insight.