Page 60 of Bea's Book Wagon
‘Sounds interesting,’ said Beth, ‘You’d have to run it on a mid-week night, but it would be a good way to draw in more customers when we’re quieter, anyway. I’ll run it past Pete first, but you’ll do all the organizing, yes?’
‘Oh, yes, definitely,’ said Bea, nodding vigorously. ‘All you’ll need to do is serve the drinks, I’ll sort everything else out.’
‘Sounds good, love. Let me check with Pete and we’ll get a date in the diary.’
‘Excellent! Thanks, Beth.’
Bea was taking cash and offering her bank details to anyone who was happy to pay via transfer, when Nathan jogged back to the wagon.
‘Tony’s sorted it!’ he said.
‘Seriously?’ said Bea. ‘What was wrong with it?’
‘Your Bluetooth had disconnected. He said he’ll show you how to reconnect once his queue dies down,’ said Nathan, ‘in case it happens again.’
‘God, Jess was right about him, his queue never gets any shorter, does it?’
‘Ah, Tony’s Tex Mex is legendary, I’ll get you some later. You haven’t lived until you’ve tried his chicken enchiladas.’
‘Ooooh, sounds delish.’
* * *
The next time Bea glanced at her watch, it was almost two, and she couldn’t quite believe how much stock she’d sold. Good job she still had boxes of books stacked up in Archie’s garage; it looked like she’d be needing to use them all far faster than she’d anticipated.
‘How’s it going?’ asked Nathan, stepping inside the wagon, the door swinging shut behind him with a bang.
‘Can you open it?’ asked Bea. ‘I don’t want people to think I’m closed.’
‘Sure,’ said Nathan, turning the handle. Nothing happened. The lever remained firmly in position. ‘Shit,’ he muttered.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘The handle’s stuck.’
‘Here, let me try, it can be a bit temperamental,’ said Bea, twisting and jiggling the lever. It still wouldn’t budge. ‘Damn! It’s jammed.’
‘Let me have another go,’ said Nathan, as Bea stepped aside. He yanked the handle down with force, shouldering the door at the same time.
Nothing.
‘No, no, no, no,’ Bea wailed. ‘This can’t be happening.’
‘It’ll be okay. We’ll call Archie, he can take the handle off from outside.’
‘Good idea,’ said Bea, grabbing her phone. ‘I don’t believe it,’ she groaned. ‘There’s no signal. What about you?’ she asked.
Nathan patted down his pockets.
‘I think I’ve left mine in the truck. Sorry,’ he said, grimacing.
‘Great,’ she huffed, banging hard on the door yelling, ‘Hello? We’re stuck in here! Hello?’ in the hope that someone would hear her.
‘Don’t panic,’ Nathan shrugged. ‘Someone will come along in a minute and open it from the outside. It’ll be fine.’
‘You go to the gym, can’t you just rip the handle off?’ she suggested.
‘I know I’m in good shape, but I’m not actually the Incredible Hulk,’ he teased, flexing his biceps.
