“Here she comes!” Hayley squeaked excitedly as the black London taxi pulled onto the street. Sophie fidgeted nervously in her loose dress, forcing a smile on her face as she prepared to hold up the banner that she and many of her friends had spent the previous evening making.

“Everybody ready?” One of the two identical ginger-haired Scottish women asked, smiling as everyone nodded affirmatively.

“On three,” the other ginger-haired Scotswoman said. “Ready? One, two, three…”

CHAPTER 25
Waterstone’s may be a huge and faceless chain of book shops, but I have always found the staff quirky, especially in a University town like Cardiff. I suppose a lot of jobs in what is referred to as ‘retail’ are like that, more so when the items sold are niche stuff. There is a cliché image of record shop employees, or employees in goth or hippy clothing shops, merging with the merchandise, and while I will leave the comparison there (and avoid all mention of employees in, er, ‘Adult’ shops), Cardiff Waterstone’s is absolutely in that league.