Return To Lan Darr by Anderson Atlas Read Free Book Online Page A

pine needles and sleep overnight.
    A delivery truck blocks Pine Road, and the taxi driver slows to a stop. He honks.
    “Hey, get outta the road!” He honks again.
    The driver opens the truck door, hops out, and waves the taxi around. She’s a larger woman with the most colorful patchwork dress Allan has ever seen. A gray parrot perches comfortably on her shoulder.
    The Taxi drives around the disabled truck. “You can’t pull to the side? Eh?” He mumbles.
    Allan turns and looks out the back window. The truck sits crooked on the road, the front tire flat. The woman inspects the tire and climbs back inside at which point the passenger, a man, hops out with a tire iron. He starts to remove a spare tire off the back of the cab.
    Allan notices the truck’s logo above the cab. It reads, ‘Morna’s Flowers and Odd Things’ and is surrounded by graphics of roses, tulips, orchids, weird statues, and symbols Allan doesn’t recognize.
    The woman leans out the window and speaks to the man. The man stands up and throws his arms out over his head and yells something at her. The woman throws her shoe out the window, and it hits him in the head. Allan laughs at the fighting couple.
    The light turns green, and the taxi continues down Pine Road. Blue Mountain Road is only a couple miles up ahead. He stares at the dark green of the pine trees and knows he is making the right decision. The forest beckons him. The Hubbu wants to be found.
    A block before the mountain road, Allan sees a small strip mall with a post office, a hardware store, and Morna’s Flowers and Odd Things. He wonders what kind of ‘odd things’ she has. “STOP!” Allan calls out.
    The taxi driver hits the brakes and pulls off the road into the strip mall parking lot. “What’s wrong? I yeye yeye, you make my heart explode.”
    If Allan was in a cartoon, he’d have a glowing lightbulb over his head. For months he’d gone to the mountain to look for the Hubbu flower. Even though he didn’t find it, he kept looking instead of trying something new. Maybe it’s time to look elsewhere.
    “Go to the flower shop, and can you wait for me?” Allan asks.
    “Not a problem, anything for you.” Charlie pulls to the front of the store and stops. Allan unhooks his chair from the support pole and rolls to the platform. The taxi driver hits the button, and Allan is lowered to the sidewalk. The flower shop is still closed, but he knows they’re on their way, having only to change out a flat tire.
    Fifteen minutes later, the Morna’s Flowers and Odd Things delivery truck pulls into the parking lot and drives around back. The interior lights of the shop flick on, and the woman unlocks the door, wearing only one shoe. Her bird is still on her shoulder.
    “Hello, lad,” she says after she opens the door. “What’ll it be t’day?” She has light skin, is covered in freckles, and has bright orange hair. Long beaded earrings dangle from her ears and a necklace, made of the same style of beads, hangs around her neck. She smiles bright and has kind eyes.
    “Uh, I’m looking for a very special flower.” Allan rolls himself through the tight doorway. The woman lets him pass and follows him into the shop. The shop is packed with flowers in pots filling the shelves and cut flowers petal to petal in the coolers. Allan sees birdhouses made from beer cans, wind chimes, mugs, beaded lanterns, chocolates, candies, T-shirts, and strange statues. It overwhelms Allan’s senses.
    “Who’re the flowers for now, lad?” The woman digs into her hip pack and pulls out a pinch of seed. She raises her hand and feeds the large gray parrot that happily sits on her shoulder. She kisses the bird on its large gray beak.
    “My, uh, girlfriend.”
    “Oh, I’ve some lovely roses. Roses, red ones, tell ’er ya love ’er.” She walks to the nearest cooler stuffed with roses.
    “No, I’m looking for a special flower. I only know what it looks like, but it’s her favorite. I’m not