BETTY

four. june 28th

[ chapter four. june 28th ]

That day, Tuesday, was Betty's day off and the first thing she did after waking up was go to the library.

It was a nice day, a little bit cloudy, but relatively warm so Betty decided to walk. She preferred walking places much more than driving and the library was within perfect walking distance.

Her dad was gone again, as usual, when she woke up. He didn't get weekdays off like Betty did, only weekends. Part of her had been hoping that she would wake up to find that he had made breakfast again but the other part of her didn't want to go through a repeat of yesterday morning.

Betty felt bad about leaving Emelio, who meowed in agony the entire time Betty was getting ready (just as he always did) and debated taking him with her. Melio had a little cat leash that he actually enjoyed and back in her old neighborhood, she used to take him on walks with her all the time.

But Betty didn't know this neighborhood well enough to know which roads to avoid so that large dogs didn't scare Melio to death, so she decided to leave him at home.

Besides, the library probably wouldn't like it if Betty brought in her noisy fluffball of a cat inside.

Making sure to give Melio a few extra treats, Betty put on her favorite cardigan (her sunshine yellow one with big buttons), slipped on her converse, and walked out the door.

The walk to the library was peaceful - there were very few people in this neighborhood that actually drove cars (a lot of the residents were very old) which meant Betty didn't have to listen to the sounds of engines the entire time.

Betty rounded the corner and the library came into view. It was a small, house-like building that hadn't been remodeled since the '50s. Betty had only been to the library a handful of times since moving here, but in her old town, she spent most of her time at the library.

Greeting the receptionist who was checking in books, Betty made her way to the back of the building where all the travel books were. There weren't many people in the library, since it was a Tuesday, except for an older couple, a young woman with big hair, and two children who appeared to be her children that were quietly reading picture books at her feet.

Betty grabbed the two books she had been looking at last time (they were in the exact same spot) and sat down at the table farthest to the back. She pulled out her leatherbound journal and a pen, opened to the page she had half-filled out last time, and opened the travel book.

The journal, which she had dubbed her travel journal, was filled with facts and information about all the places she wanted to travel one day. The best tourist spots and the best restaurants, the history of the most popular towns and landmarks, the population size, and the average temperatures of each season. Anything that Betty needed to know was written in that journal.

She had gotten the journal as a gift from her father for her 15th birthday and had been nonstop filling it out ever since. There weren't many pages left - maybe less than 20 - but Betty didn't mind. She knew that she wouldn't have to wait long until she could actually put her travel journal to use.

Last time she had finished her research on Kyushu, Japan, and started looking into Budapest, Hungary. Ideally, Betty would've gone to all the places she had researched, but realistically? It was unlikely she would even get the money to travel to 10 of them.