Radi’s Responsibilities

Seldene Shorts, #3

Solway City wasn’t its real name — it was a city, just called Solway — but Radi liked to think it was. It made life more, uh, exciting, rather than scary.

Right now, she was striding down an unfamiliar sidewalk; her boots tapped out the beats playing through her buds. Was this the right place? Hardy College was nowhere near Anthropology, but tutoring space was getting more and more in demand these days.

Guess you had to take what you could, wherever.

Radi killed the music, needing to concentrate, and looked around. She’d just gone over a small bridge. Maybe if she followed this corner — yes! Thank God, there was the Hardy Building up ahead, with its large, shiny sign leading the way.

She surged forward. The building itself had only opened last month, rescheduled from the start of the academic year — another mark against Solway University’s organizational abilities. Maybe there’d been a problem with resources, or someone important had gotten ill?

Well, whatever. It was open now — and nice. They were gonna use the ground floor for conferences: a swishy glass entrance into a wide lobby with lounge areas and info desks, and elevators behind. Radi entered the last of these ground-floor features, feeling like she’d stepped into a five-star hotel…

The illusion shattered when the doors re-opened. These upper levels were all office corridors, designed the same as those in the uni’s older buildings.

Well, it wasn’t like she didn’t know where to go now. The signage was clear, the layout familiar. She found her tutor’s door soon enough.

Copyright © E.A. Colquitt 2023