THE CHARACTER OF BUSINESS

In this ancient parchment may be studied the unwholesome land that is Humbaba County. 

Top town: Tertia. 

Then Carata, the college town.

Then Egeria, the county's largest city.

Fernden, with its theater and cemetery.

Riverdell.

Werman.

Darrow's Bend.

Madrani.

Drakewood. 

Radley...

Bargerville...

I consider local business an integral character in most stories.Local business gives a town its flavor, and is the sticky lifeblood of any community.

Carata – Bookin’ It

              Carata Co-op

              Das Bagels

              Hola John’s

What Carata had that Egeria lacked was a whole lot more of a laid-back feel. Nowhere was this more true among the active businesses in town, than at the Carata Co-op, which boasted a better selection of beer by far than all the liquor stores in town combined, and carried the seriously best bagels to be found in California, or New York, or anywhere in between, and therefore also the world. Those were made two blocks over at tiny little Das Bagels, and if those among the largely student population patronizing that store couldn't take the time to stand in line, or didn't want to burn the carbs walking or biking to or from the campus, they satisfied their munchies at Hola John's with a big bean burrito, or maybe a veggie wrap, probably prepared by a mellow chick from San Francisco, Seattle or LA, sporting dreadlocks or a crew cut, having emigrated to the area for the trees and weed.

              LowCost

              Nepal Noodle

              Rodeo Video

              Soy Boy

              Utterly Cutlery

              Whey To Go

              Wire You Hear

Egeria – Buy ‘N’ Large

              The Informer (newspaper)

              Maim Street

              Rodeo Video

              Thrusters

              Wall Street Mart

Fernden – Automatons

                 Claire Voyant’s Used Books

                 Fernden Cemetery

                 Fernden Farms Creamery

                 Fernden Theater

                 Rodeo Video

                 Statuary or Bust

                 Taco the Town

                 Viscount Discount

                 Wide-Eye Tie-Dye

                 Yoga Yogurt

Madrani – The Burl Barn

                  Kung Food

                  Madrani Cafe

                  Madrani Market

                  Just Desserts

                  Whispering Woods Motel

Drakewood – The Druid

                       The God in the Tree Gifts

                       Potted Plant Nursery

Dreem – Crystal Clear

               Dreem Cycle

               Dreem Date

               Shape and Shade

When stores opened in the bird-busy morning on the day before the Fernden Fair, Hubie at Automatons straightened up the voodoo dolls, and the dangling clang of long wind chimes outside Wide-Eye Tie-Dye provided a pleasant temple-like effect. Bed and breakfasts were getting gussied, candy-colored Victorians gleaming in the lifting fog.

            Hubie had some music going on inside, and it was quiet enough on Main Street that “The Sound of Silence” drifted out when he opened up the windows to let the morning in. Puppets on display bobbing softly in the breeze seemed to watch with painted eyes as a Celica puttered past, in which Mary Annette Reynolds sat driving on her way to work.

            Down the sidewalks, trimmed trees with foliage swept up appeared loosely in her mind like one-legged Marilyn Monroes. LIVE STAGE PRODUCTIONS, proclaimed the Fernden Theater marquee. She could not see it clearly, but caught a quick glimpse of the poster which she knew announced the upcoming show.

Bargerville – The Barger Burger

                      Bargerville Theater

                      Common Grounds

                      The Freethinker (newspaper)

                      Holy Smokes

                      LowCost

                      Rasta Pasta

                      Sofa So Good

                      Victory Eviction Services

                      Wok This Whey

Radley – Bramford’s

               Brew Ha Ha

               Bulk kluB Gym

               Daring ‘Do

               Mojo Dojo

               Radley Recycling Center

Noiselessly the hover scooter slid the standard three feet approximate over the road as though in an invisible gelatinous river. His job was to head over to the high school and a few other places at some point in the day and check out a couple things here and there, basically make sure the problem spots in particular never got a chance to freeze up. He took it slow past Madrani Market and Madrani Café. You couldn’t take a hover scooter very fast anyway, and most definitely not his. Past the market, off to the right, the heavily forested mountain rose forever up, green trees growing and going on and on, past the gray wisps of clouds hovering kelp-like over the town.

Laibrook – Laibrook Inn

Whale Harbor – Oceanside Health Center

Arbora – Arbora Body

               KANG Radio

Rome – Flap! Jack’s

              Mein Hair

 Much obliged, folks!

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