Modern art glares at her from the gallery walls. Does it demand her praise or merely crave her understanding? She pauses before a blood-red canvas, a slash of blue and two blobs of green, created by a modern Scottish artist of whom she’s never heard. Should she have done?
She feels the assistant’s snooty gaze rest on her as she crosses the room, her footsteps echoing on the stark white floor. The centre-piece sculpture rears up menacingly; a hooded man, a gaping maw. Does his expression reflect the artist’s angst?
She’s seen enough.
Out on the street she meanders past a few shops but none can tempt her within. She crosses the road. The city’s unfamiliar and she’s just killing time before her train leaves.
Then she sees it.
The display beckons.
She quickens her step.
Soon she’s inside perusing the shelves and bathing in the gladdening glow of beautiful books.
Written in response to a prompt from Susan T. Braithwaite
Genre Scribes Friday Fiction Writing Challenge #26
The challenge this week was literature.
With apologies to galleries and gallery staff – I used to work in one!
luna's on line 
Books have a attraction for me too.
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I love hanging out in book stores 🙂
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[…] we get into the challenge, I’d like to say a huge thank you to Chris, and Gordon for taking part, again. You guys […]
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Love it! You really captured her awkwardness beautifully. I love that books were her safe place. 🙂
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I still find some art galleries a bit intimidating 😉 but you can’t beat a book shop!
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Book shops win every day! I’m not intimidated by galleries, I just get annoyed when snooty people try to tell you what the artist meant. They’re also the reason that book shops rock–the snooty people are in their literature corner, far away from romance!
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I really like this one too. Book stores are the best! I love the smell of new books and coffee (if the store has a coffee shop built in) 😊😊
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Exactly. A winning combination!
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Dreamy
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