This is remarkably compelling for a tale where, essentially, nothing much of anything happens. I'm excited to read what it's setting the scene for: the characters feel well-rounded and real, and the world feels incredibly real as well — probably, now I come to think of it, because nothing even vaguely anomalous happens throughout. It's our world, but it plays that to its strength and ends up with a delightfully nostalgic vignette where nobody dies, no laws of physics are violated, and the Foundation doesn't get so much as a name-check.
Which, for a tale on this site, is an abnormality. But it's a testament to your skills that I didn't notice until writing this.
