So I'm sitting in one of those kinda alright outdoor cafe's right? The kind where you have to actually know one of the waiters before they actually notice you, or at least look rich enough that the help cares. It was a nice day, warm for the area, and sunny. I was huddled under the umbrella trying to read the last of the Sunday paper. The advantage to these cafe's is that while they won't get around to talking to you unless you make it very clear that they have to, they will ignore most anything that you are doing so long as they have tables free.
Quite a few of these places litter the streets in this city, and I could wager that it might be a facet unique to the area, though I can't say for certain. I lived here all of my life, and then some on top of that. So I'm under this umbrella, waiting for a cloud, and the wind starts picking up. This is generally pretty good, all things considered; it moves along the upper atmosphere traffic a little faster, and I couldn't be waiting here all day, I might have to actually order some coffee if the weather didn't start cooperating.
It had been all my fault for ending up in this position, and I was none to happy about that. Normally I go out in the morning with my duster on and a nice wide brimmed hat, not perfect, mind you, but it's enough to cover the skin, and with a pair of sunglasses I can manage the rays. I wanted a place to sit down and read the newspaper on account of the hornets game last night that I missed. Then that article caught my eye. "Lady detective goes missing:police baffled". I had an inkling that it may or may not have anything to do with my case at the moment, but either way, it was nice hearing about the mess ups of our men in blue.
It was right about then that the kid came by. I'd taken off my duster while I was under the umbrella. I mentioned it was a hot day, correct? And so as I'm sitting there, t-shirt on, hat on the table, sunglasses in the pocket, this kid goes by and nabs it right off the back of my chair. Now, I could have caught him easily, I always was one of the quicker ones, but it had gotten just sunny enough to make that a problem. How is one of the undead supposed to make a living when things conspire against him like this all the time? Not all zombies have the sunlight allergy, most of them just shamble around trying to gnaw on people's heads, but I have kind of a condition.
I guess I've got a while to wait, so I can probably telly you how it all played out, but you're buying the coffee this time. I'll finish up the bit about my day under the umbrella first, and then we can go back to origin stories. Now I'd been sitting under that umbrella for a while, and thankfully I had my wallet in my pants pocket, or I really would have been up a creek when the waitress came up to me and pointedly asked me if I was going to order something. Coffee and a scone, like any normal gentleman, and then I was back to the waiting. Either I was going to get a cloud at some point, or I was going home with a rather bad sunrash, and it takes ages to fix sunrash.
This was when you came along, I believe. Tables being full and all, that was when I was happy enough to let you share my umbrella. We talked, if you remember, about that very same missing persons case that was in the paper that week, and I eventually got around to asking you about using your cell. You might already be able to guess about what it all means in retrospect, but I'll tell it how it went anyway. See, I'm not some lone hidden fantastical creature bound to roam the streets at night and sip coffee under umbrellas. There is a small root of us in these parts, one might go so far as to say an organization if one wanted to be sinister, but I'd be more of a mind to use the word club.
Now I went on to talk about my coat being stolen and not having my car keys to drive myself home, and if she would be a dear and pick me up in a turn or two. Obviously, the car keys bit was a fabrication, never owned one, don't plan on it, but it got the message across that I was unsuitably dressed to go running around outdoors, and gave me a place to get picked up with a new duster. We chatted bit longer, then my ride showed up and we happened to part on those friendly circumstances, you back to your office and me off to dig up some clues on a certain detective who may or may not have anything to do with the grand story I can unfold next.
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