Medallions d20 Modern (Update Wednesday 09-20-06)
- Thread starter Old Drew Id
- Start date
Thomas Hobbes
First Post
I was in my Shakespeare lecture today, and we were talking about Othello, Titus Andronicus, etc. And the issue of justice and vengance came up.
And all I could think was my mental "willie" voice going "This is not... justice."
An hour and a half spent trying to supress laughter. Just thought you might like to know....
And all I could think was my mental "willie" voice going "This is not... justice."
An hour and a half spent trying to supress laughter. Just thought you might like to know....
ledded
Herder of monkies
That *is* funny. I'm actually a big fan of Othello, and liked the 1995 movie adaptation with Laurence Fishburne. I'm touched that Willie was able to invade someone's subconsciousThomas Hobbes said:
Actually, when I came up with Willie, I basically created him as an amalgamation inspired by of a lot of my favorite african-american actors and/or characters that they have played that I liked in particular and a bunch of quirks of my own. There is a big piece of Willie that is inspired by Laurence Fishburne as Othello (especially the "angry" parts) and Sheriff Tanny Brown (from Just Cause), which is why I thought your comment was a little ironic.
If you hear a voice in your head that is part Laurence Fishburne, part Samuel Jackson, and part Shaft, with an angry southern accent; yep, that's your Willie voice.
As a side note; when we first came up with the medallions idea OldDrewId had us email him 2-4 different character ideas and we would sort through 1 or 2 to possibly use, just to see what we would come up with. I had a completely different idea for a PI as my secondary choice, but a week or so later I saw The Long Kiss Goodnight on cable for the first time in a few years and, inspired, went more of a Shaft/Mitch Henessey route, and kind of sorted through a lot of my favorite characters that would fit in. So toss in a few more Sam Jackson roles (Lt. Danny Roman, Jules Winnfield, Trevor Garfield, Ordell Robbie, Elmo McElroy, Doyle Gipson), some Laurence Fishburne parts, every darn Shaft movie, and even a little Denzel Washington (Easy Rawlins, 'Hub' Hubbard, Alonzo Harris) and then my own twist on it with various things we picked up just because of stuff that happened to us in game, and we ended up with Willie.
EDIT: Oh, and dont forget a few Ving Rhames roles, jeez I love the way that guy can throw down a threat.
Willie is also a bit of a movie buff (though he wont admit it) and he occasionally will spout lines and take inspiration from certain movies when doing things ("right one... or the left one?"); we may see more of that in the story hour in the future.
Last edited:
Old Drew Id
First Post
Episode II – Session I - Investigation
Episode II – Session I - Investigation
The front door to AAA Investigations had one of those copper cowbells hung just over the inside of the frame, so the door hit it and it gave out a loud clang as Willie stepped inside. That cowbell always annoyed the hell out of Willie. He had told his cousin Gerald a hundred times to get rid of it. A private investigation agency is not a f***ing quickie-mart.
When he entered the front office, it was empty. At the sound of the bell, and perhaps from the aroma of the greasy sack of barbeque ribs that Willie was carrying, Gerald emerged from the back office, looking hungry and mean. He was buttoning his pants up, from his usual habit of unbuttoning the top button of his pants whenever he sat around behind his desk, to give his beer belly room to relax.
Willie rolled his eyes as he handed over the ribs, “Smooth look, cousin. What if I had been a client? That the kind of look you want to give off?”
“Oh, like you got room to talk, Mr. I-come-in-when-I-damn-well-please? You’re just lucky I was in the mood for some ribs. Now sit yo ass down and shut up.”
Willie was about to ask when his cousin was ever not in the mood for ribs, but he decided to skip it. He had already decided, as soon as he could get the money up, he was done with this place. His cousin was an alright guy, really. Hell, he had given Willie a paycheck when he needed it. But Willie had seen how the place was run, and he knew he could do better. For starters, he wouldn’t put one of those stupid cowbells over the door.
Gerald led the way back to his office, where he sat down at his paper-covered desk and tore into the bag of ribs like something off of the nature channel. Before Willie had even sat down and finished unbuttoning his jacket, Gerald was already elbow deep in grease and barbeque sauce. He looked up at Willie with a stern look and a mouthful of food. “I need you on the job tonight, Willie. Looks like we gonna need you all night, ‘til it gets done.”
Willie rolled his eyes, “Alright, now you’re starting to sound like one of my lady friends….”
Gerald ignored the comment and instead just focused his attention on using his tongue to pick some rib meat out from between his teeth. He glanced down for a second at his sauce-covered hands and then used the back of his left hand to shove a photograph forward from a stack of similar photos laying on the desk. He nodded for Willie to take the photo as he said, “Every agency in town is looking for this guy. We gotta be the one that finds him.”
Willie studied the photo for a moment, committing the details to memory. It was a blow-up of a black-and-white image, probably an ID card photo kept on file somewhere. It showed a forty-something thin white male, with gray hair and glasses. Once he had it secure in his mind, he stuffed it into his breast pocket and pulled out his notepad. “What ya got on him?”
Gerald shook his head. “Not much. Name’s Doctor John Hudson. Works for an outfit called Research Genetics Incorporated. They’re the ones looking for him. Apparently the company has lost its doc.”
Willie jotted the details down into his pad. He glanced up again with a sudden professional tone. “Embezzling?”
Gerald shrugged. “Don’t think so. Anyhow, they can’t find him. They said he may have gone crazy. They’re offering cash money to get him back. We’re dropping every other case right now, and putting everything on this.”
Willie raised an eyebrow. “You put Mike and Johnny on it too?”
Gerald nodded, “Hell yeah!” and inhaled another mouthful of ribs.
Willie grinned despite himself. There must be some serious cash floating out there for Gerald to have put everyone on this. But Willie knew Mike and Johnny, and he knew what they were capable of. “The haven’t called in with anything, though, have they?”
Gerald stopped chewing and frowned at his cousin. “They got an eight hour head start on you. But no, they ain’t called back in with any leads yet.”
Willie nodded. “Got anything else to go on?”
Gerald recited a suburban address which Willie copied down. “That’s him home address. They got the house open for you if you want to go check it out.”
Willie chewed his lip. The address was deep in Mountain Brook, the city’s richest neighborhood; so the doctor was apparently pretty well-paid. But he spoke aloud the other thing he was thinking, “Well, if every agency in town has been through the house looking for clues, there won’t be anything there left to find.”
Gerald growled back, “well, there might have been if you had come in earlier when I called you!”
Willie countered, “Don’t you make me call Gramms and tell her how you’re trying to get me to skip out on church!”
Gerald bellowed, “Get your ass out of my office!”
Willie stood up, straightened his coat, and headed back out into the front office. He sat down at the receptionist’s computer and speed-dialed a phone number with one hand while he keyed in a web address into the computer with his other. The internet connection in the office was as slow as Christmas, but Willie was used to it. He entered his search into the website and waited for the results while he made his phone call.
The phone answered after one ring, “This is Johnny.”
“Johnny? Willie here. What you got so far on this John Hudson? I figure you already ran the background on him.”
“Willie. About time you got to work on this… Alright, guy’s got a medical degree and another one in genetics. Been working here in town for ten years. Got his home address here, but that’s a dead end--”
“Yeah, I kinda figured that already. Anything else?“
“Not much…he’s into hunting, judging from the stuffed animal heads at his house. And he had some pain meds in his bathroom cabinet. Nothing heavy, though.”
“Hmmm…alright, where are you now?”
“Staking out the house.” Willie could hear the boredom in his voice.
“Where’s Mike?”
“Staking out the research place where this guy works.”
Willie imagined the same response from every other agency in town. “And I suppose there’s a dozen other guys out there too, huh?”
Johnny chuckled, “At least that many. I figure if this guy actually shows back up here, we’re gonna have a brawl seeing who gets to bring him in.”
Willie doubted the good doctor would simply return himself safely home at this point, considering the manpower that was out there, unsuccessfully looking for him. He made a decision, “Johnny, forget the house. It’s a dead end.”
“That’s what I said! But Gerald told me to stay put.”
“Forget that. Listen, can you get back into the house?”
“Sure, but everybody has been through there---”
“I know, but here’s what you’re gonna do. Go back to his medicine cabinet. Get those pain pills you saw, and get the name of his doctor. Then go check in with that guy. You might get some info from him, but if not, you can at least stake out his office. If this Doc Hudson did go crazy, he may have checked in with his doctor before he left.”
“Alright, worth checking out, I guess.”
Willie agreed, “It’s a long shot, yeah, but better that just sitting there waiting with everybody else. Anyhow, call me back if you get anything.”
Willie hung up as the search results finally returned on the web site. The email address that Joe had given him was from jack_sanders@rgi.com so Willie had just pulled up a search on who owned that domain name. The search results made him quickly curse and slap his own forehead. After another second, he was out the door and making another call on his cell phone, this time to Brother Cooper.
Episode II – Session I - Investigation
The front door to AAA Investigations had one of those copper cowbells hung just over the inside of the frame, so the door hit it and it gave out a loud clang as Willie stepped inside. That cowbell always annoyed the hell out of Willie. He had told his cousin Gerald a hundred times to get rid of it. A private investigation agency is not a f***ing quickie-mart.
When he entered the front office, it was empty. At the sound of the bell, and perhaps from the aroma of the greasy sack of barbeque ribs that Willie was carrying, Gerald emerged from the back office, looking hungry and mean. He was buttoning his pants up, from his usual habit of unbuttoning the top button of his pants whenever he sat around behind his desk, to give his beer belly room to relax.
Willie rolled his eyes as he handed over the ribs, “Smooth look, cousin. What if I had been a client? That the kind of look you want to give off?”
“Oh, like you got room to talk, Mr. I-come-in-when-I-damn-well-please? You’re just lucky I was in the mood for some ribs. Now sit yo ass down and shut up.”
Willie was about to ask when his cousin was ever not in the mood for ribs, but he decided to skip it. He had already decided, as soon as he could get the money up, he was done with this place. His cousin was an alright guy, really. Hell, he had given Willie a paycheck when he needed it. But Willie had seen how the place was run, and he knew he could do better. For starters, he wouldn’t put one of those stupid cowbells over the door.
Gerald led the way back to his office, where he sat down at his paper-covered desk and tore into the bag of ribs like something off of the nature channel. Before Willie had even sat down and finished unbuttoning his jacket, Gerald was already elbow deep in grease and barbeque sauce. He looked up at Willie with a stern look and a mouthful of food. “I need you on the job tonight, Willie. Looks like we gonna need you all night, ‘til it gets done.”
Willie rolled his eyes, “Alright, now you’re starting to sound like one of my lady friends….”
Gerald ignored the comment and instead just focused his attention on using his tongue to pick some rib meat out from between his teeth. He glanced down for a second at his sauce-covered hands and then used the back of his left hand to shove a photograph forward from a stack of similar photos laying on the desk. He nodded for Willie to take the photo as he said, “Every agency in town is looking for this guy. We gotta be the one that finds him.”
Willie studied the photo for a moment, committing the details to memory. It was a blow-up of a black-and-white image, probably an ID card photo kept on file somewhere. It showed a forty-something thin white male, with gray hair and glasses. Once he had it secure in his mind, he stuffed it into his breast pocket and pulled out his notepad. “What ya got on him?”
Gerald shook his head. “Not much. Name’s Doctor John Hudson. Works for an outfit called Research Genetics Incorporated. They’re the ones looking for him. Apparently the company has lost its doc.”
Willie jotted the details down into his pad. He glanced up again with a sudden professional tone. “Embezzling?”
Gerald shrugged. “Don’t think so. Anyhow, they can’t find him. They said he may have gone crazy. They’re offering cash money to get him back. We’re dropping every other case right now, and putting everything on this.”
Willie raised an eyebrow. “You put Mike and Johnny on it too?”
Gerald nodded, “Hell yeah!” and inhaled another mouthful of ribs.
Willie grinned despite himself. There must be some serious cash floating out there for Gerald to have put everyone on this. But Willie knew Mike and Johnny, and he knew what they were capable of. “The haven’t called in with anything, though, have they?”
Gerald stopped chewing and frowned at his cousin. “They got an eight hour head start on you. But no, they ain’t called back in with any leads yet.”
Willie nodded. “Got anything else to go on?”
Gerald recited a suburban address which Willie copied down. “That’s him home address. They got the house open for you if you want to go check it out.”
Willie chewed his lip. The address was deep in Mountain Brook, the city’s richest neighborhood; so the doctor was apparently pretty well-paid. But he spoke aloud the other thing he was thinking, “Well, if every agency in town has been through the house looking for clues, there won’t be anything there left to find.”
Gerald growled back, “well, there might have been if you had come in earlier when I called you!”
Willie countered, “Don’t you make me call Gramms and tell her how you’re trying to get me to skip out on church!”
Gerald bellowed, “Get your ass out of my office!”
Willie stood up, straightened his coat, and headed back out into the front office. He sat down at the receptionist’s computer and speed-dialed a phone number with one hand while he keyed in a web address into the computer with his other. The internet connection in the office was as slow as Christmas, but Willie was used to it. He entered his search into the website and waited for the results while he made his phone call.
The phone answered after one ring, “This is Johnny.”
“Johnny? Willie here. What you got so far on this John Hudson? I figure you already ran the background on him.”
“Willie. About time you got to work on this… Alright, guy’s got a medical degree and another one in genetics. Been working here in town for ten years. Got his home address here, but that’s a dead end--”
“Yeah, I kinda figured that already. Anything else?“
“Not much…he’s into hunting, judging from the stuffed animal heads at his house. And he had some pain meds in his bathroom cabinet. Nothing heavy, though.”
“Hmmm…alright, where are you now?”
“Staking out the house.” Willie could hear the boredom in his voice.
“Where’s Mike?”
“Staking out the research place where this guy works.”
Willie imagined the same response from every other agency in town. “And I suppose there’s a dozen other guys out there too, huh?”
Johnny chuckled, “At least that many. I figure if this guy actually shows back up here, we’re gonna have a brawl seeing who gets to bring him in.”
Willie doubted the good doctor would simply return himself safely home at this point, considering the manpower that was out there, unsuccessfully looking for him. He made a decision, “Johnny, forget the house. It’s a dead end.”
“That’s what I said! But Gerald told me to stay put.”
“Forget that. Listen, can you get back into the house?”
“Sure, but everybody has been through there---”
“I know, but here’s what you’re gonna do. Go back to his medicine cabinet. Get those pain pills you saw, and get the name of his doctor. Then go check in with that guy. You might get some info from him, but if not, you can at least stake out his office. If this Doc Hudson did go crazy, he may have checked in with his doctor before he left.”
“Alright, worth checking out, I guess.”
Willie agreed, “It’s a long shot, yeah, but better that just sitting there waiting with everybody else. Anyhow, call me back if you get anything.”
Willie hung up as the search results finally returned on the web site. The email address that Joe had given him was from jack_sanders@rgi.com so Willie had just pulled up a search on who owned that domain name. The search results made him quickly curse and slap his own forehead. After another second, he was out the door and making another call on his cell phone, this time to Brother Cooper.
Hurrah! Thanks for the update Drew. I really enjoy your writing.
The link is a nice touch. Did you offer this up to your players? Was this the link that Willie saw?
Oh, the wonderful world of genetic manipulation. I am all a tingle to find out what poor Dr. Hudson was up to.
Post more soon.
The link is a nice touch. Did you offer this up to your players? Was this the link that Willie saw?
Oh, the wonderful world of genetic manipulation. I am all a tingle to find out what poor Dr. Hudson was up to.
Post more soon.
Old Drew Id
First Post
Episode II – Session I - Initiation
Episode II – Session I - Initiation
Crystal twisted the throttle a little tighter, and her Harley burned up the miles a little faster going down Highway 31 south towards Vestavia. She was tense and preoccupied tonight, and she was in a hurry to get to the library. She didn’t like the feeling growing in her stomach, and she hoped the cool night wind blowing in her face would soothe her nerves. She told herself to relax as she downshifted, heading up the mountain past Brookwood Hospital.
She had gotten home early that afternoon from her road trip to Mississippi. She had made good time on the way home, and she had been feeling good after the long ride. She fed Mr. Whiskers and changed his litter box, took a quick shower, and then headed downtown to the university library at UAB. She had meant to maybe get in a couple hours of studying, but something nagged her about that whole incident at the fair, with the old guy and those punks at his booth.
Finally, after trying for half an hour to ignore the whole thing and study, she gave up and headed over to one of the computer stations. She told herself it was just a quick study break to let herself relax. She pulled up Google, keyed in “Sussistinako” and started scanning the results.
There it was…sixth one down from the top. Sussistinako…another name for Grandmother Spider, a commonly known Native American spirit. Grandmother Spider was recognized in the legends of pretty much every Native American tribe across the continent. Crystal pulled up the Quantum Magick website that she visited often, and checked there too, just to be sure. Same thing, Sussistinako…a spider, the first being, the Thinking Woman. Crystal pondered it for a few minutes, and the more she thought about it, the more she didn’t like.
Oh, sure, Crystal was all for preserving cultural heritage, and all that. Hell, she was probably more knowledgeable about Native American arcane lore than nine-tenths of her tribe. But something just didn’t sit right about the whole thing. What were a bunch of young tribal punks doing spouting out stuff about Grandmother Spider? A gang maybe? A cult?
Probably nothing. But still, it nagged at her for the rest of the afternoon. She was eager for the sun to set so she could head on down to the Vestavia Library. Every week she looked forward to the regular Sunday night meeting that she had set up with the others who were there that night: the Class of 1924. In the past couple of months, they had all made it a habit to return there every Sunday night, to catch up with one another and just to make sure everything was okay. Really, none of them could explain it exactly, Crystal knew she had tried plenty of times; but the truth was it just felt right. It felt like they were all there waiting for something; maybe waiting for something else bad to happen.
Crystal took a deep breath and focused on the road in front of her. Getting lost in your thoughts while barreling down the road on a motorcycle was a bad idea. Besides, she was sure Brother Cooper would tell her not to worry about the whole thing. He had a way of making her, and she guessed everyone else, relax just by saying a few words.
And if she needed to, she could always try looking up some further stuff from the attic library there. Sure, the attic in that place gave her the creeps, but she had to admit the books in that attic were way more accurate on some subjects than anything in the university library, and it wouldn’t hurt to see what they had to say.
. . .
The Harley pulled up smoothly into the library parking lot. It was mostly deserted, as usual. The only two cars in the lot were Joe’s ridiculous Jaguar, and a familiar BMW with a Scottish bumper sticker that Crystal recognized from the past few weeks at the library. She dropped the kickstand on her bike, pulled off her helmet, and shook out her hair. She removed her gloves and stuffed them and the helmet into one of the bike’s rear compartments. She was still pulling her backpack from one of those same compartments when Willie pulled up in his beat-up twenty-year-old piece of crap.
Crystal waited by the door while Willie pulled into a parking space, and then waited a little while longer while he tried to get the engine to cut off. After a couple of punches to the dashboard and some colorful curses, he jumped out the car, slammed the door and walked over to meet her. The engine of his car was still sputtering and chugging as he approached. Crystal gave an inquisitive look at the car, and then at Willie. He scowled at her, “What? It’s supposed to do that. It’ll turn off when it’s damn well ready,” and threw open the door to the library.
Crystal shrugged and followed Willie inside. Joe was already there, sitting down at the main table near the front door, right next to the giant outdated globe. It appeared that he was reading a newspaper, but as Crystal set her bag down on the table, she saw that he was hiding a short stack of comic books behind the paper. Plus, he was wearing a ridiculous-looking long scarf wrapped around his neck. She rolled her eyes, “Nice scarf, Joe. Glad to see you’ve come out of the closet.”
Joe didn’t even look up from his reading and yawned, “Look, Pocohontas, I told you I would be willing to go out with you if you would work on your attitude---”
“And I told you I would never go out with a guy who collects dolls---”
Joe was instantly indignant, “They’re not dolls! They’re action figures! And they’re highly---”
Willie cut him off by sitting down next to him and peering over his shoulder at what he was reading, “Good to see you again, Joe.”
Joe nodded, “Hey Willie”
“Say, Joe, you mind me askin’ you something?”
Joe peered at Willie through the corner of his eye. “What?”
“Why are you pretending to read the paper?”
Joe nodded slightly to his left, “See the guy behind the counter? He keeps watching us…”
Crystal and Willie looked over at the guy behind the counter. He was a thin white guy, maybe in his early thirties, with close-cropped hair. He was the only person here besides themselves, and apparently he was the new librarian, hired to replace Taylor. Crystal had seen him in here before, for the last few weeks. She assumed it was his BMW out front. He had always appeared a little nervous to her, and now that Joe mentioned it, he did seem to be paying them an awful lot of attention while at the same time trying not to be obvious.
Willie shrugged, “He’s watching you ‘cause you’re acting weird, Joe. I mean, you know, I’m used to it, but I’m sure that to the casual observer, you are definitely worth watching.”
Crystal leaned in towards Willie and lowered her voice. “I disagree, Willie.”
Willie raised an eyebrow. Crystal explained, “Oh, I mean, I agree that Joe is a complete freak show, yeah. Hell, he ought to charge admission. But I mean, I think that guy really is watching all of us.”
Willie’s eyes narrowed a little, and he leaned back in his chair to get a better view of the librarian. After a moment, the librarian took an armload of books and started to head across the room towards the stacks. Crystal hopped up out of her seat and beamed a smile at him, “Hi, I think I’ve seen you in here before. My name’s Crystal.”
The librarian stopped in his tracks and grew a little more pale. In a thick Scottish brogue he answered, “Ma name’s Taylor. Good ta meet ya.”
Crystal turned back to the table with Willie and Joe, “We really have to talk to the owners of this place.”
Joe, his cover now blown, stood up and looked dead at the guy, “What? What was your name?”
The librarian was now definitely looking defensive and bewildered, but he managed to return a steady gaze back at Joe. “Ma name’s Taylor. Taylor Dennesy.”
Willie leveled an intimidating glare at the newcomer, “You’re name’s frickin’ Taylor? Are you sh***ing me?”
Taylor seemed about to respond when the door swung open and Brother Cooper entered behind him. Brother Cooper must have sensed the tension in the air because he immediately asked, “How is everyone?”
At the sound of Brother Cooper’s voice, Taylor spun around so fast that he dropped several of the books he was holding and just stared at the preacher. Brother Cooper gave an easy practiced smile and bent down to pick up the books from the floor and returned them to Taylor, saying, “Sorry about that. I have one of those voices that tends to carry a bit.”
Taylor nodded and then opened his mouth to say something, but stopped before he started. He wavered there for a minute before finally managing, “I’ve worked ‘ere now for the past month, and I’ve noticed you folk meetin’ ‘ere every Sunday night. You’re the only folk who come ‘ere after dark, and I find that a wee bit odd. And I’ve had these---well…what’s going on, iffin’ ya don’t mind me asking?”
The group turned to Brother Cooper for an answer. He exchanged looks with Willie, and then shrugged. “Well…”
At that point the door opened behind Brother Cooper. A twenty-something middle eastern man walked in carrying a heavy backpack. He scanned the room with a wild-eyed expression for a second, then cried out, “Oly-sheet-omy-god!” His eyes rolled back in his head, and he collapsed onto the floor.
Willie calmly pronounced, “Well…you don’t see that every day.”
Episode II – Session I - Initiation
Crystal twisted the throttle a little tighter, and her Harley burned up the miles a little faster going down Highway 31 south towards Vestavia. She was tense and preoccupied tonight, and she was in a hurry to get to the library. She didn’t like the feeling growing in her stomach, and she hoped the cool night wind blowing in her face would soothe her nerves. She told herself to relax as she downshifted, heading up the mountain past Brookwood Hospital.
She had gotten home early that afternoon from her road trip to Mississippi. She had made good time on the way home, and she had been feeling good after the long ride. She fed Mr. Whiskers and changed his litter box, took a quick shower, and then headed downtown to the university library at UAB. She had meant to maybe get in a couple hours of studying, but something nagged her about that whole incident at the fair, with the old guy and those punks at his booth.
Finally, after trying for half an hour to ignore the whole thing and study, she gave up and headed over to one of the computer stations. She told herself it was just a quick study break to let herself relax. She pulled up Google, keyed in “Sussistinako” and started scanning the results.
There it was…sixth one down from the top. Sussistinako…another name for Grandmother Spider, a commonly known Native American spirit. Grandmother Spider was recognized in the legends of pretty much every Native American tribe across the continent. Crystal pulled up the Quantum Magick website that she visited often, and checked there too, just to be sure. Same thing, Sussistinako…a spider, the first being, the Thinking Woman. Crystal pondered it for a few minutes, and the more she thought about it, the more she didn’t like.
Oh, sure, Crystal was all for preserving cultural heritage, and all that. Hell, she was probably more knowledgeable about Native American arcane lore than nine-tenths of her tribe. But something just didn’t sit right about the whole thing. What were a bunch of young tribal punks doing spouting out stuff about Grandmother Spider? A gang maybe? A cult?
Probably nothing. But still, it nagged at her for the rest of the afternoon. She was eager for the sun to set so she could head on down to the Vestavia Library. Every week she looked forward to the regular Sunday night meeting that she had set up with the others who were there that night: the Class of 1924. In the past couple of months, they had all made it a habit to return there every Sunday night, to catch up with one another and just to make sure everything was okay. Really, none of them could explain it exactly, Crystal knew she had tried plenty of times; but the truth was it just felt right. It felt like they were all there waiting for something; maybe waiting for something else bad to happen.
Crystal took a deep breath and focused on the road in front of her. Getting lost in your thoughts while barreling down the road on a motorcycle was a bad idea. Besides, she was sure Brother Cooper would tell her not to worry about the whole thing. He had a way of making her, and she guessed everyone else, relax just by saying a few words.
And if she needed to, she could always try looking up some further stuff from the attic library there. Sure, the attic in that place gave her the creeps, but she had to admit the books in that attic were way more accurate on some subjects than anything in the university library, and it wouldn’t hurt to see what they had to say.
. . .
The Harley pulled up smoothly into the library parking lot. It was mostly deserted, as usual. The only two cars in the lot were Joe’s ridiculous Jaguar, and a familiar BMW with a Scottish bumper sticker that Crystal recognized from the past few weeks at the library. She dropped the kickstand on her bike, pulled off her helmet, and shook out her hair. She removed her gloves and stuffed them and the helmet into one of the bike’s rear compartments. She was still pulling her backpack from one of those same compartments when Willie pulled up in his beat-up twenty-year-old piece of crap.
Crystal waited by the door while Willie pulled into a parking space, and then waited a little while longer while he tried to get the engine to cut off. After a couple of punches to the dashboard and some colorful curses, he jumped out the car, slammed the door and walked over to meet her. The engine of his car was still sputtering and chugging as he approached. Crystal gave an inquisitive look at the car, and then at Willie. He scowled at her, “What? It’s supposed to do that. It’ll turn off when it’s damn well ready,” and threw open the door to the library.
Crystal shrugged and followed Willie inside. Joe was already there, sitting down at the main table near the front door, right next to the giant outdated globe. It appeared that he was reading a newspaper, but as Crystal set her bag down on the table, she saw that he was hiding a short stack of comic books behind the paper. Plus, he was wearing a ridiculous-looking long scarf wrapped around his neck. She rolled her eyes, “Nice scarf, Joe. Glad to see you’ve come out of the closet.”
Joe didn’t even look up from his reading and yawned, “Look, Pocohontas, I told you I would be willing to go out with you if you would work on your attitude---”
“And I told you I would never go out with a guy who collects dolls---”
Joe was instantly indignant, “They’re not dolls! They’re action figures! And they’re highly---”
Willie cut him off by sitting down next to him and peering over his shoulder at what he was reading, “Good to see you again, Joe.”
Joe nodded, “Hey Willie”
“Say, Joe, you mind me askin’ you something?”
Joe peered at Willie through the corner of his eye. “What?”
“Why are you pretending to read the paper?”
Joe nodded slightly to his left, “See the guy behind the counter? He keeps watching us…”
Crystal and Willie looked over at the guy behind the counter. He was a thin white guy, maybe in his early thirties, with close-cropped hair. He was the only person here besides themselves, and apparently he was the new librarian, hired to replace Taylor. Crystal had seen him in here before, for the last few weeks. She assumed it was his BMW out front. He had always appeared a little nervous to her, and now that Joe mentioned it, he did seem to be paying them an awful lot of attention while at the same time trying not to be obvious.
Willie shrugged, “He’s watching you ‘cause you’re acting weird, Joe. I mean, you know, I’m used to it, but I’m sure that to the casual observer, you are definitely worth watching.”
Crystal leaned in towards Willie and lowered her voice. “I disagree, Willie.”
Willie raised an eyebrow. Crystal explained, “Oh, I mean, I agree that Joe is a complete freak show, yeah. Hell, he ought to charge admission. But I mean, I think that guy really is watching all of us.”
Willie’s eyes narrowed a little, and he leaned back in his chair to get a better view of the librarian. After a moment, the librarian took an armload of books and started to head across the room towards the stacks. Crystal hopped up out of her seat and beamed a smile at him, “Hi, I think I’ve seen you in here before. My name’s Crystal.”
The librarian stopped in his tracks and grew a little more pale. In a thick Scottish brogue he answered, “Ma name’s Taylor. Good ta meet ya.”
Crystal turned back to the table with Willie and Joe, “We really have to talk to the owners of this place.”
Joe, his cover now blown, stood up and looked dead at the guy, “What? What was your name?”
The librarian was now definitely looking defensive and bewildered, but he managed to return a steady gaze back at Joe. “Ma name’s Taylor. Taylor Dennesy.”
Willie leveled an intimidating glare at the newcomer, “You’re name’s frickin’ Taylor? Are you sh***ing me?”
Taylor seemed about to respond when the door swung open and Brother Cooper entered behind him. Brother Cooper must have sensed the tension in the air because he immediately asked, “How is everyone?”
At the sound of Brother Cooper’s voice, Taylor spun around so fast that he dropped several of the books he was holding and just stared at the preacher. Brother Cooper gave an easy practiced smile and bent down to pick up the books from the floor and returned them to Taylor, saying, “Sorry about that. I have one of those voices that tends to carry a bit.”
Taylor nodded and then opened his mouth to say something, but stopped before he started. He wavered there for a minute before finally managing, “I’ve worked ‘ere now for the past month, and I’ve noticed you folk meetin’ ‘ere every Sunday night. You’re the only folk who come ‘ere after dark, and I find that a wee bit odd. And I’ve had these---well…what’s going on, iffin’ ya don’t mind me asking?”
The group turned to Brother Cooper for an answer. He exchanged looks with Willie, and then shrugged. “Well…”
At that point the door opened behind Brother Cooper. A twenty-something middle eastern man walked in carrying a heavy backpack. He scanned the room with a wild-eyed expression for a second, then cried out, “Oly-sheet-omy-god!” His eyes rolled back in his head, and he collapsed onto the floor.
Willie calmly pronounced, “Well…you don’t see that every day.”
Thomas Hobbes
First Post
Hurrah! Pretty pictures. All pretty much like I imagined them, except Joe with more clothes and Cooper with a cowboy hat.