Style, you
either have it or you
don't. And if you have it, you have it
all the time.The Rogue Meets His Match
by Tux Toledo
Page 9
The apartment was
drab with outlines on the walls where until recently pictures or
posters had hung. Only one light was on, a dim table lamp
balanced on a crooked end table next to a stuffed armchair. The
woman sitting in the chair was smothered in shadows. She rose and
stepped into the musty yellow light.
"Hello, I'm Irene Atom," she said.
She
was late middle-aged with sharp facial features and young blonde
hair. She was attractive, not beautiful, and had the kind of face
that you could stare at for hours but never fully understand.
"Hello, my name's Fred Miller," I said. It was the best name I could come up with at the time.
"You
are?" She studied me the way a palm reader studies palms.
It was a bit disconcerting. "Then I'm glad to meet you."
Her handshake was powerful. "You've met Brian." She
nodded toward the man.
"Hello," I said to him.
"Fred Miller," Brian mumbled. His expression was a mass of scrambled eggs.
"So, you're a journalist?" Irene said.
"Yes, I write for the Cleveland Times."
"Cleveland?"
"Yes."
"What are you doing in San Francisco?"
"I'm here to write about North Beach."
"What do people in Cleveland care about North Beach?"
"Tourists care about North Beach. I write a travel column."
"Yes, of course." She wasn't impressed. "Why do you want to talk to me?"
"I'm
writing a piece on North Beach and how it has changed over the
years. I was told that you might be able to tell me about the old
North Beach."
"Who told you that?"
"Some of the people I've talked to on the street."
She smiled. A heretical smile, actually.
"What would you like to know?" she asked.
"I would like to know about your past."
"My past?" Her eyelids fluttered. "It was not very exciting. In fact, it was very ordinary."
"What is ordinary for North Beach is special for Cleveland," I said.
"I suppose so." Her smile was unnerving.
"And people's lives are usually more interesting than they think they are."
"Are they?"
I couldn’t tell whether she was buying my line or not.
"Yes. May I ask you a few questions about your life?"
Her eyes shifted to Brian and then back to me.
© 2008 David Biagini