A Day in the Life: Here There Be Monsters

Dear Readers,

  Tuesday brings you another Day in the Life, my name for a weekly piece that gives you a "slice of life" from one of the time streams that the Department studies.  It's a fictional short that I write, based on the primary sources from the given time stream I've chosen to feature.

  Today I decided to write about something a little different.  It's a time stream that is very, very similar to yours.  In fact, it might even be your time stream.  The truth of it is yours to decide.  The details, you'll see.  For my part, I don't judge the truth of a thing, but instead present it as it was believed.

Always,

Dr. John Skylar
Chairman
Department of Anachronism
University of Constantinople

LA never gave the 'foreboding city' feeling that Will expected.  Despite the hardboiled detective novels and that whole LA-noir 'confidential' culture, there just was nothing in an irrigated sunny desert paradise that made him shiver.

He looked out of the car to confirm he feelings.  Of course, he could find all kinds of seedy deals when he blew down Fairfax in his busted-up neo-Thunderbird, but it lacked the "Nighthawks" feel he hoped for when he moved out there from Bethlehem, PA.

"Puddles," Will's voice scratched out to no one in particular.  That's what it needed.  Rain, puddles, whatever.  A good flatfoot needed to tromp through the wind and wet and rain, not the breezy desert nights and orange-lit back lot palm trees.  Gumshoes should need to wear trenchcoats and hats just to keep dry, and their Italian leather shoes should make soggy slapping noises.  Instead, he felt surrounded by t-shirts, board shorts, under-armor and other superficial, modern crap.  LA felt like a bad place for a traditionalist.  "What a joke," he shook his head at the neighborhood.

Will came up near Canter's, but of course, could not see even a postage stamp of street parking.  He remembered the little lot nearby, though, and to his luck, found a space fast.  He locked the

Canter's, via Wikipedia

T-bird and straightened the rosary that hung off of its mirror.
Like usual, Will had to chuckle when he walked by the Kibbitz Room.  Nothing like an old Yiddish joke.  The new LA Jews lacked jokesters like the old, too.  He sighed.  Nothing here went deeper than ten years.  Even the land shook off its history like a bad case of fleas, with every earthquake.

He ducked into Canters' and took a dead-on look at an unfamiliar maitre'd.



"Sir, how many will it--"

The kid barely got far enough to smile before she interrupted him, "I'll take this one, Jimmy.  Hey Will!  I kept your table open."

Lisa.  Never failed.  Will came here in part for her, but not in the way you would think.  He liked her looks and her smile, sure, but Will just was not that sort of man.  It did not pay to get attached in his line of work.  People disappear too easily.

Still, he did not mind watching her shiksa butt as she led him through the thinly Jewish deli to his usual table.  It might not pay to get attached, but it did not pay to be unfeeling, either.

Lisa turned around, "All right, tall, grey, and maybe handsome, what's it gonna be today?"

He slid into the booth with a grin.  He shot back, "I think just a matzo ball soup and bagel chips.  I'd order a beer, but I think you're too young to serve it, green eyes."

She smiled and strolled off to put in his order.  Will liked to be a regular somewhere, even in this place with its veneer made of Yiddish simulacra and simulation.  In fact, the kayfabe of the whole place helped him focus.  He would need it to catch them.

He unfolded the newspapers in front of him just as Lisa came back to chat.

"What is it today, Will?  Bigfoot?" she snickered.

That he didn't appreciate.  "Lis, you know that's not what I do.  The old monsters aren't real.  It's the new ones."

She made a show of rolling her eyes, "Yeah, yeah, I know.  Creatures from other worlds.  That's your thing.  Protecting us innocent little girlies from little green men."

He smiled, "Well, I can't tell you what they really look like.  But they look just like you or me when you see them on the street."

"Uh-huh.  They sound like talent agents."  Another aspiring actress, like the rest of LA's population.

"I don't need you to take it seriously, sweetheart.  I just need you to bring me that soup, and maybe some-"

His face went blank before the sentence ended.  At the entrance to the restaurant, he spotted one of his marks.  One of the higher ones, too.  The Agency in Bethlehem tracked that guy for months in the Philadelphia and New York areas, and they sent Will out to find him.  They knew him as Gijs, no last name.  He pretended to be a European socialite from one of the low countries.  The story changed each time Will heard it.

As far as he knew, Gijs had no idea of Will's mission, and never recognized the old man on previous encounters.  Will used everything he could to keep it that way.  Canter's though, Will thought of as his hideout.  His mark never came here before.  Something must have happened.  His pulse raced.  Lisa  might joke, but these "little green men" were no friendly garden gnomes.  Agents disappeared sometimes.

"Hey Will, what's the problem?"  Lisa noticed his blank expression.

Will's eyes stayed glued to Gijs as he talked to the new kid for a table.  Still, he answered, "Oh, sorry, nothing.  Thought the guy who just walked in was someone I went to high school with.  How long on the soup?"

She did not seem to quite believe him, "Sure...ah, I'd guess ten more minutes.  They ran low on the pot, sorry.  Had to make a new batch.  I'll go check."

Will nodded.  Jimmy had two menus in his hands, but he still saw only one Gijs.  A meet.  Will spent six months trying to find this guy's associates, and now the best chance just walked right into his lap.  There's luck for you.

Will watched Jimmy lead Gijs over to the booth in front of him.  More luck.

Gijs even smiled as he sat down.

Lisa walked back, soup and bagel chips in hand, "Here you go, Will.  I'm off shift now, though.  I have a date."  She smiled and walked away while he waved.

Then she sat down across from Gijs.  Will's heart pounded in his chest.  It could not be.  They targeted Lisa?  Bastards!  Did Gijs just wink at him?  It could not be.

His eyes stayed fixed on them for their entire conversation.  They ordered simple things.  Will's soup went cold while he nibbled the bagel chips.  Thankfully, Lisa could not see him stare.

She laughed a lot.  Gijs was, of course, as charming as any of the other Marks.  That's how the Agency thought of them, "The Marks."  Not the Aliens, or some other trite code like that.  Just marks.  After all, the Agency only hired P.I.s.

Will remembered everything he could about Gijs's mannerisms during the date.  How he talked.  His odd voice.  All of it.  Will needed no tape recorder.  Just his mind.  Again, a traditionalist.  The new kids would have had their magic ears hooked up to their iPhones ten minutes before.

They stood up to leave.  Will's mind went into a deep dilemma about what to do.  To tail well, he would have to wait.  Yet he knew if he waited, it might be the last time he'd see Lisa alive.

He chose to wait, and watched them slip out of the door.  He saw which way they went.  They would reach the corner when he finished his soup, so that's what he did.

Will threw some money on the table.  A twenty.  Maybe Jimmy could buy some experience with it.  Then he scooted out of Canter's into the sunset near Sunset.

Their two silhouettes stood on the corner near the parking lot where Will parked earlier.  He pulled out his cell phone.  He would need a reason to be outside, and a call seemed like a good one.  Plus, it would activate his GPS.  The Agency would track him.

They turned the corner, into the residential areas.  Will followed, as if he meant to go to his car.

Into a house, now.  Will's heartbeat sped.  A kill? An abduction?  Not Lisa.

Was this a message?  No, just random.

Will felt for his gun, and followed them in.

Just in time to see Gijs's mouth planted on Lisa's neck.  Her eyes looked dreamy, but not from arousal.

"What the fuck?" Will pulled his gun.

Gijs pulled away, his chin dripping blood, "Vat the fuck do you think?"  He dropped Lisa to the floor.

Will did not think.  He just fired.  Five shots from the police revolver.  Five shots that went right through Gijs and into the wall.

"Stupid bastard.  You never had any idea what I am, did you?  Well, now you know, and you pay with your life."  Gijs chuckled and straightened his perforated cobalt blue corduroy jacket.

Will heard the door slam behind him.