“Okay Peggy, think back,” Peggy spoke to herself. She paced around the snow-covered field with a few dead trees. “What happened before you got here?”
Just a few seconds ago, she was in the coffee shop, seated at one of the tables with everyone else, looking at some old photos from Boss’ childhood when she noticed some weird blank picture and touched it. There was a flash of light, and the next thing she knew, she was standing in the middle of a snow field. It’s near the end of spring, borderline on summer, so there shouldn’t be any snow right now. Not unless she had somehow been teleported high up a snow-capped mountain.
Peggy’s face fell.
“Oh geez,” she said. “Did I get teleported high up a snow-capped mountain? I hope I didn’t get teleported high up a snow-capped mountain.”
There was no one with her and she was basically talking to herself.
Peggy took a more careful look around, but to her relief, it didn’t look like she was on a snow-capped mountain. There was actually something familiar about this place.
“Have I been here before?” she wondered. While trying to rack her brain and remember, she heard voices from the distance and turned around to see children sliding across the snow on boards and skis. They came gliding past her where she got a good look at their faces. One of them was a boy appeared Asian but with pale blue skin and short, triangle-shaped ears. His mouth was opened to expose a pair of long fangs.
As soon as she saw the boy’s face, Peggy had a flashback to the pictures she had seen just a few minutes ago.
“Boss!?” Peggy cried out.
The boy did not here her and continued to glide off after the other children, but that was clearly the coffee shop Owner when he was still a kid.
“Did I just time travel!?” Peggy exclaimed. “That can’t be it, can it? Well, either way, I’m sure it’s that weird photo’s fault. Boss even panicked when I asked about it. I wish he’d warned me sooner before I touched it though.”
The only question now was, what to do next?
“Well, I definitely can’t stay here,” Peggy muttered to herself. She shivered against a freezing breeze blew by and frantically rubbed her hands over her arms in a bid to regain some warmth. But she was only briefly successful. “I better get back to town.”
With Boss and the other kids here, the town shouldn’t be too far away. But Peggy had no idea which way to go. She could try ask the kids for directions, but somehow she doubted that’d work out.
When the kids passed by, it didn’t look like they saw her. It was as if she was a ghost to them.
“Well, it won’t hurt to just try,” Peggy muttered to herself again. She turned around and shouted, “Hey, kids!”
But when she looked, the children were long gone.
Peggy put her hands to her hips and frowned.
“Now where did they go?” she wondered aloud.
Hearing voices again, she turned around and a wolf appeared right in her face.
“Whoa!” she cried out. It was too late for her to jump out of the way, but instead of crashing into her, the snowboarding wolf boy went right THROUGH her and continued on, unperturbed.
She looked down at herself and then stared after the children.
“I really am a ghost!” she said in disbelief.
But where did those kids come from? She wondered. Didn’t they already pass through this way? Did they just happen to circle around and she did not see?
Peggy shrugged and went, “Oh, well.”
Now knowing she really would not be getting any directions from the children, she decided to take her chances and trudge through the snow back to town. As she did so, the children slid by again. And then again, and again. It was like watching one of those short video recordings on repeat.
Recording . . .
Could it be? Peggy wondered while watching the kids pass by for the umpteenth time. Could it be that I never actually time traveled? Could this place actually be the photo album?
As if to answer her question, after taking one more step, there was a flash of light and her whole surroundings suddenly changed. Gone was the snow and the chill of winter. Warm summer sunlight greeted Peggy as she stood on a grassy hill that overlooked a lake that had children swimming in it, the same children who had been gliding around the snow just a few seconds ago. Peggy had seen this scene before as one of the photos from the album.
“I really did fall into the photo album,” she muttered to herself.
That weird blank photo must have been some kind of gateway into the photo album itself so people could relive the memories attached to the pictures. That was Peggy’s theory, anyway. But it was a theory that she’d bet her life savings on.
As Peggy continued to walk on, the world around her repeatedly changed in a flash. She walked into forests, beaches and grassy plains during winter, fall, summer and spring. She watched people dance in a grand ballroom, and then found a bear-like human man with a scruffy beard chill out in the living room of a traditionally Chinese house while keeping a gentle arm around the tummy of a blue vampire baby. The baby was obviously Boss, which would make the man his dad.
“I think I remember Boss mentioning he was half-human before,” Peggy muttered to herself. “When was that again?”
The baby vampire sneezed and then a huge string of green snot dripped down onto his father’s hand.
On and on, Peggy walked. But no matter how far along the timeline she went, there were no signs of her journey ending. And a long journey it was. Hours must have passed by the time she had reached Boss’ teen years. At least it felt that way to Peggy.
She was once more in the coffee shop. Even back then, Boss was a part of the shop’s history and could be seen behind the counter like always, brewing the next batch of coffee. The smell made Peggy’s mouth water. Going by the deeper shade of yellow sunlight shining in and the lack of customers, it was past closing time at the shop. Three teenagers chilled at a table doing what looked like homework. One of them was the Asian boy who Boss had claimed was his stepbrother and another was the vampire girl who hung out with them during their high school years. The third was a werewolf in a red varsity jacket.
Deciding to take a short break before moving on, Peggy sat down at a chair by the window and looked outside. The scenery out the window was no different than the street of present-day Featherkeep, with a variety of people of a variety of shapes, sizes, and races going about their day, headed to who-knows-where. She tried to mind her own business, but was unable to stop herself from listening when teenage Boss and friends started talking.
“Still having trouble with that career planning worksheet?” said Boss.
Peggy turned around to see him join the others at their table, bringing a tray with three cups of sweetened coffee. He put the tray on the table’s remaining free space and sat down. The past vampire boy glanced at his human stepbrother’s homework and continued.
“Just write whatever strikes your fancy,” he said. “It doesn’t even have to be something you actually plan to do.”
Young Boss’ stepbrother scowled at him and replied, “You know I can’t do that. I have to take this seriously. So should you.”
And then the vampire girl spoke up.
“Speaking of career planning worksheet, what did you put down on yours?” she asked Young Boss. “I take it you’ll open your own coffee shop when you grow up?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Young Boss said, dismissively. “That would mean settling down in one place for the rest of my life, or close to it. And we all know that’s not going to happen. I know I don’t look it now, but I’m as free-spirited as the rest of my mom’s side of the family, the Free Folk Clan. We’re all as whimsical as the ancient whimsy folks of legends and wanderers by nature. One minute, we could be painting pictures of fruit in an art studio at a city of romantics, the next we’re outdoors on the dirt field of a volcanic island playing baseball. We just go wherever strikes our fancy and do whatever catches our interest. While some of us might find something we could dedicate our whole lives to, most of us never stay at one place for very long.”
As he spoke, he stood up and paced around the shop, looking a bit like a dancer or actor on stage before finally settling back down on his chair.
“Well that’s too bad,” said the werewolf. “I think Big Sis was actually hoping to pass this shop on to you. I mean, you’re the only other person our grandma ever taught how to make a good cup o’ joe.”
“There are a few people who would not be happy with me taking over their favorite coffee shop,” said Young Boss.
“If you’re talking about Mr. Harris, you know how super picky he is,” said the werewolf.
“Well, he is a pro-chef,” said Young Boss, “so it’s no surprise that he’d be so picky with anything to do with food or drinks. Anyway, there’s just no way I’m settling down anywhere or taking over this shop. No way, no how.”
I’d have to disagree with that, thought Peggy from the future.
“But we’re getting off topic,” Young Boss continued. “We’re supposed to be talking about Brother’s, not mine.”
“Future, huh?” Peggy couldn’t help but mumble to herself. Honestly, she never really thought about what she wanted to do with her life, specifically what kind of job she wanted or what career path to take. Getting a good job to live a comfortable life was as far as she thought.
Even as she’s trying to build up her magical skills, she had no idea what she was going to do next or where she was going to go with it. The topic of the future’s been a source of bother for Peggy for quite some time.
“Still, it’s not like you didn’t have any dreams when you were a kid, right?” Boss’ brother said. “You must have had something you wanted to do in the future.”
Young Boss took a sip of coffee.
“I did have something I wanted to do,” he admitted. “But not anymore. Honestly, I think it’s okay if you can’t think of anything right now what you really want to do with your life. My own great-grandpa Chan didn’t find something until he was in his seventies. So there’s no rush. Just take your time to look for it. I certainly will.”
Peggy felt like Young Boss was speaking directly to her with this sagely advice. But of course, he wasn’t really talking to her. He was talking to his stepbrother. Still, this was definitely advice she could use. Hearing it was making her feel better already. She still couldn’t figure out where she wanted to go in life, but at least she could relax and take her time to think it over.
And then Young Boss asked, “Still having trouble with that career planning worksheet?”
He walked over to the rest of the gang carrying a tray of coffee cups. The loop had begun once more.
Feeling she’s rested enough, Peggy continued on her journey through rapidly changing scenes of her employer’s daily life during his youth. She stopped paying much attention to moments of the past, but wondered why Boss became the owner of the coffee shop when, back in the past, he had rejected the notion of taking it over so theatrically and yet strongly. It sounded like he actually planned to leave town and become something like a nomad.
“What made him change his mind?” she questioned aloud.
As if the world wanted to answer her question, it shifted and she was once more at the coffee shop. Sitting at a table and cradling a bundle of blue cloth in his arms was Boss, his grownup, yet still younger, self. Peggy could hear baby coos coming from the cloth bundle. Other than that, all was quiet in the empty, dimly lit shop at night.
A wolf lady dressed in a gray pantsuit came out from the back room and walked over to Younger Boss with a cup of tea. When she put the cup down next to him, Boss looked up and flashed the wolf lady a strained smile. Despite being younger, Young Boss looked way more tired than his present-day self.
“Thanks, Detective,” he said to the wolf lady.
The wolf lady called Detective replied, “No problem,” before taking a seat at the other side of the table.
“So, how was the funeral?” she asked.
“As well as you’d expect,” Boss answered dryly. “Things were civil up until their wills were read. Not everyone was happy when I was named George’s guardian.”
Detective asked, “Was there trouble?”
But Boss shook his head and replied, “Nope. Thankfully, some powerful, old friends were there to keep things under control. It’s as if George’s parents knew there was going to be trouble.”
“Well, knowing what kind of people surrounded them their whole lives, it’s not hard to predict what would happen if you, of all people, was named caretaker of their heir,” said the wolf lady. “But there’s no way those friends you mentioned could keep those people in check twenty-four/seven, which was why you brought George here.”
Boss shrugged and said, “Hey, no place is safer than a detective’s place, right? Especially a detective who doubles as a Five-Star Magic User with connections to the highest level of the kingdom’s government.”
“And how are you feeling about all this?” asked the Detective.
“Shouldn’t that be obvious?” Boss slightly held up the baby lion cub as he responded. “I said I’d do it and take care of him. I’m not sure how things will go from now on, but I’ll be sure to do my best to raise George and keep him safe.”
“I’m sure you will,” said the Detective. “But that’s not what I meant. I meant, how are you feeling about his parents?”
“Do you really need to ask?” said Boss. “Terrible. Our past together was marred with problems thanks in part to the Shadow Civil War that broke us all apart, but they were still my friends. And to think that after everything we’ve been through, they’d be snuffed out by some random accident. I can’t help but laugh in the face of it all, and not in a good way.”
“That’s just the way life is,” said the Detective. “Even when it looks like someone’s finally got their Happily Ever After, there’s a chance it doesn’t actually turn out that way.”
There was a short moment of silence that quickly ended when the baby started fussing.
“Oh? What’s wrong?” Boss asked. “Are you hungry? Wait just a second.”
He quickly reached down to the opened brown satchel on the floor and pulled out a bottle of milk which he fed to the baby lion.
While watching the vampire, the wolf lady remarked, “Wow, you look like an experienced parent. I suppose we got your half-sister to thank for that.”
Boss merely shrugged while keeping his eyes focused on the baby lion. When the cub was done, he pushed the bottle away and Boss held George up so he could settle his head on the vampire’s shoulder.
When little George fell quiet, the Detective posed a question to the vampire.
“What will you do now?” she asked.
“For now, I was hoping to crash here for a little while,” said Young Boss. “At least until I can find someplace more permanent.”
“So I guess this is the end of your days as an unbound wanderer?”
“I guess it is,” said Boss.
“You know, my offer still stands,” said the Detective. “If you’re willing to accept, I can sell you ownership of this shop.”
Boss had been taking a sip of tea and paused before setting the cup back down.
“Are you sure about that?” he asked. “What will you do after? And what will your brother or the rest of your family think?”
“My brother already gave the go-ahead years ago,” said the wolf lady. “And the rest of my family was going to sell it anyway if I hadn’t stepped in to take it for myself. But as for me, well, I’ve always thought about going back to detective work full-time. Now’s my chance to do that. What do you say? I enchanted the place myself and it’s in a town full of veterans of the Shadow Civil War. You won’t find any place safer to raise a child of Eclipse’s former leader.”
Boss took a look around the empty shop.
“I could change this however I want, you know,” he said.
“I know,” the Detective said. “But I also know you won’t change a thing.”
“Which was why you chose me to be its new owner in the first place,” Boss figured. He took a deep breath and exhaled. “Very well. I’ll take the shop.”
He sighed.
“Honestly,” he went, “just when I thought I finally squared my debt away with you, you swoop in and bury me in another one.”
“What can I say?” the Detective said with a shrug. “I’m a giver. Anyway, this is a momentous occasion that needs something special to remember it by. Luckily, I happen to have this camera on me that I used to use for my cases. Let’s take a picture!”
She placed a small black box with a single, huge glass eye in the middle, on the table and then quickly walked over to Boss and baby George.
As Peggy watched the trio wait for their picture to be taken, she suddenly heard a voice call out her name.
“Peggy!”
She turned around to see Boss standing in front of her, knees bent and hands on his lap as he took deep breaths in and out, in and out. He looked like he had been running for hours on end.
“Finally . . . caught up . . . to you!” he gasped breathlessly. “Are you okay?”
Peggy nodded. No doubt about it, she thought. This was the real Boss. He must have dove into the photo album after her.
Relieved to see his employee unharmed, the real Boss sat down on a nearby chair to rest up. As he slowly recovered, he glanced over at his past self speaking to the wolf lady while cradling baby George.
“Uh, Boss?” Overcome by feelings of guilt, Peggy could only speak up in a sheepish manner. “I’m really sorry about this.”
Boss threw a glance at Peggy and sighed. When he was well enough to speak properly, he said, “You don’t have to apologize, Peggy. It was my fault for forgetting about that magic spell that threw you in this world of memories. But I would really grateful if you’d keep everything you’ve seen and heard to yourself.”
“You got it,” Peggy promised. “My lips are sealed.”
“Good,” Boss said with a content nod. After enough rest, he stood back up, and did a few stretches. “Come on. We still have a few more pictures to get through before we can get out of here. Here, take this.”
He bent down, sank his hand into his shadow and pulled out a black, metal baseball bat and handed it to Peggy.
After giving the baseball bat a confused look, Peggy asked Boss, “What’s this for?”
To which Boss replied with, “Remember that time I told you that zombies only show up at certain kinds of places?”
“Yeah,” Peggy said warily. “Why?”
“Congratulations, Peggy. You get to find out what it’s like to be in one of those horror movie things.”
