I Believe In
By Periwinkle (G)
301 words
Thanks to xdawnfirex for the beta job!
He sat in the coffee house, inhaling the smoke clouds that hung over his head
and obscured the lights above, listening to the band play. It wasn't his usual
sort of place - he was usually to be found in jazz clubs - but the band wasn't
bad, the company was loud and enthusiastic and it was a good place to meet
someone, if only because one didn't have to pay an exorbitant cover charge to
enter.
The band was playing a Beatles tune. "Yesterday." He
listened to the lyrics for a moment,
Yesterday
All my troubles seemed so far away...
then made a noise, quietly, so as not to disturb the other inhabitants of the
club. It was a Slavic sort of snort and expressed a myriad of emotions in one
sound.
There's a shadow hanging over me.
He couldn't remember a time when he hadn't had troubles in his life, right up
close to him, permeating his every action, causing him to think in terms of
survival, safety and food. The sort of sanitized life that the Beatles sang
about having had was not to be found in his experience.
In truth, he could only think of one place where he could let himself stop
thinking of his worries, stop trying to ensure his existence, for even a
minute. No, he had very few fond remembrances of yesterday.
His thoughts were interrupted when his guest walked up to his table.
Napoleon flashed him a smile and said, "I'm sorry I'm late. Did you have to
wait long?"
He shook his head and growled, but his heart wasn't in it. "Did you have
trouble tearing yourself away from an admirer?"" Then, smiling one of his
small grins he looked at the one cure for his troubles.
Others could have yesterday. He had Napoleon to help keep him living and keep
his worries away.