Wistful Days

There is a bit of nostalgia in the air this week. It was my dog’s incessant barking that woke me up this morning. Despite my best efforts to calm him down from under the sheets, he refused to listen. By the time I had gotten off my bed and made my way to the door, whatever he was barking at had long gone, all I could see were the dried leaves that covered my garden. Perhaps it was the squirrel that lives in the nearby poplar, Bruno does love chasing after it. After I was done taking Bruno for a walk, I made myself a quick breakfast, nothing too fancy, just a couple of eggs, some pan fried bacon, and leftovers from the night before. I despise having leftovers, yet I simply can’t waste any food. It’s for this reason that I used to place special orders for dry aged meat brought especially from the mainland, but alas I guess that's going to have to stop for a while. I guess I will have to make do with the offerings of the Ant’s Nest, if I crave meat. Don’t get me wrong they offer a fabulous selection, however there is a certain intimacy in carving your own meat. Drew gets what I mean, the morbid little gremlin. Speaking of morbidities I should tell you a bit about yesterday.

I joined Antonio, José and Akeno over at the ferryman’s place. It was quite dingy from the inside to be honest, dust covered everything but the bed and a portion of the sofa where I assume he usually sat. Empty bottles of beer were strewn across the floor, and of course, there were blood stains. We checked the window latches and the door for any signs of a break in, but there were none. Everything appeared to be in order. We took one quick look around the apartment once more but there was nothing that stood out to us. On our way out José indulged himself in a bit of ‘tomb raiding' I suppose by clearing out the remainder of the good captain’s rum. Though Antonio and Akeno disapproved, they put up little resistance when José said that the alcohol was just going to be lying around anyways, I suppose the appeal of free rum was a bit too enticing to resist. It was drizzling and quite windy by the time we made our way back to the town from the docks, so we decided to call off the search for the day. Nothing as horrible as the past two days, but rain and wind nonetheless. The three went off to the pub, mumbling something about it being happy hour somewhere. Though Antonio insisted I come, I had to politely decline, since I had plans with Drew. I had promised her that I would take a look at the body, the details of the autopsy seemed interesting at the very least. Drew had already changed into her scrubs by the time I reached, her eyes twinkled more than usual, though the scrubs took away from her appearance. I’d rather she wear something different. Of course I could never say that aloud. We had a brief conversation about the day but she was clearly excited to show me the body, and to be honest so was I. Everything was going perfectly fine until she showed me the body. Whatever I was expecting, it wasn’t that. To be honest, I was quite taken back. I think Drew noticed it too. Regardless, we didn't spend much time at the morgue, and headed out to Mocair’s. After a couple of pints, we’d both recovered and were having fun chatting about everything under the sun. Now that the scrubs were off Drew was back to being her bubbly, receptive self. A few of the townsfolk also came over and questioned her a bit about the autopsy report, which was a bit annoying. I don’t like the interruptions. Since Drew was a little tipsy, she ended up telling the people about the exact locations of the wounds and when she expressed puzzlement over why the wounds may have been inflicted, the townspeople looked a bit skeptical but didn’t ask any further questions. Drew looked a bit disappointed but I was honestly glad to see the back of them. Mocair was of course a constant, his eyes bore into the back of my head as he stared from across the bar, from his usual perch behind the counter. By the time that interaction was over, so were our drinks and we decided to head home. Naturally, I walked Drew home and headed back myself. I was quite glad to see the end of this particularly tiring day and as I went to sleep the countless thoughts floating through my head began to fade one by one.

Oh I almost forgot, today after walking Bruno I was collecting my mail and among the usual bills, pamphlets I found an anonymous letter waiting for me in the mailbox. There was a familiarity to it that I still have to figure out. There really is nostalgia in the air.

06.02.2018 and 07.02.2018

- Yusuf Dar.