It was Wednesday and Dan sat out front of the Saloon near Runt’s at Natchez Under the Hill. He was waiting for the rest of the Saturday Night Thing to arrive and stared at the neon sign of the goblin restaurant. He realized he probably wasn’t going to see Mitzi today. He sighed. They were in love. And they had separate plans tonight. Well, that was life. He smiled though. Love. He marveled at it, still surprised by the quickness of it all.

  Dan felt at their bond. She was doing well today and he was glad for that. It made him wonder something. He thought about Mitzi. He thought about all the ways she made him feel, and his love, and pulled those emotions up. He thought of the warmth that she gave him. Then, he tried mentally embracing that part of her that seemed to ride around in the back of his head. He fed his emotions into that peice of her. He felt her surprise and smiled.

  A moment later, he felt an overwhelming sense of warmth and emotion wash over him. He had to grip his knees. He wiped his cheek and found tears there. He saw his hand was shaking. God, it had felt like being wrapped in everything that was her for a moment and it had been wonderful. The knowledge she wasn’t there had hit like a hammer though and it hurt.

  “Holy shit. I have to be careful with this.” He said, digging around in his pockets. He found a handkerchief and wiped his face. When he was done, his friends started arriving.

  He walked out and met them.

  “Danwell!” Henry called and Dan shook his head.

  “Nope! Good try though!” He grinned. Most of them had given up trying to guess his name. Henry was hanging on to the mystery like there was a prize at the end of it.

  “I’m surprised!” Danielle said. “I thought we wouldn’t see you out again so soon.”

  Dan colored slightly.

  “Yeah. I’m trying to be better about that. Anyway, it’s good to see you two. Actually, it’s good to see the whole Saturday Night Thing again.” They all stared at him for a moment.

  “What?” He asked.

  “Dude.” Rob said. “Did you LITERALLY name your circle of friends?”

  “Maybe.” Dan hadn’t thought about it before he’d called them that.

  “That is naive, stupid, and adorable all at once. Let’s go.” Rob said chuckling.

  Dan motioned for them to follow him.

  The minute they got inside, Dan froze. At the far end of the bar was Candy. Henry ran into his back and peaked around him.

  “Hol-y shit.” The man said. Danielle gasped. He heard Rob grumble something and Shelly hissed. She ACTUALLY hissed like a fucking cat.

  “Ignore her. Just ignore her. She looks like she’s been here for hours.” Dan said and they found a table along the wall. Dan ordered drinks and some mozzarella sticks for the table after getting puppy dog eyes from Danielle.

  While they waited, there was naturally talk of the recent drama at work. There were plenty of glances to the end of the bar.

  “I just can’t believe she’d do that to you, Dan.” Danielle said.

  “It’s not the worst thing she could have done.” He said with a shrug.

  “Is it true? The goblin thing?” She asked.

  Dan grinned, but said nothing. Rob on the other hand. . .

  “I saw the way you were looking at that girl, Dan. If you aren’t, you’re thinking about it.”

  “Fine. Yes. We’re serious.” Dan said. He saw them all looking at him. “Ok. VERY serious. We have bonded.”

  “And what does that mean?” Henry asked, looking genuinely curious.

  “Well, there’s this thing that goblins can do. It’s an emotional connection. Sort of psychic, I guess. We both know what the other is feeling. We both know where the other is.”

  He smiled. She was so close.

  When he looked back up there were some open stares. Danielle looked like she was going to squee right there. Dan sighed.

  “Yes, Danielle, it actually is very romantic. We, uh, we're in love.”

  Rob chuckled, Shelly shook her head, Henry smiled, and Danielle emitted a high pitched sound that would be considered torture to any dogs in the area. Dan glanced at Candy and the sound had drawn her attention. She gave them all an unsteady glare that wandered all over the bar. She was plastered.

  The drinks and snacks arrived and Dan ignored Candy for a while afterward.

  “So, anything in particular you wanted to talk about tonight or was this a chance to get us buttered up for later?” Rob asked. Dan smiled to himself. Rob was good with puzzles.

  “Well, now that you mention it. . .” Dan said. Shelly set her beer down and sighed.

  “I knew it. He’s getting us drunk so he can get us to help him move or something. Uncouth man-child that he is.” She said.

  “Hey!” Dan said. “I don’t have anything to move so the joke’s on you.” Henry gave him a concerned look at that, so Dan hurried on. “I asked you here because I have this plan and I need help and you guys are the closest thing I have to friends and family.”

  That did sober the mood.

  “Dan,” Danielle said, “what do you mean?”

  Dan swallowed. This wasn’t where he’d meant to lead this.

  “I just mean that I burned a lot of bridges back home and I’m trying to build a new life here. I really appreciate you guys insisting on me hanging out.”

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  “I can’t imagine you burning bridges, Dan. You’re one of the nicest people I know, if a bit withdrawn.” Henry said.

  “Look, that’s not why I asked to see you guys.” Dan said, trying to move on.

  “How unfortunate.” Shelly said. “Because now I want to know what you did to have to leave a place like Memphis to come somewhere like Natchez.”

  Dan sighed. He wasn't going to be able to talk his way around it.

  “You’re not going to like this.” He said.

  “I don’t like a lot of things, Dan. What’s one more?” Shelly said, and Dan had to laugh at that.

  Before he began, he took a long pull on his beer and went ahead and ordered the second round. Rob arched an eyebrow at that.

  “You’re gonna need it by the end of this.” Dan said.

  He told them. Dan told them the entire story. He had intended to hold some of it back but in the end, these were his friends. They had a right to know. If they wanted to leave afterward he wouldn’t stop them. He wouldn’t blame them either.

  He studied their reactions as the story went on. Rob looked devastated. Shelly looked like she was going to throw up. Henry seemed to have a thousand yard stare, and Danielle tore through tissues as the story continued.

  “Anyway,” Dan said at the end, “Mitzi was the first person I’ve ever really told the whole story to. She. . .” He swallowed. “Mitzi stayed with me that night. She’s the first person that made me feel like I wasn’t broken.”

  The second round arrived as if on cue and most of them launched right into it.

  “I suppose I should have minded my own business?” Shelly asked. She gave him a sympathetic smile and the honest emotion almost broke Dan.

  “No, you guys deserve to know. Thanks for listening. I can’t imagine it’s an easy thing to hear.”

  “Or go through.” Henry said. Dan didn’t ask, but the man looked like he’d identified with something in the tale.

  “Can we see the scars?” Danielle asked.

  “Danielle, you stupid bitch!” Shelly said. “That is incredibly rude, you fucker!”

  Dan burst out laughing at that and it seemed to release some of the tension. Everyone else chuckled.

  “Sorry.” Danielle said.

  “No. It’s fine. Some time when we’re not in public or something.” Dan said.

  “Well,” Rob said, “I don’t see as any of us can say no to whatever your plan is after that, so mission accomplished I guess?”

  Dan laughed again.

  “Well, my plan worked. Lure you all out with the promise of beer, punch you in the stomach emotionally, then guilt you all into building beds for goblins.”

  “Building beds for goblins? Explain this to me. I’m curious.” Rob said once he was done laughing.

  Dan looked and saw that Candy was still there and still drinking. He turned back and gladly ignored her.

  “So, Mitzi told me she didn’t have a bed back at Goblin House.” He said. “She said they all just kinda sleep on bedrolls on the floor. All twenty-seven of them. Well, Geraldine sleeps on the couch and Runt sleeps in a recliner. But you get the idea.”

  “That’s terrible!” Danielle said. Dan nodded.

  “Yep. So for two days I’ve been watching videos about how to build bunk beds and I think I have a working plan. They’ve got 13 foot ceilings in that old house they’re in.”

  “It must be a very old house then.” Shelly said. Dan nodded.

  “It is. Probably late 19th to early 20th century. It’s old enough to still have a fireplace.”

  Henry tapped the table, thinking.

  “You could go three high with them.” He said. Then a thought seemed to hit him. “But can they climb that high?”

  “Have you SEEN them in the restaurant?!” Dan said, becoming animated. “These guys are like circus performers. All of them. Besides, we make one in the back for Runt and Geraldine since they’re the oldest. We have one separate bed for the odd number, and. . .”

  Dan suddenly found math slightly more difficult. He’d finished his second beer and there was suddenly a third in front of him.

  “And we make eight stacks of beds with ladders.” He finished. He was proud of himself for that.

  “Ok.” Rob said. “But what’s the actual plan part of the plan?”

  “Well,” Dan said, “Henry has a yard and the weather is clear for the rest of the week. We build them modular in the back yard then get them to Goblin House and assemble them on Saturday and permanently attach them.”

  “Why Saturday?” Danielle asked.

  “It’s a surprise! Didn’t I mention that? We do it while almost everyone’s at work and they come home to beds to sleep in on their busiest night!” Dan said and folded his arms smiling.

  Henry grabbed a napkin and his pen and started sketching out numbers and crude designs.

  “Of course we can do this in my yard.” He said. “Todd should be good to help too as long as he’s not doing any lifting.”

  Dan realized he had to concentrate to notice the bond. The beer must be fuzzing his awareness. Mitzi was amused. When he poked at it a bit, he thought he could tell it was because he was buzzed. He could hear her call him a goober in his mind. He smiled.

  He realized he’d zoned out and when he looked up he noticed Danielle watching him.

  “Sorry. Zoned out. Did you say something, Danielle?” He asked.

  “I’m just continually surprised by you.” She said.

  Dan looked and Shelly was berating Henry’s math as he and Rob defended the numbers. Dan looked and saw Candy had left.

  “How so?” He asked.

  “Well, at first I thought you were aloof since you were from further north.” Danielle said. “Then the more I got to know you I thought you were an introvert. The cards said you weren’t and I thought maybe I’d miss read. Now I just wonder how you keep going.”

  Dan took a sip of beer, deciding he was going to switch to water after this.

  “Mitzi said the same thing.”

  “Is it any wonder?”

  “Maybe it’s because I’ve lived it. Like when people are amazed at art.” He said. “I’m just trying to not be afraid any more. It’s not some grand gesture. I just don’t want her to win. What were my other options, really?”

  “I went to high school with a boy.” She said, suddenly serious. “He was abused as a child. Emotionally. He had a horrible sense of self worth and everyone around him treated him like garbage. I tried to be his friend, you know? To get to know him. He never let anyone get close. He was bullied, beaten, the butt of every joke. He just kept turning in on himself more and more. Then someone tied him to the bumper of their car the last day of senior year and dragged him. Not far, but they dragged him.”

  Dan winced. He knew some folks like that. Both the boy, and the bullies.

  “What happened to him?” He asked.

  “He had been working the night shift in a convenience store and living in his parent’s old house. He didn’t talk to people. He didn’t go anywhere. He just sat behind the counter of the gas station and silently judged everyone.”

  Dan could imagine that life and it frightened him.

  "Two years ago," Danielle said, "I was in the gas station and no one was at the counter. I went to grab a Coke. I saw him, Dan. He was hanging by his belt from a pipe behind the soda racks."

  Danielle looked at him in the eyes.

  “You had choices, Dan, and you are terribly brave.”

  He swallowed. He thought maybe that swallow needed moral support, so he sent some beer down after it. Yikes.

  “Hey,” Dan said to Henry and Rob, “can I be involved in my plan now?”

  They laughed at him and got down to the details.

  Candy couldn’t believe they’d all come to the only bar she could realistically go to. The owners weren't. . . well, anyway. They’d come in and she’d felt their stupid eyes on her. Especially Rob’s. That fucker. And Dan. Oh, Dan. They could have been something. He seemed open and nice and like he might have listened to reason if she could have gotten him alone.

  Losing her job had been a huge setback. Aunt Louise had insisted she get a job there. Aunt Louise had said they’d accept her if she could get in the door. While she was there, she could find out things about them. Stupid woke-brained idiots. She could have changed the place. Or at least tried to get it shut down. Something. Aunt Louise had the best ideas.

  But everything had gone wrong at that restaurant. She thought it’d be fun to have a sub-race wait on her hand and foot, so she'd jumped at the chance when Danielle had invited her. Then she'd found out Dan would be there. She’d been so embarrassed at Rob and Henry’s stupid questions she’d had to go to the bathroom and calm down.

  Then, when she’d finally come back, Dan was kissing a goblin. A. Goblin. Vermin. ACTUAL vermin.

  Candy had come to the saloon for some beers to make her feel better. At some time during the day she’d switched over to bourbon, then back to beer.

  She felt angry. She sat on the curb outside the bar staring daggers at Runt’s, sitting there right in front of her like an abomination. The filth had stolen one of her people away. From HER. She suddenly felt courage surge through her veins. Or maybe it was the bourbon. She wasn’t sure. She just knew that she had some words to say to the little roach-woman that had taken Dan AND her job.

  And the little bitch was a goblin. Who in their right mind was going to say anything to her about getting sideways on a goblin, anyway?