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Azure Apparition - AA - Sweet Paranormal 10/15/2013 3:27:40 PM
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It's a cold, dark Halloween night in New Orleans. Will Frank get a trick or a treat?
Blurb:
Hardnosed construction worker, Frank Hickman, has got to be hallucinating. Is the shimmering beauty in bed beside him a figment of his imagination? Or some warped Halloween prank pulled on him by his boys?
Azure Blackstone has been carjacked. Will Frank's realization come too late to save her?
Loner Frank Hickman set out for the bar after his last walking tour of the evening. He slid the broken cell phone he had picked up out back in the dust into his pocket. Break-ins plagued the construction site, as recently as this morning, forcing him to make periodic rounds each day. Late material shipments and impossible deadlines filled his days. Nevertheless, he would rather suffer through those inconveniences than this evening's upcoming interactions.
He was out in New Orleans' cold October air almost as soon as he pulled his truck up on the lot. Children's chatter electrified the air, drawing him up short. He stopped to watch a group of chaperoned ghouls, goblins, princesses and superheroes scatter all over the sidewalk across the street. It was Halloween. And—they certainly dressed and acted the part.
Frank snorted.
His own kids were grown and seemed to be in no hurry to make him a grandfather. At that moment, he realized he didn't know whether to be happy or sad. He shook his head in a dismissive manner. An aloof swagger got him passed the front door of the lounge and his tall, muscular body belly up to the bar next to his cronies. For grown men, the other three reacted childishly to a photo one shared. It was Frank's turn to take possession of the iPhone for a look-see.
"Man, I know you haven't been with one in so long," his friend teased. "You don't know what you're looking at."
Boisterous laughter jumped from one man to another.
You're right, Frank thought. It had been a long time since his last real relationship. So long, in fact, her face was practically lost in obscurity. He silently admitted that she was a pearl. What he longed for, though, was a rare gem.
"I'm looking at the demise of your marriage if you don't control your urges," he warned.
Tyrone snatched his phone back. "See what I mean! A regular old fart."
They moved to a table.
Along with them came more laughs at his expense. It was uncomfortable to sit with the broken cell in his pocket. Therefore, he removed the bulge when he sat. He placed the cell in plain sight on the table. A waitress wandered over to take their drink orders. He signaled and each man placed his own. "Put this round on my bill," Frank said as she walked away. He noticed they now ogled the waitress. "Y'all are pitiful."
"Frank, you got to let your hair down sometime, bro." It was Tyrone, again, with that bit of advice. "Let me see your phone."
"Why?" Frank asked.
Nooney jumped him, too. "Just do it."
Then, Bud. "You gotta try it, Frank. I guarantee you won't regret it."
Reluctantly, he obeyed the request. Frank's iPhone changed hands. He watched as "ole school" Tyrone exhibited his prowess with today's technology. He went through the menus so fast, before Frank knew it, their signals paired for the transfer.
"What did you just do?"
"I just unlocked your universe," Tyrone crowed. "Opened you up to a whole new world."
Talking stopped. The snickers started when the waitress appeared with their drinks.
Frank took a drink of his beer while giving Tyrone a distrusting look. He thumped the brown bottle to the table. "I'm going to pay for this later, I suspect."
More laughter.
Frank grabbed the other phone and his, the second Tyrone dropped it to the table. He looked it over to decipher what new Apps existed on his screen. There was nothing out of the ordinary. However, something was strangely different about the display. Instead of using his holster, he dropped each phone in a front pocket and forgot about them. The next few hours were spent in the company of his college buddies, and they flew by. Soon, all went their separate ways and Frank headed home.
