Former mayor Edward McKenzie slowly added a stack of newspaper clippings to the nearly full box on his desk. He should have seen it coming; this past election his opponent was a bright young woman only a few years out of college, bursting with ideas to improve the city. He had banked on her inexperience winning him at least one more term as mayor, but the people had spoken. Ed would miss this office—the perfect view of the city park,…
A three-toothed, nearly bald old man was crouched in the shadows of the alley I had just turned into. He began staring hard at me, as if he held the map to my soul. I move to wait elsewhere, but he whispers creakily. “I know your future.” I sigh heavily, annoyed at the distraction. I know his type; he will follow me until I respond. “Well? Let’s have it.” “First tell me mine.” His cloudy eyes shine with poorly disguised…
King Filfuhr contemplated the exotic oil lamp before him. The other, lighted, lamps in the room gleamed off it, casting strange shadows on the scarred wooden desk he sat in. This late, after a difficult case like the one he had just heard, Filfuhr often sought the calm of his old nursery-turned-schoolroom—now his sixteen-year-old daughter’s classroom—and wished for someone to give him counsel. Odala’s latest teacher, however, had resigned to raise a family. Now on top of his kingly duties,…