Keeping a good distance behind, I followed the man back down to the end of Carroll Street and past our handsome building on the corner. A tinge of guilt crept up my body as I pulled my own bowler hat down over my brow so as to hide my face should Mr. Hatter steal a glance out the front window of his ground floor office. I knew that, Mr. Hatter being currently engaged in a meeting, his opportunities to look out the window would be slim, but I could not chance his inquiries.
Having successfully passed my place of employment, I continued my pursuit of this strangely dressed and most intriguing man as he skillfully darted around the corner of Lewis and Carroll street dashed down the sidewalk. It was there on the busy sidewalk, surrounded by the hustle and bustle of the street, that I first questioned the sanity of myself and of the situation (although, in retrospect, the question of sanity should have been addressed upon descending the white brick stairs of Mr. Hatter’s law firm and laying eyes on the man of whom I was in such curious pursuit.) I, being by no means a gambling man, would put my entire week’s wages on the notion that I was clearly the only one who was able to see the man in the bowler hat. As this man continued to weave his way in and out of the crowd, not once did his peculiar attire merit the slightest attention of the men and women crowded along the busy street. He skillfully navigated his way down the sidewalk, squeezing between happy couples and, once or twice, walking horizontally along the wall of a street-side building in order to avoid a crowd! I on the other hand was forced to barge my way through the waves of pedestrians in a flurry of ‘good mornings’, “pardon me’s’, and “excuse me’s’. Upon seeing the man quicken his pace as he curled around the corner at the end of the block I was forced to abandon all sense of normalcy and start to run in order to continue my pursuit. I had not taken three quick strides when I heard the sharp voice to my right.
“He’s gone. You will not catch him now.”
The man’s voice was so clear and so piercing that it was as if his vocals were the only noise on the bustling street. I stopped dead, immediately trusting the clarity of his observation. My pursuit had ended more rapidly that it had begun. More than one inquisitive eye met mine as I came to a stop and, glancing around at the curious looks of the people on the street, straightened my hat and tie and tried to show some semblance of normalcy. .
What was more curious?! My frustrated mind was ranting, because I had clearly been made out as the odd person in this situation, a man with a messenger bag running down the street, clearly delivering a package, or the curious behavior and dress of his other odd person?! Of course my behavior was seen as odd simply because, I was becoming more aware of this as all eyes were now fixed on me, the other passersby could not see what I was seeing!
My mind had been working so frantically that I had momentarily neglected the flicker of hope that I had been presented with. I quickly turned to see who it was that had informed me so suddenly that my chase was over. My eyes, or perhaps my mind as a whole, must have been deceiving me, for as I turned I saw that the street behind me was completely empty except for a tall, oddly dressed man leaning carelessly against a light post. To describe this new stranger as ‘oddly dressed’ simply does him immense injustice. His dress was curiously similar to that of the man with the strange book under his arm. However, the man before me had clearly taken better care of his wardrobe. It was either that or every piece of his clothing had been recently purchased that very morning.
His shoes were made of the finest black leather and had been meticulously polished so that they glinted as if coated by glass. The stranger’s pants were made of a material of deep purple and were designed with purple pinstripes just a shade lighter than the pants themselves. Wrapped around his slender frame was a long, clearly custom tailored, coat of the same material as the pants, but of the same exact color as the pinstripes. He appeared to be wearing a vest or shirt of radiant sunset orange, though I could not see clearly into the coat. The collar of the coat was fur-lined with black, shiny, and clearly exotic fur. The cuffs of his shirt were also lined with the same fur. His hands were covered by tight black leather gloves that were embroidered with deep purple stitching. In his right hand he held a cane which glinted with a coat of the finest silver I had ever seen. Golden veins flowed from the top of the cane to bottom like the stripes of a tiger or zebra. His collar was pulled up tightly around his neck and a silky curtain of hair fell from his dark purple top hat and framed his pallid face. The little that I saw of his face -essentially his chin, brow, and cheeks- was almost grotesquely white and his eyes were deep brown and piercing. He looked me square in the eye with a sense of wonder. It was enough to make me look away.
He smiled at me and stood up to his full height. The man was at least ten inches taller than I and was perhaps ten inches thinner. He reminded me of a jovial scarecrow in need of some sun. He tapped the brim of his hat with his cane and said again in his clear, smart voice,
“He’s gone.” he now rapped the end of his cane on the pavement and stepped out in front of me, “But I’m here. Perhaps I can quench your curiosity for the strange and unexplained.”
I stared into his darkest eyes. It was as if I were staring into the reaches of the sky. He simply smiled back down at me as if very pleased with himself. He slowly sidled around me, keeping his eyes fixed to my face. I kept curious eye contact, or as much as I could manage. As he stepped, his coat opened slightly and I saw a glittering belt buckle embedded with diamonds and was able to confirm to myself that he was, indeed, wearing an elaborate vest of deep, pastel orange.
“Wh-where did everybody go?” I said nervously, now desperate for some interaction. The man seemed friendly enough (his smile certainly did not lack charm), but it was this current situation and the events of the entire morning that awakened my nerves. “This street was,” I paused and spun around to look up and down the entire street, “full of people...” It was difficult for me to find breath such was the level of my astonishment.
The tall man sidestepped his way back to the light post and gestured to the empty street with a wide sweep of his gloved hand. He chuckled and looked from me to the empty street.
“On a day like this, can you be certain that you saw what you saw? A street such as this, at this time of day, cannot simply be full of people one moment...” I gasped in amazement and fell backwards onto my backside as the street was suddenly full of busy bodies hurrying along the sidewalk and walking up and down the steps of the shops that were crammed together on the block. “...and then empty the next.” The street was again completely unoccupied.
I stared from the vacant street to the tall stranger who continued to look, as if transfixed, toward the other side of the street. Not so much as a piece of discarded parchment could be seen on either sidewalk. He lowered his hands and looked back at me, his gloves squeaking slightly as he moved his fingers over his coat and placed his thumbs in the little pockets of his vest.
“What is happening to me?” I asked in a shaky voice.
He swept behind me as swift as the wind and stood on my other side. For a moment I felt completely engulfed in his flowing coat. The man reached down and offered me his hand, which I somewhat reluctantly took. He pulled me to my feet, put a hand softly on my shoulder and continued to stare across the street.
“I understand that you’ve been having a bad day. You’ve been... seeing things that you should not have seen.” He paused to breathe in the crisp afternoon air. “The man with the book, for instance...” He cocked his head to the side and looked down at me, “Have you seen him before?”
“Uh, no... no I had not seen him before.” I answered, now starting to feel extremely uneasy with the situation. What an odd question! Of course I had never seen such strange, unexplainable things! And what of this?! What strange power did this man possess that he could make entire crowds of people disappear? My outrageous thoughts were betrayed by my confused look.
“Of course you haven’t.” he said with a smile. “But that book... It sure is a curious thing, isn’t it?” I looked up into his face and it was clear that he was not expecting me to answer. The man looked back across the street. “I guess it doesn’t matter what you think of the book, he will have, eh...immersed himself completely in its pages by now.” He smiled back down at me, took his arm off my shoulder, and began to walk back down the sidewalk. He turned abruptly and extended a hand toward me. I could see that he was holding a small card of the most brilliant white paper.
“I really am looking forward to seeing you again.” His face split into an enormous grin, “Go on. Take it.”
I reached out slowly, never taking my eyes off his face. His smile was less pleasant than a moment ago. It now seemed as if a wild animal was caged behind he countenance. I took the card and glanced at it. The card was blank and I immediately thought that he had handed it to me face-down. However, upon flipping it over I was confused to see that the other side of the card was also blank. When I looked up to inquire of the absence of information, the man was striding away down the street, his cane swinging at his side. He was making his way toward the corner of the block where the strangely dressed man with the book had disappeared. This was strange behavior indeed, giving another man a blank business card when no business had been agreed upon in the first place!
“Sir!” I shouted, “Sir! There is nothing here! You must be mistaken!”
“There is no mistake!” he shouted without turning around. “When you need to know who I am, you will be informed!”
“But, why would I need to know who you are?!”
The man turned at the end of the block.
“That depends on how familiar you are with what you had in your possession when you arrived here.” The man had not yelled his answer, but I clearly heard him as if he were still standing next to me. He tipped his hat, rapped his cane on the pavement and disappeared down the perpendicular street.
The sidewalk was suddenly full of people busily going about the errands of the day. I looked down at the blank card that the mysterious man had given me and for a moment thought to toss it into the gutter and brush the whole thing off as a strange fantasy. Stuffing the card into my pocket instead I began to walk back down the street toward the postal office. I reached for the bag on my hip and froze.
My messenger bag was gone.
I spun frantically on the spot thinking that I must have set it aside in all the confusion, or perhaps it was dropped on accident. The bag was nowhere to be seen on the sidewalk, nor was it anywhere along the muddy street. The bag was gone and with it the parcel that I was to deliver. My heart suddenly filled with panic as I raced back down the street toward where the tall man had disappeared around the far corner of the block. Upon rounding the corner I found myself looking down another empty street with this new stranger nowhere to be seen. Remembering the card, I jammed a hand hastily into my pocket and extracted the slip of paper. Upon leveling it with my eyes, I saw that it was still blank. The man had stolen my bag along with the package from Mr. Hatter and I did not possess the sense to even notice. I looked down the street again and then back at the card. My spirit leapt when I noticed that there appeared to be something written on the opposite side. Quickly flipping the card over, I saw long, slanted lettering written in the brightest purple ink.
(Next Post - Chapter 2: Business Partners and Friends)
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