VII: In Which They Come Together

“Hey, Colin!  How have you been?”

“No complaints, Jane.  How’s today been?”  Colin smiled as he walked up to the counter.

“Pretty busy.  Things just slowed down about an hour ago.” Jane said.  “We’ve got a lot of cleanup to do.”  Her hands never stopped moving, even as she talked.  “Large tuxedo mocha today?  That’s not your usual order.”

“I decided to change it up.  I’ve got a free one from my punch card coming and I’ll need the extra caffeine.”  He stopped and looked at her as she handed him his drink.  “You were already making that, weren’t you?”

“Yeah.”  She said sheepishly.

“I didn’t actually tell you my order, how did you know what I wanted?”  Colin paused and thought for a second.  “You’re always making my drink before I order it.  I thought it was because I usually order the same thing, but even when I change it up, you’ve always got it going.  How do you do it?”

“I’ll tell you in an hour.”  Jane gave him a wink.  “I requested to get off at three.”  She took his punch card.  Another customer came up behind Colin before he could ask more.  He noticed Jane was already starting a new drink as he took his, dropped a tip in the jar, and went to secure a table for the gathering.

His mood dropped as he approached the large eight-seat table in the back that was usually used for meetings, card games, or the Wednesday night Dungeons and Dragons session.  The table was unoccupied, but that was because there was a large stand-card in the center that said “Reserved”.

As he got closer, however, he saw the rest of the text.  “Reserved, for the Kanetown Society for the Paranormally Gifted.  Meeting 3pm.”

“But I didn’t…”  He began to himself, then turned and saw Jane waving at him, smiling.  “Okay, then.”  He sat at the head of the table, opened his bag, and took out his laptop and binder.  He plugged in, booted up, and turned on his wireless mouse.  The touchpad mouse frustrated and annoyed him with its tendency to accidentally move his cursor and click things he didn’t want, so he had disabled it.

The binder was mostly full of blank pages, but what had content was divided into two sections:  Talking points to persuade the skeptics that would inevitably show up that there were actually some things going on that couldn’t be explained by traditional means; and strange things he had noticed that he might want to talk about or investigate with people if they actually believed.

The laptop was full of bookmarked pages on the paranormal for similar reasons, and one on the history of Kanetown.

“You’re the guy setting this up, huh?  You’re early as f**k.”  Colin looked up to see a young guy walking toward him.  Short brown hair, caucasian, wearing a plain burgundy hooded sweatshirt, dark blue jeans and high top canvas sneakers, he was thin, about average height and on the left side of handsome.

No halo.

“If you’re here for my thing, you’re early too.  It doesn’t start ‘til three and you were here before me.”  Colin challenged.

“Dude, I’ve been here all day.”  He shrugged, pulling out a chair, leaning back in it and putting his feet on one of the other seats.  “I had some homework for a couple of classes to work on.”  He stuck out his hand.  “I’m Steve, by the way.”

Colin looked at Steve’s outstretched hand for a moment, unsure what to think of him.  He took it and shook once, firmly.  “Colin Park.”

“That’s the one over on Fifth Avenue, isn’t it?  They got new picnic tables put in last year, right?”

Colin stared at him, dumbfounded.  “That’s Magnolia Park.  Colin Park is my name.”

“I’m just f*****g with you, Colin.  Sorry, man.”  His eyes shifted to the binder in the table.  “So, what do you guys do in this ‘Society’ anyway?”

“To be honest, I’m not sure yet.”  Colin looked down at his hands.  “This is going to be the first meeting.  I’m not even sure if anyone’s going to show up.  It might just be you and me.”

“Don’t bet on it.”  Steve gestured toward a man walking purposefully toward them.  He was a tall, thin Caucasian in his late twenties with black hair and a goatee, wearing a black cloak over black clothing.  The heavy smell of patchouli reached them well before he did.

“Merry Meet, friends!”  The newcomer announced as he stepped up to the table.  “Ronaldo Whispertongue at your service.”  This last, he punctuated with a flourished bow, flaring his cloak slightly behind him.

Steve jumped from his seat and returned the bow.  “Well met, friend.  Verily thou art most welcome amongst us.”  He grinned broadly.

“Well met, indeed.  I worried I might be too early, but I see my arrival was well timed.”  He took a seat across from Steve.

“Well, technically the meeting’s not ‘til three…”  Colin looked at the clock on his laptop which read two twenty-four pm.

“Dude, it’s cool.”  Steve said.  “We were just getting introduced, anyway.  I’m Steve, and this is Colin.”

“Nice to meet you both.”  Ronaldo replied.  “Is this the first meeting, then?  Wow, excellent!  I haven’t missed anything, then.”

“Umm, not yet.”  Colin said, looking back and forth between Steve and Ronaldo, unsure if he should be regretting putting up his flyer.

“The reservation card says “Kanetown Society for the Paranormally Gifted”, what kinds of gifts do you fellows have?”  Ronaldo asked.

“We should probably refrain from talking about that stuff until three-o-clock.  More people might show up, and I don’t want to have the same conversation each time someone arrives.”  Colin’s voice was guarded.

“Yeah, he’s right.  My story’s kinda long and you guys might not believe me anyway.”  Steve shyly looked at his hands which were under the table.

“I am sure we have all encountered skepticism.”  Ronaldo agreed.  “But I hope we’re all believers here.”

A notification popped up on Colin’s screen, immediately followed by another.  He checked it quickly, resolving to close Facebook for the duration of the meeting since it seemed to have started early and he wouldn’t get the final preparation time he had planned on.  Of course, all the preparation he could do had already been done and he would just be reviewing it over and over in any case.

The notifications consisted of a new message and friend request; both from Steve Caldwell.  He looked up at Steve who was still talking with Ronaldo, his hands under the table on his lap.  “Is this guy for real?”  The message said.

“Are you on your phone under the table?”  Colin messaged back.  He saw Steve’s eyes look down for a fraction of a second before the next message came.

“Srsly, this guy’s a walking cliché.”

Colin closed his laptop and announced out loud; “It looks like we have more people coming.”  A pair of people were walking from the counter, drinks in hand.  Both had light brown hair, pale skin, and similar facial features.  The girl was shorter, dressed in a light, low cut blouse and an ankle-length skirt with a blue scarf tied around her neck, matching the ribbon in her hair, while the guy wore a plain black t-shirt and jeans.  They looked to be in their early twenties.

“Is this the right place?”  The girl asked.

“That depends on what you’re looking for.”  Ronaldo spoke first.  “All places are the right place for something.”

“For, you know, the paranormal thing.”  She said.

“Yes, this is the table for ‘The Paranormal Thing’.  Have a seat.  I’m Steve, this is Ronaldo, and the guy in charge there is Colin.”

“Oh, good.  I’m Alex and this guy’s my brother, Xander.”

“Nice to meet you.”  Xander said.

Over the next fifteen minutes, there were two more arrivals, a high-school aged boy named Sam and a woman closer to Colin’s age in her early thirties named Selena.  Introductions were made all around with every arrival, Steve acting as spokesman.

"Well, it's just about three, but before we start, Colin, do you mind if I go get a refill from the cute Mexican girl at the counter?" Steve winked at him.

"I'm Puerto Rican, gringo."  Steve whirled around to find himself face to face with Jane.  Taking off her apron, she sat down at the table. "We're not all Mexican, for your information."

Steve turned red and stammered, "I'm sorry, I just..."

"No te preocupes, gringito." She smirked.

"Don't worry too much about it, Jane, he probably thinks I'm Chinese."  Colin said.

"But you're not Chinese, you're Korean.  Right, Sa Bom Nim?"  Alex looked at him with a wide-eyed, innocent expression.  Jane’s eyes flashed over to her.

Sighing, Colin hung his head.  "Yeah, I'm a second generation Korean American, Jane's half-caucasian, half-Puerto Rican, and Steve's a gringo.  Everybody go get any refills you want and then we'll start, okay?"

When everyone had returned and settled back in, Colin opened up his binder and addressed the group.

“I’d like to welcome everyone to the first meeting of the Kanetown Society for the Paranormally Gifted.”