It Was Asked For

They were walking in one of those unidentifiable places. The trees grew over the twisted road, creating their dappled path.

No one spoke until...

“Uncle, tell me a story.”

Uncle took a break from listening to only the wind rustle through the old gum trees. Ahh merry merry.

The silence broke again...

“Would you like to hear a story filled with glee or peril?”

“Why can’t it have both?”

‘Why? Can’t?’ rolled through thought like the breeze had only moments before.

“Alright. Gleeful peril it is.”

—

Hands gripped the black moleskin book that was lost to a stranger but now found to Sybil.

The $20,000 pulled from the lined pages seemed to cast a spotlight on S’s pocket.

The bills didn’t get counted before being frantically hidden from view but they didn’t need to be. A note left on the third page in gave it away.

‘TO DO:

1: Call grandma

2: Figure out what to do with this $20,000’

S was giddy to check number 2 off the list for this unknown but knew anything could happen here in the world below.

The streets were on a grid, the grid seemed never ending, wall to wall obscurity with only flickers of light from the ground level. Edges were there but disappeared into indistinctness.

Some would say the world below was dangerous.

Others wouldn’t dare to say anything at all.

—

“Wait a second. The world below? How do you get there, Uncle?”

“Through the sewer grate at the crossroads of Central and Nowhere.”

“The sewer grate? Who goes poking around the sewer? That’s just gross.”

“No more interruptions.”

—

Sweat beaded at the nape of S’s neck as the alleyway faded into darkness behind the running soles of the feet that carried S and the stranger’s little black book and the now in dispute $20,000.

A new unknown wrapped its hand around S, just as had been done to the little black book in the minutes before. Neither objects consented to the change in their trajectory.

‘Your pocket gives you away, S. This is not yours to bring to ground level.’

S knew this unknown who was now known and very much so.

‘Q.’ S shrugged off the attachment as light swayed back and forth to reveal the feature masquerading as a face that belonged to the voice and to the grip. ‘Your snarl startled. I have only what is mine to transfer.’

S knew that Q knew. They both were in the know and yet Q continued...

‘It’s not I who judges the transaction, as you know. But I must warn you that the owner of the stuffing in your pocket a glow is in the know. They too will arrive soon.’

‘They too, Q?’

Q’s mangled body snatched air as the feet beneath S removed the prospect of malice and put distance between the two. S could hear motioned confusion as the void grew wide.

S and Q were close; alphabetically, chronologically and —not only just then—physically. What was the cause for the divergence? The strange owner grew stranger. The feet that carried S grew tired.

The passage to ground level was mere miles but a declaration was imminent and the loyalty of the items in possession was still a bone of contention. Oh how to sway their allegiance?

The book felt superfluous but the $20,000 pledged fealty to its pages and its pages to the previous possessor. S wanted those bills to declare otherwise, for passage was the only way to solidify ownership.

Arrival at the gates that lie beneath the terrestrial colored sky approached. S still had no conclusion as both feet came to a stop so S could take in the painted hues above the passage.

‘Ethereal, no?’

The soles beneath S swiveled carrying the rest to greet the mouth the words belonged to. This unfamiliar would remain as so.

From the darkness, only a shadow: ‘Every fiber in your being seems to know but your brain has not caught up. Allow me to help, I am the owner of that little black book and of the contents that once resided within.’

Q appeared behind this unknown, a towering reminder that S was the holder but not yet the keeper.

Toes tipped forward, feet springing to action. The gap between the gates and S started to shrink.

But running would not change circumstances. The owner of the $20,000 trailed behind and the passage would never allow the transaction unless the owner and the holder appeared to be one in the same.

S stopped. The feet took a bit longer but eventually came to a halt.

‘Tell me who you are.’

‘I am U.’

Q motioned to be the block between S and U but the two became a mirror. Mimicking. Echoing. Limbs doubled down. Q could only watch as U emerged from the entanglement, book and cash in hand. In the dark U stood strong but a light cast its knowing eye on the face and it belonged to S.

Before Q could react, this unfamiliar familiar plunged itself into the passage. The transaction accepted.

Anything can happen in the world below.

U was brought into the light of the ground level, $20,000 richer and with a place to scribble knowns.

“Uncle, that’s too unbelievable.”

U gripped the little black book tighter and let a corkscrew smile escape.

“Perhaps. But it was the story that was asked for.”

“And so it was told.”