Time: Wednesday night, 4/29/98
Place: The Fiendish Glow
Follows: A Touch of Irish Politics
Lora Conk is used with permission.
Dennis Cleary is a fictional character.
Liam O'Neal is the Irish vampire hunter in the second-season Forever Knight episode, "Bad Blood"
[Wednesday 29 April, 9:00PM]
"Okay, folks," Lora said, to the remainder of the staff after securing the front door, "It's too late to open tonight, but tomorrow is it. Patrick, Ronnie -- get the 'boys' here bright and early with those flyers. Brenda -- call the radio station and the newspapers about those ads. And let's see what we can round up for some local talent!"
With that, everyone dispersed to their dinners and homes.
[10 PM]
"Okay, Dennis, spill it!" Lora, coffee mug in hand, looked at the control room operator, who remained behind after everyone else had left. "What was so important that you had to call me away from my very much delayed dinner?"
"Check this out," he said, rewinding and cueing a rack of surveillance tapes. "This one's all of us hanging around Sunday," he said, directing her attention to the first of several TV screens. "The second one is Monday, when the 'health inspector' came over."
Lora looked at him quizzically.
"Oh, he was no inspector," the compact whiz-kid told her. "If he was, the licenses wouldn't have been sent out three weeks ago. Now, continuing on. . . here's the tape of O'Neal."
"So, the equipment's working. What's the big fuss?"
"Look at this," he said, noting a light halo around each of the "Glow's" regular employees. "Now look at this." The same halo did not appear around the phony inspector, or around O'Neal. . . although to the untrained eye, O'Neal was of the same pallor as the other regulars.
"Hmm. . . " said Lora, looking carefully at the screens. "While I've joked about this sort of thing, I never for once imagined it could have been true," she mused. "No wonder nobody has ever managed to take a good photo of me. . . "
"What's true?" asked Brenda, contract in one hand, coffee pot in the other.
"Look," the other woman told her, pointing to the surveillance screens. "We really do glow!"
"But nobody else does," Dennis added.
"Kewl!" the brunette said, musing what the significance of that could possibly be. "I wonder if we could use that as a security check?"
They refilled their coffees and drank deeply.
"What's with that contract?" Lora asked, pointing at the piece of paper still in the other woman's hand.
"I was wondering what our dear friend O'Neal saw, that he was deliberately not making a big deal about. . . and then I saw this:"
CONDITIONS OF GRANT OF ESTABLISHMENT:
- Adherence to authenticity in Irish and Celtic cuisine, beverage, spirits, and music.
- Authenticity in Celtic attire
- Honest, warm, Celtic hospitality
- .
- .
- .
- Acceptance of, and friendliness to, local vampire populations
"Friendly to. . . vampires? Could this be what O'Neal was so. . . quiet about?"
"There are a number of them in this area," Lora reminded her. "I really don't think we want to get on their 'bad' sides. . . "
"Trust me, you don't," Dennis told her.
"Okay, so how do we deal with this?" Brenda asked. "How have you folk dealt with this in the past?"
"Well, it's like this. . . "
The three of them discussed the topic until the greenmarket opened for morning purchases. Once the meats and vegetables were purchased, and the cooks and flyer-hands got to work, the two women turned in for a few hours' well-earned sleep before the grand opening.
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NEXT STORY: A LITTLE BLOOD NEVER
HURT ANYONE
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