There was no scuff or footprints, but then, it had been raining all night and she doubted if there would have been any anyway. Kerry studied the long stretch of empty ground as she sipped her cup, trying to sort out in her head really what had gone on.
Dar was not an easily suggestible person. She had an imagination, certainly, but she was so logic driven, Kerry often suspected her daydreams were formed from Ethernet packet encapsulation schemes where her own mind tended to be far more flexible in that regard.
So what had Dar seen? Since her imagination tended to the prosaic, Kerry was pretty sure she'd seen something, and something that was alarming enough to get her out of bed, and ready to.. She glanced inside the open French doors, where her beloved was studiously stirring her coffee. Ready to defend her from whatever it had been.
Which was really sort of charming. Kerry picked up her Handspring and reviewed her mails, which had been refreshingly few and mostly focused on acknowledgements for pricing she'd provided, and a note from their landlord praising their new sign.
It was really nice, she realized, to not have to have a knot in her guts every time the new message alert went off, and then she thought about how long it had been that she'd been living with that tension. “Hey hon?”
“Yees?” Dar came out and took the seat next to her, extending her denim covered legs with her socked feet out and crossing them at the ankles. “So I went to the front desk on my way back from getting this coffee and those dough nuts.”
Kerry licked her lips. “They were good.”
“First time I saw carnival food presented in a French style cafe, but yes.” Dar said. “Anyway, I asked about tours and stuff and said we'd had a good time last night and the desk clerk mentioned this hotel was on one of the other outfit's tours but they didn't like it.”
“Because they say this place is haunted?”
“Yes.” Dar said. “So I told them I saw something on the balcony last night.”
“Ah hah.”
“I think she was waiting to see if I was going to freak out about it and when I didn't, she coughed up the fact that maybe some other people that have stayed here have mentioned that, and it's why they usually rent out these rooms to big groups who want to have a party.”
“I see.”
“Mm.” Dar sipped her coffee. “I said I didn't care.”
“Do you?” Kerry watched her lover's profile curiously. “You really weren't scared, were you?”
“I wasn't. Not really sure why.” Dar responded readily. “Maybe I was still drunk. I should have been scared, either by some damn robber on the balcony who might have had a gun or a ghost. But I wasn't.”
“Dar, you're never scared when it's go time.” Kerry said, in a placid tone. “I've watched you for years throwing yourself into situations starting with the night you saved my ass from being carjacked. You have more guts than sense sometimes.”
Dar's dark lashes fluttered a little, and she watched Kerry from the corner of her eyes. “Is that a bad thing?” She countered. “I remember you doing some crazy ass stunts too, like diving in the water after that guy.”
Oh. Erg. “Well..”
Dar shrugged. “We're two of a kind. Someone once said that. Maybe Alastair.” She rested her elbows on her chair arms. “So what do you want to do? Go find Madame PooPoo and get our fortunes told?”
“Absolutely.” Kerry smiled. “I don't think they have daytime ghost tours, so let's stick to stuffed animals, tacky beads and beignets today.” She suggested. “In fact, can you show me where you got them?”
“Sure. And I found this.” Dar handed over a pamphlet.
“Boos and Booze tour?” Kerry started laughing. “Of the French Quarter. You really want to do that, hon? Ghosts more interesting now?”
Dar grinned, and shrugged “Yeah, maybe.” She admitted. “I'm kind of wondering. As in, how is that possible?” She mused. “Is it an energy anomaly?”
“You're looking for a logical explanation for ghosts?” Kerry smiled, watching her partner nod. “Okay, Boos! And Booze it is.” She checked the number, then dialed it on her phone. “My treat.”
Dar rocked back and forth a little in contentment. Kerry had woken up without her headache, and they'd enjoyed a shower together using the shower attachment in the charmingly old fashioned tub installed bathroom. “I think I want to go find a little protein with my funnel cakes.” She said, as Kerry hung up. “Shall we?”
“Absolutely my little ghost busting chickadee.” Kerry finished her coffee and got up, extending her hand. “Come. Let's go find out what the future has in store for us.” She said. “And get you some bacon.”
“Mm. Bacon.” Dar joined her and they went inside, closing the doors behind them, the chair Dar had been sitting in continuing to gently rock.
**
They strolled along the street in the sunshine, having consumed a few more beignets and then ducked into the street market to wrangle a baguette and some cheese they shared while strolling along to Jackson Square where a crowd was already gathering.
“Beautiful day.” Kerry commented, peering along the wrought iron fence they were walking by. “Oh look, Dar. Artists.”
Obligingly, Dar looked. “If we get a picture of us done by someone other than my mother, you get to explain it to her.” She said promptly. “Since we keep saying no.”
Kerry put her hands behind her back and clasped them. “Good point.”
Dar chuckled.
“But we can get one of New Orleans.” She pointed. “See? Isn't that pretty? It's the parade.”
Dar willingly followed her over to the artist, who had several examples of his art propped up against the fence. She wandered down the row as her partner bargained for the piece, enjoying the antics of a street performer who was juggling while riding a unicycle.
That took a lot of skill and balance and she appreciated that. She'd made one abortive attempt at unicycling herself way back when in college on a long weekend down in Key West, and even now all the years later, she winced at the twitch in her tail bone that well remembered that colossal fall.
“Hello dere, pretty lady.”
Dar turned from watching the juggler to find a man at a folding table, covered in a tie dye cloth straight from Haight Ashbury. He was reviewing some tarot cards, and watching her with one bright, deep hazel eye, the other covered in a weathered patch.
“Hi.” Dar responded, after a brief pause. “Are you a fortune teller?”
“Oh my no.” The man smiled at her. He was probably in his sixties, with curly gray hair, and a spare frame. “Sounds so carnival, does it not? Should I have a monkey, then, and man in the front calling people into the sideshow?”
Dar folded her arms over her chest. “Didn't mean that as an insult.” She said. “What do you call yourself then?”
“I call myself Charles.” The man's eyes twinkled. “And you, pretty lady?”
Dar allowed herself to be charmed, and drawn in. “Dar.”
“Now that's a very unusual name.” Charles said, sorting the cards together and putting them away. “Is this your first time here in the great N'awlins?”
“It is.” Dar confirmed. “I thought I lived in the craziest place in the US until I saw this town. Impressive.” She indicated the chair across from him. “Mind if I sit down?”
Charles's nose crinkled up in a surprising grin. “Usually I have to coax people to take a seat.” He said. “Please sit, Ms Dar.” He cleared off the table in front of him and leaned his elbows on the table as she sat down, and they regarded each other. “What can I answer for you? Is there a question you want to ask me?”