joegoda | The Framing of Jon Smith

13222 / 50000 words. 26% done!

Outside of Tommy D's, Sitch, Dick and me stood by while Sparky paced the sidewalk in front of us. Vinny and Rosie stayed behind, saying they had some talking to do. Traffic passed by, with nobody taking notice of a bright red Salamander walking back and forth. The foot traffic, however, was a different story.

People stopped and stared at the little lizard. Some asked questions, like, "Is it yours?" No, ma'am. He's his own. "What's it's name?" Sparky, ma'am. "He's so cute! Can I pick him up?" I wouldn't if I was you. He has a bit of a temper.

This went on about a hundred times until Sparky stood up on his hind legs and said as loudly as he could, "If you monkeys don't leave me be and let me think, I'm gonna set fire to all of you!"

Now, granted, his voice was a bit gravelly from all the smoke he'd taken in over the years, and it was kind of cute to see a 5 inch lizard talking, but it had the desired effect of causing passers-by to move out of his way. Well, that and the circle of fire that sprang up from the pavement surrounding the little guy.

"Just stay back and nobody will get hurt!" I didn't notice before but even Sparky's eyes were red tinged. "I'm workin' here!" Rather than pacing back and forth, he now went round and round inside his circle of fire.

Sitch stood by uneasily chewing a fingernail, watching Sparky 'work'. Sitch was never comfortable standing outside. I think it had something to do with his childhood. Maybe too many people made fun of him or picked on him. Whatever the reason, whenever he was outside, he was as nervous as a cat in a hailstorm.

"Sitch?" I touched his arm, which made him jump. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, Jon." His eyes never left Sparky. "What's up?"

"When did you find Sparky?" Sitch's head jerked my way and he stared at me. I stared back, and tried to make my face appear as friendly as possible.

"Why, I... Um..." His eye squinted while he searched for the answer inside his addled brain. "He came to me..."

"No big deal, Sitch," I said soothingly. "Don't worry about it. I was just curious, that's all." I caught Dick's eye and nodded to a spot away from Sitch and the pacing Salamander.

"What's up, old son?" Dick asked quietly. "I figured it was something you wanted to say to me away from Sitch and his pet."

"Yeah," I said, just as quietly. "I don't think that lizard is Sitch's pet. I'm not sure it's even a lizard."

"Oh?" Dicks ruddish eyebrows, bushy as they were, went up. "Do tell."

"Yeah." I glanced back over at the two. Sitch was back to chewing his fingernail, and Sparky was standing still, looking off into the distance. "I just have a hunch, but for right now I want to play it cool, okay?"

Dick nodded. "I'll pretend you haven't said a word to me, considering that you haven't said a word to me."

We joined the other two. "Anything yet, Oh Lizard of fire?" I asked.

"What the hell?" Sparky growled. "I'm over here doing serious crap and you two are over there making chin music. Seriously?" He spat a firely loogie on the ground. "I don't even know why I'm helping you."

"Because," Dick prompted, " your good nature is pushing you to do good works?"

"Ha!" The Salamander laughed at that, long and hard. "As if! Okay, I got something. It's pretty damn faint, but it appears Mary the Match is over that way."

He pointed one slim finger due North, which was uptown. There were some pretty fancy characters up that way. High dollar places, high dollar people. No where near the warehouse district.

"You sure?" I asked.

"Hell no, I'm not sure," Sparky growled. "You asked me to help and this is pretty darn good, I think for the price of a burrito. What? You want me to give you distance, longitude and latitude, too? Sheesh! Whatta loser."

"How about a bit of distance?" I looked northward, toward the highrises and office buildings. "I mean, that's a lot of space up there."

The lizard sighed, and blew smoke rings. "Okay, okay. Hold on a sec." He scrunched his face up and squinched his eyes. "She's in a tall building... fourteenth or fifteenth floor. There's an accident on the street below, two cars hit each other - the morons - and one caught fire." He opened one eye and looked daggers at me. "How's that?"

"Thanks." I turned to the local cop. "Dick? An accident involving two cars?"

"Already on it." Dick had his cellphone out and was dialing. "Hello, Betty? Officer Reed here. I heard a report about two cars catching fire uptown?"

He paused while Betty was talking. I could hear her voice, not clear, but certainly loud, from where I was standing. She said "Whaaa whaa whaa. Wha. Whaa whaaa. Whaaa whaaaa...." You get the idea.

Dick nodded. "Yes, m'love. That date is still on. Friday at Turoni's. Yes, I'll have a tie on. About the accident?"

"Whaa wha. Wha wha wha. Whaaa whaa whaaa whaaa. Forty-fifth and Dublin." Out of all of that, I got the address. Amazing what selective hearing does. Yeah, I was married before.

"The Barrick building? Really?" Dick nodded at me. "Really? Old man Barrick himself? Do tell. Goodness, Mary and Joseph. Well, he was old enough, wasn't he." Dick winked at me. "M'love, I have to run. I've got bad guys to catch, you see." Whaaa whaa. "Yes, yes. You too, many times over. Ta!" He almost disconnected when his eyes went very round. “Oh, and Betty m'love. Send some firetrucks down to the Warehouse district near the docks. I have it on a reliable source that there will be a fire tonight.” He nodded at the phone. “Well then, just have a few of the boys from the firehouse aware that they have been warned and if they ignore said warning, on their heads be it.” Now, he disconnected for real. “I almost forgot about that fire tonight.” He looked at the Salamander. “You sure there is going to be a for real fire tonight?”

“Sure as I'm standing here, Big Man.”

“Good enough for me,” Dick said. And then, "Well, well, well," he mused.

"What? Well, well, what?"

"Old man Barrick has just had a boy child," Dick said. "Will wonders never cease?"

Robert Barrick, or when he was running for office, Bobby Barrick, was about 80 years old. A nice enough guy, was a first rate wizard and all that Elitist crap, and threw a hell of a Christmas party. I was there a bout two years ago and helped some Socialite find her lost diamond earrings. Barrick gave me a thousand dollar bonus, just because he liked my face, he said.

Barrick had been trying for an heir the last thirty years or so. He had never married, which made the whole heir thing a bit more difficult.

"How in the hell," Sparky interjected, "did that old fossil foster a kid?"

Dick shrugged. "Dunno, but Betty said that the news had just came over the wire. Like I said, wonder all around."

Hmmm. I don't know if Barrick's heir and Mary being in the Barrick building and the death of a Major Magic user had anything in common, but I'll take anything. Either it will pan out, or it wont. Just more info for the old brain to cogitate on.

"Shall we go?" Dick looked anxious to head that way. Maybe he wanted to find out more from the rumor mill. The time was pushing around 9 pm and the street lights had been on for two hours. I was pretty bushed and ready for bed.

"Sure," I said. "Let's be off."

"Me and Sparky too?" asked Sitch.

"Not this time, Sitch," I told him. "We don't know what we're going into. I love you like a brother, man, but you know how you get around too many people."

Sitch looked only a little crestfallen. "Yeah. I know. I don't want to get all weirded out, either. And you know I hate high places." He looked at me with one sad eye. "You'll tell me what happens?"

"Every tiny, little bitty detail," I promised.

"Old son," Dick affirmed, "it'll be just like you were there yourself."

"Oh, fine. The lizard does all the work and gets none of the fun." Sparky piped in, looking disgusted. "I don't really care, anyway. You humans are a bunch of losers."

"Oh, I definitely think you should come, Sparky." I looked to Sitch. "It's okay, isn't it, if we bring Sparky along? He'll be able to tell you details that Dick and I leave out."

Sitch seemed to both brighten and to grow suspicious. "Uh... Well... If it's all right with Sparky, I guess. You guys won't keep him, will you?"

"Keep him?" I didn't understand. "What do you mean, keep him?"

"You know...," Sitch shuffled a foot, "he's mine and all."

Oh!

"No, Sitch," I said reassuringly, trying not to chuckle. "Neither Dick nor I will keep Sparky. Heck, I don't even like him. He's just good to have along this one time."

"Yeah?" Sparky looked indignant. "Well, I don't like giants," meaning Dick's six foot plus frame, "and I sure as hell don't like round boys. So we're even."