Page 40 of Collin: Episodes 13-15
Miriam blinked at Ash. “Excuse me?”
Ash frowned back. “Mr. Reevesworth doesn’t ask me for stupid stuff. So why is he asking you to kill your business?”
“He’s not asking me to kill my business directly. He wants me to move, and it could kill it.”
“That’s not killing your businesses. You’re not a tree.” Ash looked around the room. “I’ve moved lots of times.”
Miriam stared at Ash. “If my customers can’t find me, then it will kill me.”
“Then you need smarter customers.” Ash swung his legs and looked around. “Hey you”—he waved at a white-haired codger one table over. “If this place moved, would you be able to find it?”
The man looked at Ash and then at Miriam. “Depends on where. If it’s going to Antarctica, I’m not doing that.”
“Miriam’s being given a proposal to be able to have a beer garden and more tables and maybe a second quiet room for talking without sports, but it means she has to move into a new building,” Collin said.
“Well, where’s it at?” the codger asked, draining his beer.
“It would be here,” Miriam said, “but they want to build that train station. So, they’re asking me to move into the station.”
“Like the train station is in your bar? That’s convenient; just roll me home.” The codger laughed. “Might get noisy, though. Won’t hear my game.”
“The train station would be on the first floor, on the ground, and then there’d be stores around it and above it with a beer garden on top so you could have a view and a firepit,” Collin elaborated.
“Oh, that sounds nice. And this train takes me home after?”
“Where do you live?”
The man rattled off an intersection.
Collin punched it into his phone. “You could probably catch a local train there, eventually. But there’ll definitely be a bus going that way every half hour.”
“Buses run late.”
“Private bus,” Collin said. “Not a city bus.”
“You’re doing private buses?” Miriam asked.
Collin nodded. “We have a company that wants the contract. People have to get to the train, and we can’t rely on just city service, at least not at first. We’ll have to charge for the rides, but with more consistent ridership and as the numbers rise, we can lower the fares.”
“Well, as long as it’s clean and smells good, I’m happy for someone to trundle me home.” The old man stood up and dropped some cash on the counter. “Do what’s good for you, Miriam. You’ve earned it. Just don’t get rid of my favorite chair, if you don’t mind. Took me a long time to get my butt print just right.”
By the time Collin dropped off Ash and got back to The Residency with Alice, it was after ten. It really would have been nice to have had a commuter train to avoid the traffic. Collin made his way slowly to the elevator, one arm around a half-asleep Alice.
Alice and Ash had fallen asleep on each other in the back seat after making plans to visit an escape room the next day while Collin was at Chinese lessons since the only slot available online was the earliest one of the day. Collin had used the trip to write up a proposal for an international field trip for Miriam and some of the other holdouts. At least she was receptive to talking with him again. After Alice and Ash had bounced off again to do more exploring, Miriam had opened up some, and a few locals had joined in the conversation. Collin felt he had a better idea of what the local culture was like. He just needed them to have enough imagination that they could collaborate on a better version of what they loved and propose solutions for what they hated. They were wary enough about change that keeping the problems they had felt easier than trying to improve.
Alice shook herself awake in the elevator. “So, what are the rules? I’ve never been to a place like this.”
“Take your shoes off at the door, and don’t let the cat out.” Collin gave Holden a nod as he held the elevator door for them. The security on the floor was enough. Holden could go off duty now that Collin was home.
Alice smothered a yawn with her hand. “But what should I call Mr. Moreau?”
“I think Mr. Moreau is fine.” Collin stifled his own yawn. “The cat’s name is Artemis, and she might have the cone on, but you can take it off if you’re petting her.”
Mr. Moreau opened the door. “Collin. Alice, welcome in.”
Just as promised, there was food ready, and they ate as soon as they’d gotten through the door and dumped their things in the living room. Afterward, Collin showed Alice to the guest bedroom. It felt like ages had passed since he’d thought of this room as his. He glanced around it for a moment.
“What?” Alice looked around the room. “Something wrong?”
