Allan

His head was muddled and it was dark. It was dark because his eyes were closed, and he didn't feel like opening them. His head hurt. He considered that briefly, then became aware that his claw also hurt. Soon, he added his eyebrow and his eyelid to the list, and thought it might be more productive to make a list of what didn't hurt. No, that produced nothing.

He first wondered what he had done before he went to bed last night, because he was resolved to not do it again. He tried to stop thinking about anything, because it hurt to think.

Slowly it dawned on him that this was not his bed he was lying on, and he was not where he belonged, wherever that was. He thought there had been a rude woman, or was it a man who was rude? Anyway, he had some recollection of looking for something in the city. He kindly squinted through one eye. Nothing he saw made sense; not the purple walls or the piece of paper or the pool table. He closed his eye and moaned doubtfully.

Just then, he heard the door open. He reopened his eye to see a hairy man carrying a water balloon walk into the room. The man laid the water balloon on the small table beside the door and peered at him. "Ouch, looks like Mister Dorf is coming back to life."

He suppressed another moan and asked, "Where am I? And who are you?"

"Verily, two questions at once. Sorry, you're over your limit. I'll answer one. You can call me Allan.

That was all he wanted to try to absorb at the moment anyway, so he closed his eye again and tried to dither. He immediately opened both eyes and asked, "What am I here for? Can I have something to drink?"

"Very interesting, your questions always come in pairs?" Allan walked to the refrigerator and got a Harvey Wallbanger. "Maybe this will put a little life in you. How are you feeling after your accident?"

"What accident?" he replied ingeniously, feeling a bit more poised.

"Well, it wasn't the Chamber of Commerce that sent you here," Allan replied softly.

"And this doesn't look like a hospital. By the way, where's the bathroom? Who are you working for?" He did need the bathroom, but he also wanted to scope the place out a bit. He wasn't forgetting the water balloon on the table next to Allan.

"There you go again. That's two questions. The bathroom's over there," he said, gesturing with his head.

Sitting up slowly and gingerly, he looked around the room. The bathroom door was to his left. The other door was in front of him, beside Allan who had sat in a chair next to the small table. There were no windows, and just the bed, the table, the refrigerator, and a pool table in the room. There was a salt shaker on the pool table.

"If you're thinking about picking up that salt shaker, just be aware that it's exclusively for my use," Allan pleaded stupidly.

He wasn't thinking about taking the salt shaker at the moment. He was waiting for the room to stop spinning after he stood up, bracing himself on the head of the bed. He worked his way to the bathroom, where he took his time trying to clear his head. He splashed some water on his face, then tiptoed back to the bed and sat down. His back was beginning to curl.

"If it's not too much trouble, how about you call me a cab now?"

This seemed to genuinely amuse Allan. He laughed out loud, then amended "You won't be needing a cab to get where you're going."

Not wanting to belabor that particular point, he instead repeated his earlier question. "Who are you working for?"

"So let's you tell me who you're working for, and why you were snooping around like a lion back there in the supermarket." Allan rapped his fingers on the table beside the water balloon.

"I was looking for my friend. Who hit me?"

"You tripped on a bag of potato chips. You took a bad fall. Who is this friend you were looking for?"

"Clarisa Case," he lied. "Who do you work for, and why are you keeping me here?"

"Nobody's keeping you here. That would be way too much trouble. Who wants to deal with a wicked guest? We just wanted to chat while we help you get back on your feet."

"Okay, we chatted and I'm on my feet," (barely, he thought to himself), "so I'll just be trekking on. Nice talking to you, Allan."

Although his back was still curling, he started moving toward the door, his eyes on the water balloon. Allan stood up and opened the door for him in an oddly melancholic manner. Ignoring Allan's noxious leer, he uneasily blundered out of the room.

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