Heretics book 3 - The Apocryphile Press

122 :: JOHN R. MABRY
needn’t have worked at it, however. Every eye in the place
was glued to the television set.
How odd, Mikael thought, and looked around. The place
was a little dingy, half coffee shop, half used bookstore, with
tattered living room furniture set at odd angles everywhere.
Usually the place was sprinkled with twenty- and thirtysomethings,
huddled over laptops or faces buried in textbooks.
Occasionally a lively conversation would emerge
from one corner.
But not today. Today, you could have heard a pin drop
were it not for the news commentator’s voice crackling tinnily
from the tiny television speaker. Mikael set his bag down
on the counter and leaned in to listen.
“...seems able to explain the sudden disappearance of avocados
world-wide. Food and Drug representatives have not
yet issued any statements, and agriculture stocks are plummeting
in a shocking upset that utterly blindsided the market.
Let’s go now to Alison Dana live outside the Tres
Marillos Taqueria. Alison?”
“Thanks, Pete. I’m here with the proprietor of Tres
Marillos, Dolores Wang. Mrs. Wang, how will the sudden
disappearance of avocados affect your business?”
The obviously hysterical Mrs. Wang could not calm herself
enough to respond in English, and assaulted the reporter
with a flurry of Mandarin.
Mikael furrowed his brow. He remembered Richard and
Dylan saying something about Kat’s brother using avocados
in a magical working and a cold chill descended his spine.
This had the ultimate effect of aggravating the urgency of the
bulk in his bowels and he remembered why he was there and
headed to the bathroom, completely unnoticed by anyone
else in the place.
Bowels once voided, he reminded himself that the burning
gall at the doorway would not long be an effective deterrent