The Things We Bury - Part 1: In Anticipation of the End of the World [Completed]

Chapter 9: No Requiem (Part 5 of 7)

Life churned like a river down the walkways of the outdoor mall.  The restaurant patios were packed with diners huddled around propane heaters.  The cooler weather hadn't deterred anyone from coming out this night.

Horus Benning had just eaten alone at an Italian restaurant.  The steak Florentine and the different pastas with their rich meaty ragus tempted him but he had been good.  He only ordered the grilled chicken Caesar and a San Pellegrino with a slice of lime. 

His doctor would be pleased with him.  The waiter, however, was not impressed.  He made no effort to hide his resentment of Horus taking up a table on this very busy night and ordering so little.

The unvarnished rudeness only spurred Horus to remain there longer than he normally would have.  He sat people watching.  Each table provided a microcosm of everyday life.  They were like museum dioramas of what regular people did on a Saturday night.  There was the family with the two young children, who clearly had just been to see a movie.  There was the thirtysomething couple out on date night, their kids likely at home with a sitter.  Six teenagers sat at a round table talking loudly and eating like animals.  But two of them.  A shy boy with steel rim glasses and a girl with orange-red hair in a ponytail secretly stole glances at each other.  Their friends missed it, but Horus saw.

With all the people enjoying a night out in the company of others, it was easy for him to feel like the only person without company in the entire city.

The thought didn't bother him.  Loneliness wasn't a problem for Horus.  He had been on his own far too long to feel the weight of his solitary existence.  There were some who said he was still young enough to find new romance, but it didn't interest him.  He had learned that his own company was the most agreeable and solitude was the only place where he was fully at ease.  Perhaps he had grown fussy in his old age.  Gotten too set in his ways.  And as Horus's ex-wife would say to all the women he wasn't dating: no big loss there.

He finally left, leaving behind a tip that wasn't generous but was polite, and instead of going straight home, Horus strolled around the lanes of the mall.  There was nowhere that he needed to be and his heavy wool cardigan held back the crisp fall air.  He could stay out for hours.  Not particularly interested in any of the stores, he contented himself with passing through all the people out having fun—absorbing their energy to elevate his low spirits.

Lugubrious, Horus thought.  That is my mood tonight.

A young couple passed him. The woman wore cat ears on a band in her hair and the tip of her nose was painted black with whiskers spreading out over her cheeks.  If her beau had any sort of costume, he hid it under his black leather trench coat and sunglasses.

She wasn't the first person in costume he'd seen.  There must be a party at one of the bars in the plaza.

Turning a corner, a bright shop window caught his attention.  It sparkled with a wall of shimmering silver.  Rows of display shelves were lined with mercury glass ornaments.  Dozens of pumpkins filled the lower ranks and the whole top shelf was made up of perching owls.

A flock of owls. No, that's not right.  It's a parliament, I think.

Decades of crossword puzzles had given him some odd but interesting bits of knowledge.  If he were walking with someone, he could point at the window and say, look at that parliament of owls.  Of course, that wasn't much of a conversation starter.  More likely, the statement would stop any talk in its tracks.

Horus was so absorbed with his thoughts, he didn't immediately notice a man peeling himself away from a group and making a diagonal beeline across the lane to one of the alleys leading to the parking lot.  He walked with his head down and his long, scruffy hair bouncing loose across the back of his T-shirt.