The Late Bird's Tale: A Tale of the Floating World

Part 1 || 6 | Judy | The Four Jacks, Manners and Vows

As soon as her butt touched down on the polished floorboards, she got to her feet, still clutching her omnibus of Sherlock Holmes, and looked back up at the three Jacks now descending the stairs in a line.

"Are you all right, lass?" the Jack of Hearts said.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" the Jack of Spades added.

"Are you raving mad?" the Jack of Clubs added, and his two companions looked back at him and shook their heads, then turned back at the mixed-up damsel that was Judy.

To their questions, Judy said nothing but stared back at them and backed away into the living room on tenuous steps. She placed her omnibus on top of the console table next to the wall and said, "Um, who are you?"

"Oh, pardon us, lass," one said. "I'm the Jack of Hearts."

"And I'm the Jack of Spades," another added.

"And I'm the Jack of Clubs," the third added.

And all three Jacks took off their beret and bowed to Judy with the practiced sweep of their movements, then placed their berets back on their heads full of long hair and smiled. Had any other girl witnessed their courtly smiles and mannerisms, they might have stayed and invited them to tea.

Not so with Judy, who remained ever-vigilant for any sudden movements as she backed away through the living room towards the foyer entrance and said, "Why are you three here?"

At this, the three Jacks traded glances with each other and shrugged their shoulders at her, and the Jack of Spades said, "Your guess is as good as ours."

"We don't know how we got here," the Jack of Clubs added.

"Or why, for that matter," the Jack of Hearts added.

"Oh, okay," Judy said, smiling at her three intruders as she opened the entrance door behind her. "Then maybe the cops will know. See you later. NOT!"

And she bolted through the door into the bright morning air and down the entryway and out of the cul-de-sac of Chesterbrook Court, running barefoot in her pajamas towards the direction of her friend's house on the other side of the block. She then fished through the pockets of her pajama pants for her smartphone, then cursed herself for not taking it with her in her mad dash out of her room. Yet going back to her house with those three creeps inside was no option, so she just ran and ran and ran down sidewalks and past cul-de-sac entrances, till she reached Riddell Court and ran towards the end of the cul-de-sac where Grace Ransom's house stood. Judy was wheezing and sweating as she stalked up the entryway to her friend's door, where she rang the doorbell, praying for Grace to open up, imagining her friend answering the door with a radiant smile and dark hair blowing from a nonexistent breeze.

Yet when the door opened, imagine Judy's reaction when yet another Jack, the Jack of Diamonds, opened the door and greeted her and said, "Ah, you must be Judy Wind—"

"Who the hell are you?" Judy said, stalking up to the strange man in the same Renaissance cosplay as her three house-invading intruders, fisting her hands as though she was about to wallop him a good one if this strange man had done anything to her dear friend. "What did you do to Grace? Where is she? Grace!" she yelled. "Grace, where are you?"

"Now, now, ma'am," the Jack of Diamonds said, raising his hands and backing up from the threshold, "I was just—"

"Don't get any weird ideas, buster," she said, "or so help me God, you're gonna pay for what you did to Grace!"

"B-b-but I didn't do anything," the Jack of Diamonds said, backing away as Judy advanced on him.

"You're suspicious," she said. "What did you do?"