Out of Sorts and Incognito

Telegraph Hill - When the Fog Calls Your Name

The speakeasy hours ran as long as you were coherent. If you're willing to drink, James was willing to pour. Several of the rich would send a lackey into speakeasy loaded with cash. Their mission was to drink as slow as James would let them and then call their boss if Jessica appeared in view. Seemed like a waste of money and soon James would kick these lackeys out.

Friday night rolled around and James jumped off Telegraph Hill's trolley and waltzed into The Shadows noting the deep musk smell in the air.

"The fog will be calling my name tonight I see." he said to himself as he raced up the steps. It was lucky for the fog to call your name. Some locals swore by it. "If you hear your name in the fog, good fortune for you!!" a fisherman once told him.

Bursting into the lobby he pushed into a trio of ladies. Fancy girls, ones that would never give him direct eye contact. Little did they know, he'd think to himself. He didn't need a girl, he had a mermaid in view, and tonight he'd conjure green fairy to keep him warm as well. Since smuggling absinthe into the speakeasy, he neglected to tell anyone that just after 3am he too dabbled in a glass or two as his last patrons would fade away leaving him alone to stare into the waters behind the glass, looking for a glimpse of Jessica or the green fairy to appear.

"Excuse me" James said sliding between the trio headed into the interior of the restaurant.

"Sorry will suffice..." one of the women said as he peered to look back only to see a wood wall barrier.

Hours into the night the speakeasy was printing cash and pouring the green fairy left and right. Absinthe carried the name "green fairy" which dated back nearly a hundred years when it was crafted as a health promoting elixir like most alcohol formulas. With some use, drinkers would regale tales of seeing hallucinations, visions and soon the famed green fairy was born.

"What is this?" a man said watching the slow trickle drip of cold water splash over an sugar cube into a ornate glass with a green glow slowly turning into a fog like substance he'd seen every night for 20 some years.

"This is the fog!!" another man said holding his absinthe glass high above him. The louche is the final desired effect of the ritual- the slow drip of cold water against the sugar cube dissolving it into the absinthe below forms a louche or clouded effect. It was at this moment the elixir could be drunk, and the fairy soon to follow if you had one too many.

James smiled. The louche effect did look like the fog, the green fairy's fog of wonder he thought to himself.

The evening carried on as the spirits were consumed, fairy's appeared for few he was sure, but no sign of Jessica, no lure or tempting tease for the many to view.

3am arrived as he prepared his own ritual with the absinthe fountain. By now most of The Shadows employees had gone home, his routine well known to him, he'd clean up and go- but tonight he stayed, embracing a new routine, a ritual, he'd welcome to the fairy and attempt to conjure Jessica in view.

In quick succession he spun forward time and on his third absinthe he felt thick and sleepy. The effects of this spirit were strong. The louche forming in his absinthe began to talk to him. He was hearing her name, Jessica a voice said to him as he stared into the louche like fog. With full hallucinations on stand by, James began seeing and hearing things. A louche like fog rolled into the bar area around the copper and brass fittings of the round bar, across the counters and pooled over the area where he stood staring at the fountain. Behind him a pulsating glow stared faintly but soon came on in rage filling the bar with a blue glow.

A splash was heard in his head as he lifted his glass and turned around looking up and into the pool view watching a pair of legs glide by. His fairy was here. She was graceful and beautiful. Her flowing red hair caught his eye as her skin was caught in the splinters of light from above. Air bubbles latched on to her skin as if to stay as close as possible.