Mercury Hat

To hear the locals brag about it, Odette had dragged itself out of the silt of the Mississippi to become a bustling metropolis. Once a railroad terminus, the wartime boom of the 40s had brought with it industry and culture, swelling its boundaries from town to city, cementing it as a permanent lodestone of the … Read more

To Ansel’s great surprise, consciousness returned to him with the force of a drowning man breaking the surface of the water. Gasping and clutching at his chest, his eyes snapped open to the raw wooden beams of the ceiling and he lay there panting with exertion. He was sore, disoriented, and wrung out like he’d … Read more

Head pounding, Ansel came to on a concrete slab, his cheek frigid and sore where it had pressed into the ground. He propped himself up on his elbows and groaned as a wave of nausea washed up from his stomach to the back of his throat. With a shiver he curled into himself, clutching at … Read more

It was a moonless night, the inky blackness of the sky pierced only by the winking of the scant few stars which were visible in breaks of the thick cloud cover. A cherry red glow faded in and out of existence at the base of a tree, a beacon to anyone making their way through … Read more

Rain pattered against the windowpane, the gaslamps below reflected in the streaks of water running down the glass. Ansel had the window open the barest amount, just enough to let smoke waft out from his cigarette and to keep the paltry amount of heat in. The radiators serving the cluster of rooms above Marvelous’s establishment … Read more

Smoke hung thick in the air of Marvelous, a gossamer film softening the already dim lighting and obscuring the patrons from more than arm’s length. The evening crowd was its usual motley blend of drifters, longshoremen, and roughnecks looking to relax and disappear for a few hours at a time. Marvelous wasn’t the only establishment … Read more