November 30

Charlie’s dragon battle was still going on in the window when I arrived at the shop the next morning. There were still no ducks anywhere in sight when I opened the door.

I stashed my bag behind the counter and started warming up the machines. It occurred to me that I wouldn’t really miss November once it was over. Maybe by the end of December, I’d even laugh at it. Then again, maybe I wouldn’t.

While the machines made their normal noises, I walked around and pulled down the chairs. Out of sheer paranoia, I even looked under a few of the tables to make sure nothing was out of place. Reassured that my cafe was secure, I started washing the coffee mugs.

Charlie wandered in a short time later. She looked around. I was certain she’d make some comment about the lack of ducks, but instead she said, “No deliveries today?”

“No. We didn’t order anything last week because of the holiday.”

She was momentarily sad, but perked up quickly. “Just as well. I received another order last night, and wouldn’t have time to- ahem- handle, “she winked, “a delivery man.” It was nice to see Charlie getting back to herself.

Vicky wandered in just in time to open the store. I figured when I couldn’t wake him up this morning that he wouldn’t be in until mid-afternoon, so I was a bit surprised to hear, “Hey, there are no ducks!”

“Yeah, I guess you really put the fear of God in those guys.”

He threw his backpack behind the counter and plopped down on the front counter. “That’s right. Everyone is afraid of me!” He attempted an evil laugh as I chased him off the counter and handed him a rag.

Much to our collective relief, the only oddness the afternoon saw was a pair of ten-footers, a couple of women who didn’t read any more of the shop’s name than “cafe”. The miniatures alone were enough to scare them off.

We laughed over that, and then Vicky looked at me, an unusually serious look on his face. “Do you ever wonder what this month would have been like without all the wackiness?”

A duck-free, holograph-free month might have been nice, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized, “Something else would have happened. Even with the name change, this place is still a magnet for the absurd.”

He chuckled at that. “True enough, sis.”

By late afternoon, the CyberDungeons and PunkDragons group started filtering in. It was obvious they hadn’t seen each other in a week because they were a flock of gaggling geese, everyone comparing how much turkey they ate. They settled into their game after a while, Vicky chatting with them as they got into their game.

After a while, he came back to the counter. “Hey, can I organize the trade binders?”

“Sure, why not?” I tossed several thick notebooks at him. “Did you finish the shelves?”

“I’ll work on them in a bit.” He started playing with the pages in the binders.

The strategic gaming society showed up noisily at sunset for the second night of their game. Part of the group staked out a table, the other part grabbed snacks and Forest Sap.

The CyberDungeons and PunkDragons group just glared at them before returning to their dungeon hack, not that the college kids noticed.

Tom bounced over to the counter, “Hey, Ames, can I get some coffee?”

I looked up from my trade magazine, “Su- Tom...what’s that?”

He looked at the item in his hand, “Oh, this? It’s a duck. We were thinking of making it our group mascot!”

Vicky and I both pointed to the front of the store, “Out! Now!”