Enter the Stranger

[strangerverse]

* * * * * * *

The Fairmont's first floor “deluxe rooms,” as the hotel called them, were generously proportioned, but four people to two double beds was still a bit of a squeeze. Right now four guests costumed as Edwardian housemaids were murmuring apologies and shuffling out of each other's way while still trying to stake out space for their luggage, clothes, books, and laptops.

Eventually the youngest one, having checked her cellphone three times and her laptop once, spoke up. “Have any of you seen the Colonel? I mean, is he even here yet?”

The other three exchanged glances. Finally one—the tallest, and possibly therefore the one feeling most confined—answered. “Nellie, he's not going to be hanging around here, is he? No offence, but it really isn't fair. We don't have room to entertain guests.” In spite of her careful choice of words, her tone was brisk and impatient.

Nellie blushed. “No, of course not.” She looked down at her hands, fiddling with her ring as she spoke. “It's just I haven't seen him yet, because of this stupid rule about us not mingling with the upper-class players, and I need to talk to him.”

She looked up. The others were just standing, watching her. “He's such a stickler for the rules,” she said earnestly. “He told me last week that he'd never spoil the weekend's class structure by sneaking around to see me. But I thought maybe if I knew where he was I could bump into him, just for a minute. It's really, really important.” Her voice trailed off, and when nobody spoke she jumped off the bed and rushed to the bathroom.

“Please tell me,” one of the other girls whispered, “she's not in there crying over that jackass.”

“Did you see she's wearing that ring on her left hand now? As if it were a wedding ring?” The second speaker couldn't keep the glee in her voice from overshadowing the concerned face she'd started out with.

“Never mind that.” The taller girl eyed the bathroom door thoughtfully. “Did you hear what she said? I don't think she even realizes where the class structure idea came from.” The others, judging by their blank looks, didn't know either.

* * * * * * *
next