Night for Day by Roselle Lim

Author:Roselle Lim [Lim, Roselle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2024-02-20T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

• • •

The next evening, Mr. Samson wasn’t at the counter. I walked to his office door and rapped my knuckles against the wood. No answer. He might’ve been feeling too ill or exhausted to make it out tonight.

In the little time we had spent together, I found myself growing attached. It surprised me that I even anticipated our short chats. Our age difference didn’t inspire some sort of grandfatherly relationship or anything in that vein. It wasn’t weirdly romantic either. If anything, it was a comfortable familiarity I somehow found in him—a complete stranger whom I barely knew. It was a strong gut feeling, one I rarely got, but when I did, I’d never been steered wrong.

I trusted him and cared about him. It was the opposite situation with Ward and his boss. From his notes, he had, at best, grudging respect for the woman, and, at worst, he maintained civility while trying to follow her exacting standards. Despite their less-than-ideal relationship, he was still determined to save her. I expected nothing less from him.

I waited for a response at Mr. Samson’s office door for three minutes before I returned to the shop counter.

It took me a moment to remember what I was looking for past the throbbing pain in my head. Dice.

There was a painted box of ancient dice I picked up yesterday, or was it the day before? I couldn’t recall. The concept of time slipped through my fingers, but I still had a firm grasp of every item and its location in this shop.

I picked up the box and examined the geometric pattern painted on each side. A set of three red and black lines crisscrossed along the border, interchanging when they connected. I flipped it open and examined the weathered dice inside. Each die’s “eyes” were made of two concentric circles with a dot at the center.

Age and use had shaved and chipped the edges of most of them save for one. I held the lone die with decent edges in my palm. This must be it. What was Theo’s riddle again? Thirteen hearts and no organs. There were two anatomical hearts in the shop, and they weren’t the answer. It must be like the die. Figurative hearts, instead of literal.

A middle-aged ghost shuffled through the door. He wore a lime-green velour leisure suit reminiscent of the eighties, with a gold chain against the bare V of skin exposed by the unbuttoned floral-printed shirt. He swung his hips to an inaudible beat accompanied by fingertips snapping.

“Oh, hello, sexy lady. I’m here for a trade.”

I shot him a trademark glare I often used on overreaching men.

He held up his palms and straightened his spine. “Sorry, it was a compliment. I swear.”

“I take it you want a ticket to the afterlife.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He took off his gold wire-framed aviator sunglasses and perched them atop his gelled, thinning dark hair. “I’m tired of hanging around here. Seen everything there is to see. Time to move on.”

I asked, “What are you offering?”

He shrugged.

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