A coupla white dudes sittin around talkin'.
Who: Henry and Hal
Where: The offices of the City Echo
When: Mid-dayish, sometime after lunch
Henry was his usual nervous self as he wandered the halls of the City Echo. He'd been doing freelance work for the paper for some time now, and a last minute cancellation (family portrait, no fun in that) had finally given him the free time he'd needed to head up to the paper and pick up his check. Which was good- while he wasn't exactly hurting for funds, it never hurt to have a little extra cash for his "extracurricular" activities.
He checked his watch. He still had a while before the wedding he was supposed to shoot. He smiled at the thought. There was always something entertaining to look at when he did a wedding. But before he did that, he decided he should check in with an old friend. Hal was always good to talk to, always had a story to tell- a much-needed distraction from the images that always seemed to haunt Henry's mind.
Once he got there, though, he couldn't quite bring himself to knock right away. He was always worried he might be bothering someone when he dropped in unannounced like this. So he paced. And sat in one of the chairs outside the office. And got some coffee, which he didn't really need. And paced some more. "This is silly," he muttered to himself. He steeled himself and walked up to the door. He almost put his hand on the doorknob, but decided that even that was too forward, settling instead for a few quick raps on the door. "Hal?" he asked. "It's me, Henry. Um, Henry Morrison. You, uh, got a sec?"
.
Hal had been playing around with headlines, shifting cut out words around like he was playing with some kind of a poison pen letter - when what he'd been trying to do was create something eyecatching for the piece about the new orphanage one of the pups had written. they'd written, and then he'd shortened it down and turned it around so that it flowed better. Whilst he'd never been able to get the knack of writing his own pieces, he'd always been good at making other people's work sound better. He was a polisher, when what he really wanted to be was a creator.
he looked up as there was a knocked at the door and smiled as he saw Henry, waving the guy in with one hand as he carefully placed a sheet of board over his work with the other, more to keep it in place and tidy than anything else. "Hey, Henry - how's it going? You know you don't need to knock - how many times have I told you that in the past? Just come right on in," he told the other guy.
.
Henry came in, looking nervous as always. "I know, Hal, I just, you know, never wanna bother anyone, or anything," he said, shrugging his shoulders. He looked around Hal's office. Some of the pictures were different, some of the headlines on the wall had changed, but otherwise, the office never changed. Just like he and Hal. They may get older, a little grayer, but they never changed either. "I was, uh, just pickin' up a check for some freelance work I did at the big Christmas party, and, uh, thought I'd drop by and see how you were doin', ya know?" He looked at the pictures on the walls while he searched for something else to say. He'd never been good with the whole social thing and small talking-ness. "So, uh, how's things? Valerie and the kids?"
.
"Valerie's fine - she and Steven are kinda lonely with the kids mostly left home and all now, but they have to grow up sooner or later, right?" Hal said, perching on the side of his desk. He talked about his ex-wife easily, as though he were actually involved in her family, which he wasn't. They talked from time to time, but that was all. She'd remarried getting on for thirty years ago now, but Hal still spoke of her fondly. "And me, I'm doing okay - I liked the work you did at the party, there were some great shots in there," he added, approvingly.
..
"Uh, thanks," Henry said, looking back at Hal. He'd always kind of envied Hal. Even though Hal was a single guy like him, he still at least had a family around, with kids and everything. What did Henry have but a lingering obsession and a wall of pictures of women who were unattainable? "I just kinda kept to the shadows really. I'm, I'm not much of a social person really." He shrugged his shoulders. "Besides, ya get the best shots when people don't realize they're being photographed. Kind of a natural state, sort of thing." He was always a bit self-depreciating when it came to his own talent. Or anything about himself, really. "So what's been going on up here these days? Anything big coming up?" he asked, changing the topic and diverting it away from himself. The less he talked about himself, the happier he was, and the less likely he was to say something he shouldn't.
.
"Hal smiled slightly. "Yeah, know what you mean about being social - never got the hang of it myself. All those guys that can just walk into a room and start talking to people like they're old friends? That's a gift, really is - and one that I just don't have. Wish I had though, something like that, could really take a guy places," he said with a wry smile. "And here? The only thing big that's coming up is that talk of there being a killer out there. Like the city needs another one - but, sells papers and the boss likes it, y'know. Not much picture-wise though," he added, sad for that because he liked being able to throw work Henry's way.
..
A killer? Interesting. "Yeah," he said with a slight snaggle-toothed grin. "Guess that's uh, one of those things you'd have to be in the right place at the right time for, huh?" He sighed. His history with people he knew turning up dead was somewhat well known. He hoped it wasn't anyone he knew. The last thing he needed, considering how many murders he'd gotten away with, was to be fingered on someone he didn't have anything to do with. Because then they might start putting pieces together on the ones he had. "Do they, uh, have anything to go on? Where was it?" He was curious. If he could get some pictures, or possibly some evidence, that would definitely help his standing in case anything, or anyone else turned up.
.
"And the right place in that situation would probably be the wrong place," Hal agreed. "But yeah - gonna be tomorrow's breaking news. Sure the city'll love that." Hal didn't enjoy giving people bad news, but it was the bad news that sold papers - people weren't all that interesting in buying a happy ending, not really. He turned back to his desk and routed around until he found the article that would be running in the morning, then he passed it over. "This is all we got - Karl, one of the reporters, managed to get it out the cops."
..
Henry took the article and read it. "Wow," was all he could say as he handed the article back to Hal. "Well, this'll definitely get people talking, at least." He gave Hal a dark grin. "Probably sell a few more papers with a story like this." Not to mention it would put people on guard more for a while. Dead bodies in town weren't exactly new. Everyone knew that people the mob got pissed at tended to vanish for a while, only to show up dead a while later. But something like this, seemingly more random than your usual mob hit, that would get people's attention. He'd have to play it cool for a little while. Cheyenne was definitely off the table for now, although she'd get hers eventually. But that little hooker he'd spotted the other night... she'd have to wait. "Think it's one of your boys, trying to get circulation up a little bit?" he said with a nervous chuckle.
Hal chuckled a little, but
Hal chuckled a little, but he wasn't completely there with it. "Damn, I really hope not - I don't think this town's sunk quite that low yet, and the boss would run anyone who even thought about something that damn sick through the printworks himself. You know how he gets. Anyway, circulation's been holding steady recently, so i don't think anyone's got anything to worry about in that direction. So - how's life been, camera aside?" he asked Henry, hoping to get the subject back on a more positive note as he took the article back and set it on the desk behind him.
..
Well, other than getting shut out and laughed at and plotting revenge, great, thanks. "Eh, not too bad," Henry said with a slightly forced grin. "There's really not a lot aside from the camera, though. That keeps me pretty busy." He sighed and looked out the window. "Goin' up this weekend to visit ma, but that's about it really." He tried to get out to talk to her when he could, but especially on the anniversary of her death. "But I'll keep an eye out for anything you can use, though." He shrugged his shoulders. "Never know when you need some stock shots, right?" He chuckled weakly.
"And yours are always the
"And yours are always the best," Hal agreed. "Actually, talking of that - I believe that one of our guys is working on a serial piece about dock trade, so if you have time to go down and shoot a few reels showing variety down there, I think you'd be able to sell them to the editor. I don't know when the piece is due, but the boss knows it's coming, so he'll be shopping for images," he added, absolutely fine with giving his friend a heads up and chance to get in there.
..
Henry waved off Hal's compliments with a bashful grin. "All right, great!" he said as he stood to leave. Henry knew the docks well. It had come in handy a few times in emergencies. "Yeah, um, I think I can do that." He gave him a toothy grin. "In fact, I think I already got a couple ideas for some shots." He stretched a little then put out his hand to shake. "Thanks again, Hal. I appreciate it."
Hal shook the proffered
Hal shook the proffered hand. "Hey, no worries - maybe you could buy me a beer sometime, if you want to show your gratitude and all," he suggested, joking yet serious as well. It was good to get out, after all. Unlike what he knew some of the younger reporters believed, he didn't live his entire life in this building.