Morning A;; I hope your week is going swimmingly. Another day of rain like yesterday and I think we will all be swimming here. It is always interesting here in early June. The air is saturated and the rains come but then June 30th it feels like some one turns the tap off. We get humidity but no rain. The ground dries up while we soak with humid sweat. Fun. Regardless of weather, and my annual desire to look into Ark Building, today we have another writing prompt. Are you ready to see what comes out of this one? Fabulous, timers set and off we go.
Oh I like this one.
Wednesday, June 10th: The color drained from his face.
The color drained from his face. He could not have seen what he just thought he saw. He blinked. It had to be a mistake. Albert was dead. He couldn’t have just walked past on the sidewalk.
‘It has to be someone who looks like him,” Mike thought. ‘Isn’t everyone supposed to have a doppelganger?’
Still the thought sat uneasily in his mind. Albert may have a doppelganger, for all he knew each person on the planet did. It would still be a massive coincidence for Albert’s identical other to be here.
‘Especially today,’ Mike thought. He could probably convince himself of the other theory if it weren’t for the fact that everyone involved in Albert’s death was also gathered in town this weekend.
‘It is a festival weekend,’ he tried telling himself. ‘He could be here for the festival.’
There were lots of people intown for the festival. It was an annual thing. It drew people from throughout the region and beyond. There were even magazines covering it. Mostly regional magazines, but still soon the town and its festival would be in big glossy spreads with a large circulation.
It was conceivable that with such a large draw the person who looked like Albert was here simply because of the festival.
‘And he didn’t really look exactly like Albert,’ he told himself. ‘Just sort of like Albert.’ He was certain of it.
‘Maybe I am just thinking of Albert,’ he consoled himself. “And since we are using the excuse of the festival to gather it is only natural that I think of nefarious reasons for someone who looks sort of like Albert to be here.’
Mike settled down, no longer convinced that the man he saw looked all that much like Albert. ‘It was just a passing resemblance.’
Still he couldn’t shake the unease that settled into his bones. He paid his check and left the café. He didn’t want to be here when all was said and done. His involvement was minimal and after the fact. He hadn’t been involved in the actual death.
Mike walked down the sidewalk deciding he might as well look at the festival sights. Every business in town was participating and had some festive decorations in the window. Some were more elaborate than others. A few looked like they were participating under protest. But everyone had something. Then there was the open field at the end of main street.
Once a large department store, a long ago fire took it down. The rubble was cleared away and the owner debated rebuilding. Eventually he died and the family sold the lot to the town. It was cleared and instead of rebuilding on the sight they turned the block where the department store existed into a small gathering place in town.
There was a small band stand and the side of one of the neighboring buildings was painted white. During most of the year there were concerts and movie nights hosted there. For this weekend it was festival central.
Ten til Midnight 