The Mysterious World of Eddy Shade

Chapter 18: A Night on the Town

     Earlier in the day Edith had come by the station and picked up Eddy for lunch. Her arrival, and Eddy leaving with her, had turned quite a few heads do to that no one at the station had any clue who she was. They just new that she was not Rose. Eddy was not looking forward to the gossip that would most certainly ensue in the days to come, but was looking forward to spending the afternoon with his new friend. He felt that getting to know Edith might be one of the only good things to have come out of the past week and a half. 

     She had taken him shopping at a store near by that was located in the 16th street mall. The 16th street mall was sort of a super sized version of a strip mall. It lined both sides of 16th street for close to a mile and a half with a twenty two story clock tower sitting in its center that housed a two story tall bell in its belfry. The shops consisted of mostly one and two story buildings of varying architectural designs, with every thing from standard nondescript concrete boxes, to modern, Romanesque and Gothic, made with materials ranging from every color shade of brick know to man, and even a few made of natural stone or glass. They were all joined together as they ran its length broken every block or so by a crossing streets. 

     The mall contained a wide variety of shops ranging from clothing stores to novelty shops and general stores. And contained restaurants ranging from fast food all the way up to fine cuisine. It even had its share of theme restaurants. On its far end, near Union Station, was a three story tall books store that was frequently visited several times a year by authors signing books. The length of the mall was lit brightly at night by rows of street lights that looked like large glass jellyfish sitting atop silver tripods. You could find just about any thing you were looking for at the mall with out ever needing to get in a car, which was good sense the entire length of the street it ran down was completely closed to motorized traffic. The only vehicles allowed to drive the brick road were bicycles and pedicabs and the electric buses that were used as shuttles to transport passengers up and down its length. 

     Running the length of the street was an extra wide median made of the same one foot square red and grey stone bricks that the street was made up of. Where there were not trees, shrubs and flowers growing in sculpted planters were often kiosks or a fountain that sprayed water directly out of the ground and drained back through grates in their centers to be launched into the air once again. Eddy and Edith were seated at an outdoor table eating lunch at one of the many cafes along its length and Eddy was currently watching a kid play in one of these very fountains as the child's mother was trying to convince him to come out before he got completely soaked, a mute point sense he clearly already was. 

      After several minutes the mother finally got the kid out of the fountain and dragged him down the street. Eddy laughed a little, then looked over at Edith. "So tell me about this friend of yours that we are seeing tonight." 

     "Well, her name is Crystal Woods, and we have known each other sense we were kids. She always wanted to be a singer, even when we were little. I mean singing came natural to her of course, do to her heritage, but she really had a passion for it. Every chance she got she would sing. Was even in the school choir. Then towards the end of our senior year she got an audition for Julliard, and off she went. Sadly over the years we have not seen each other as much as we would have both liked, but we still kept in touch. When she found out the show she was in was going to make a stop here in Denver she sent me tickets." 

     "That's cool" Eddy said "it's great when people get to do what they love and that you have managed to stay friends over the years despite the distance. One question though. What did you mean by it was part of her heritage? Does she have family that are singers too or something?" 

     Edith sat quiet for a moment as if having to think about it as well. "I suppose you could say that. Every one in her family has a talent for singing. What I meant really was that it is more of a natural part of what she is. Crystal is a siren. Singing is what they do. Few take true advantage of their talent these days however."