Marbles: The Hawk Who Refused to Die a Virgin

Chapter 35. City Livin'

Opal awoke beneath clean sheets in a big bed in a warm hotel room. He stared at the flat white ceiling. There was a lantern on in the room, attached to the wall, but it did not contain a flame. There was an unnerving consistency to its light, which puzzled Opal. He had been expecting candlelight, something that would flicker across the ceiling, but this light was different.

He looked over at the end table. On it was an envelope with his name on it, a bottle of mineral water, and a chocolate bar. He lay back and ate the chocolate bar. Then he gulped down half of the mineral water. He stared at the ceiling for another hour. He opened the envelope.

Opal,

I hope you are doing OK. I usually check on you every few hours but tonight there's a big event in the town square at midnight. If you're awake by then, you should try to make it. If not, I'll return shortly after, and throw away this note.

You're in a hotel, which is basically a really big inn. You're in Sycamore City. This city has electricity. I'm not going to get into the technical details of it but it's the thing that keeps the lights on, and heats the water (go ahead and try a hot bath), and moves the rail cars you'll see when you go outside.

They don't allow birds in the hotel, so Marbles and Jezebel are out doing their own thing. They check in every morning with me.

Anyway I hope you are feeling better. You're healing up nicely. You were really brave against that wizard. Talk to you soon.

Your friend,

Lucy

"Oh that's really nice," said Opal, out loud, meaning it. He ran his hand over the thick linen card stock. Opal loved stationery.

"God I love stationery," Opal said. He got up out of bed, wincing from the bear claw wounds that stretched down his entire back. He looked at the bathroom's huge (even for a full size human) copper tub. He turned the handle with the "H" on it that Lucy had attached another card to that said "Turn for Hot Water".

"Oh 'H' and 'C'," said Opal. "I get it now. I would have figured that out eventually."

He took a few laps in the bath. Heavens to Betsy. If someone told him he'd have to be mauled by a bear to get another chance at a bath like that, he would have mulled it over. He got up, toweled off, and got dressed. He looked around for his hat. On a chair, in the corner, stood a birch bark cone with a note on it that said, "The best we could do. Sorry :(".

"Jesus Christ," said Opal.

Downstairs in the lobby Opal asked the attendant what time it was. The attendant was human. Unless otherwise specified, the ancillary characters in Sycamore City are human. Yes, it is an increasingly diverse metropolitan area but the vast majority of its populace? Human. This isn't some cave, this is a huge city. I can't be expected to describe everyone.