romantic interest for him, butshe was fun to look at as she ungummed her eyes and worked the sleep outof her voice.
"Yes?" she said through the locked screen door. Her voice brooked nononsense, which Alan also liked. He'd hire her in a second, if he werestill running a shop. He liked to hire sharp kids like her, get to knowthem, try to winkle out their motives and emotions through observation.
"Good morning!" Alan said. "I'm Alan, and I just moved in nextdoor. I've brought coffee!" He hefted his sack in her direction.
"Good morning, Alan," she said. "Thanks and all, but --"
"Oh, no need to thank me! Just being neighborly. I brought five -- onefor each of you and one for me."
"Well, that's awfully nice of you --"
"Nothing at all. Nice morning, huh? I saw a robin just there, on thattree in the park, not an hour ago. Fantastic."
"Great." She unlatched the screen door and opened it, reaching for thesack.
Alan stepped into the foyer and handed it to her. "There's cream andsugar in there," he said. "Lots -- don't know how you folks take it, soI just figured better sure than miserable, better to err on the side ofcaution. Wow, look at this, your place has a completely different layoutfrom mine. I think they were built at the same time, I mean, they look alot alike. I don't really know much about architecture, but they reallydo seem the same, don't they, from the outside? But look at this! In myplace, I've got a long corridor before you get to the living room, butyour place is all open. I wonder if it was built that way, or if someonedid that later. Do you know?"
"No," she said, hefting the sack.
"Well, I'll just have a seat while you get your roommates up, all right?Then we can all have a nice cup of coffee and a chat and get to knoweach other."
She dithered for a moment, then stepped back toward the kitchen and thestairwell. Alan nodded and took a little tour of the living room. Therewas a very nice media totem, endless shelves of DVDs and videos,including a good selection of Chinese kung-fu VCDs and black and whitecomedies. There was a stack of guitar magazines on the battered coffeetable, and a cozy sofa with an afghan folded neatly on one arm. Goodkids, he could tell that just by looking at their possessions.
Not very security-conscious, though. She should have either kicked himout or dragged him around the house while she got her roomies out ofbed. He thought about slipping some VCDs into his pocket and returningthem later, just to make the point, but decided it would be getting offon the wrong foot.
She returned a moment later, wearing a fuzzy yellow robe whose belt andseams were gray with grime and wear. "They're coming down," she said.
"Terrific!" Alan said, and planted himself on the sofa. "How about thatcoffee, hey?"
She shook her head, smiled a little, and retrieved a coffee forhim. "Cream? Sugar?"
"Nope," Alan said. "The Greek makes it just the way I like it. Black andstrong and aromatic. Try some before you add anything -- it's reallyfantastic. One of the best things about the neighborhood, if you askme."
Another young woman, rail-thin with a shaved head, baggy jeans, and atight t-shirt that he could count her ribs through, shuffled into theliving room. Alan got to his feet and extended his hand. "Hi there! I'mAdam, your new neighbor! I brought coffees!"
She shook his hand, her long fingernails sharp on his palm. "Natalie,"she said.
The other young woman passed a coffee to her. "He brought coffees," shesaid. "Try it before you add anything to it." She turned to Alan. "Ithought you said your name was Alan?"
"Alan, Adam, Andy. Doesn't matter, I answer to any of them. My mom had ahard time keeping our names straight."
"Funny," Natalie said, sipping at her coffee. "Two sugars, threecreams," she said, holding her hand out. The other woman silently passedthem to her.
"I haven't gotten your name yet," Alan said.
"Right," the other one said. "You sure haven't."
A young man, all of seventeen, with straggly sideburns and a shock ofpink hair sticking straight up in the air, shuffled into the room,wearing cutoffs and an unbuttoned guayabera.
"Adam," Natalie said, "this is Link, my kid brother. Link, this isArthur -- he brought coffees."
"Hey, thanks, Arthur," Link said. He accepted his coffee and stood byhis sister, sipping reverently.
"So that leaves one more," Alan said. "And then we can get started."
Link snorted. "Not likely. Krishna doesn't get out of bed before noon."
"Krishna?" Alan said.
"My boyfriend," the nameless woman said. "He was up late."
"More coffee for the rest of us, I suppose," Alan said. "Let's all sitand get to know one another, then, shall we?"
They sat. Alan slurped down the rest of his coffee, then gestured at thesack. The nameless woman passed it to him and he got the last one, andset to drinking.
"I'm Andreas, your new next-door neighbor. I've just finishedrenovating, and I moved in last night. I'm really looking forward tospending time in the neighborhood -- I work from home, so I'll be arounda bunch. Feel free to drop by if you need to borrow a cup of sugar oranything."
"That's so nice of you," Natalie said. "I'm sure we'll get along fine!"
"Thanks, Natalie. Are you a student?"
"Yup," she said. She fished in the voluminous pockets of her jeans,tugging them lower on her knobby hips, and came up with a pack ofcigarettes. She offered one to her brother -- who took it -- and one toAlan, who declined, then lit up. "Studying fashion design at OCAD. I'min my last year, so it's all practicum from now on."
"Fashion! How interesting," Alan said. "I used to run a little vintageclothes shop in the Beaches, called Tropicál."
"Oh, I *loved* that shop," she said. "You had the *best* stuff! I usedto sneak out there on the streetcar after school." Yup. He didn'tremember *her*, exactly, but her *type*, sure. Solo girls with hardcoversketch books and vintage clothes home-tailored to a nice fit.
"Well, I'd be happy to introduce you to some of the people I know --there's a vintage shop that a friend of mine runs in Parkdale. He'salways looking for designers to help with rehab and repros."
"That would be so cool!"
"Now, Link, what do you study?"
Link pulled at his smoke, ashed in the fireplace grate. "Not much. Ididn't get into Ryerson for electrical engineering, so I'm spending ayear as a bike courier, taking night classes, and reapplying for nextyear."
"Well, that'll keep you out of trouble at least," Alan said. He turnedto the nameless woman.
"So, what do you do, *Apu*?" she said to him, before he could sayanything.
"Oh, I'm retired, Mimi," he said.
"Mimi?" she said.
"Why not? It's as good a name as any."
"Her name is --" Link started to say, but she cut him off.
"Mimi is as good a name as any. I'm unemployed. Krishna's a bartender."
"Are you looking for work?"
She smirked. "Sure. Whatcha got?"
"What can you do?"
"I've got three-quarters of a degree in environmental studies, one yearof kinesiology, and a half-written one-act play. Oh, and student debtuntil the year 3000."
"A play!" he said, slapping his thighs. "You should finish it. I'm awriter, too, you know."
"I thought you had a clothing shop."
"I did. And a bookshop, and a collectibles shop, and an antiqueshop. Not all at the same time, you understand. But now I'mwriting. Going to write a story, then I imagine I'll open anothershop. But I'm more interested in *you*, Mimi, and your play. Whyhalf-finished?"
She shrugged and combed her hair back with her fingers. Her hair wasbrown and thick and curly, down to her shoulders. Alan adored curlyhair. He'd had a clerk at the comics shop with curly hair just likehers, an earnest and bright young thing who drew her own comics in theback room on her breaks, using the receiving table as a drawingboard. She'd never made much of a go of it as an artist, but she did endup publishing a popular annual anthology of underground comics that hadcaptured the interest of the *New
Yorker* the year before. "I just ranout of inspiration," Mimi said, tugging at her hair.
"Well, there you are. Time to get inspired again. Stop by any time andwe'll talk about it, all right?"
"If I get back to it, you'll be the first to know."
"Tremendous!" he said. "I just know it'll be fantastic. Now, who playsthe