“Lead, and I shall follow.”
I guided him up the alley and out into the open road. The park was in the opposite direction from my apartment, but I just couldn’t leave the poor guy out here to wander into more trouble. The closer we came to the park, the more the lights worked and the trash vanished. The city knew when it had to look good for the tourists.
“Have you been in the city for long?” I asked my tourist companion.
“Only a day.”
“You should stick with the busy roads from now on.”
“I rarely stay in one spot for very long.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “You do a lot of business traveling?”
“You might say that,” he mused as he studied the long road down which we walked. “I so rarely allow myself to enjoy the surroundings, but I found myself compelled to admire the view of your lovely city.”
I snorted. “I’d like to think the city has better views than that alley.”
He smiled down at me, quite a feat considering our height differences. “So I can now see.”
I blushed under his intense gaze and whipped my face forward. A familiar clearing among the city’s tall buildings caught my attention. “There’s the park over there.”
The buildings on our left dribbled away into low buildings that eventually stopped at the car lot for the park. The hour and darkness meant there weren’t any cars there, so we had an easy time strolling up to the paved path that circuited the grassy grounds. The scent of the river wafted over us, and I took in a deep breath as we stopped at the pavement.
“I guess you’ll be fine enough from here,” I commented.
The stranger turned to face me. “I would be grateful if you would continue to be my guide to the river. I have rarely had such an exquisite partner as I have in you.”
I leaned to one side to look past him. The shimmering waters of the river were only a hundred yards away. What harm could it do?
“Alright, and I’ll take you to the dock,” I offered.
He bowed his head. “I would find that most agreeable.”
We continued together down the winding paved path. Trees cast their long, weak shadows over us as we made our way toward the lapping waters of the river. A white-sand beach provided the barrier between green grass and dark water. The dock I’d mentioned jutted out from that beach and a hundred feet out into the wide river, creating a figure of an uppercase ‘t.’ Huge pylons supported the wide planks and flanked us on either side as we made our way down the boardwalk.
The view at the end was magnificent. The river stretched out of sight to our left and right, a glimmering mirror that reflected the sparkling stars. Both sides of the river were dotted with the soft lights of homes and the offices of workaholics. Not a sound could be heard except the soft lapping of the waves against the white sand.
I took in a deep breath and let it out. “Nice view, isn’t it?”
“Very much so,” he replied.
There was something in his words that made me look up, and I discovered he was staring at me. I shrank beneath such attention and brushed my finger over my nose just in case there was something there I didn’t know about. “What?”
“I was merely admiring the woman who was so kind to me,” he mused as he turned to face me. He reached into his pocket and drew out a small object. “And I wish to reward her with this.”
He held out his fisted hand and uncurled his fingers, revealing a small, golden locket. I leaned in and studied the glimmering object. The face was etched with a scene of an unfamiliar city with tall skyscrapers and some kind of bell tower in the center.
A tiny symbol was etched on the wall of the bell tower. It looked like a four-pointed star with long upper and lower portions, and shorter side arms. The star appeared to be made out of rectangles, which gave it an artificial appearance.
I drew back and shook my head. “I couldn’t. It looks really old.”
“Very, very old,” he confirmed as he stretched out his hand closer to me. “But I wish for you to have it as my thanks. Please.”
I bit my lower lip and reluctantly reached out with my cupped hands. He set the locket in my upturned palms. The metal felt warm to the touch. I drew it to me and examined the beautiful craftsmanship that etched that wondrous scene. The hinges on the left were well-oiled and made from a fine, sturdy metal covered in gold. A small button on the right side caught my attention.
“Allow me.”
I blinked at him. “What?”
