Halflight: Tabitha, Dani, Telford Porter, NYC

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Tabitha meets Telford Porter as requested, with Dani close by in case of trouble.



Tabitha sat with the mug of coffee in her chilled hands, resisting the
urge to look up to where Dani sat on the other side of the restaurant.
Porter had said come alone, giving the game away would lead nowhere
good. She sighed and stared at her whitened thumbs against the brown
mug, body tight as a bowstring as she waited.

Tel passed in front of the diner's window first, only a silhouette
against the painted specials, but he stood out at once to Tabitha.
His gait hadn't changed at all over the years; he still looked like a
snake walking upright. His head still moved from side to side in quick
twitches -- a rat stuck halfway down a snake's throat.

He paused at the door of the diner, just long enough to crush his
cigarette out underfoot, then came inside. The pale, bald man
made a beeline for Tabitha's booth, smiling wide enough to show every
yellow tooth as he approached.

"Tabby Cat. My girl, you look so grown-up now."

"I'm twenty-six, I'd HOPE I look a little like an adult now." She
pushed her untouched coffee to the side, trying not to actually look
at her former mentor. "Can't stay fifteen forever." She dared a look
at him from the corner of her eye.

He slid into the seat across from her as if they'd been meeting every
day for years. There were a few new lines on his face. He'd lost some weight.
His nose had gotten bigger and his cigarettes had rasped his voice. But
there was no difference to Tel Porter's easy, wheedling manner.

"Well, you were always a little bit grown up, weren't you? Wise for
your age. It's why we worked so well together."

Tabitha snorted. "Worked well together, huh? Is that why you dropped
me in Atlantic City without even a little goodbye? Or was I just
getting too old for your cons to work?" This time anger gave her the
courage to meet his eyes.

"It wasn't ever anything like that, Tabby. You were a good kid. We were good together. Just did what I had to do." Tel sighed deeply, as if wounded by her pointed reminder of his abandonment, and folded his hands in front of him. "All right, all right. Let's leave the past in past. I need your help now." He scratched his thumbnail against the nicotine-jaundiced knuckle of his left forefinger. "Things haven't changed all that much since you left. I'm still gettin' by. It's just lately that things have gotten kinda rough. There's some new punks back home, come into town and act like they own the world.


"About a month ago, these guys started snatching my kids. Last week, they come after yours truly. Broad daylight too. I tell them that I've got no more kids, but that doesn't make any difference -- they figure I can get more, just for them." Tel frowned, reaching inside of his black jacket for his ever-present Commander Kings. He rummaged one cigarette out of the pack, but didn't light it. "I'm not ever going to be up for citizen of the year, Tabby, but I am not a slave runner. Never was. Every kid I ever helped out was in a tight spot, sure, but they had the chance to come with me or not. And I
figure, there's anyone I know who can fix it so these pissants get off my back, it's you. I figure a little tic-tic-boom, and they'll go looking for an easier mark."

She ground her teeth against the growing nausea in her stomach. “You did me one good turn twelve years ago, Porter. Then I was your little street urchin for two years. I think we’re even. I don’t owe you a thing.” She tried not to think of it, but the memories were fresh from telling Dani yesterday.

She thought she might still feel the stickiness of the pimp’s blood on her hands.


Porter snorted quietly, flipping his cigarette between his index and middle fingers with a practiced motion.

"Still tough as nails, eh, Tabby? I didn't think you'd do it for me. You think about it, though. I'd rather not go this way, but push comes to shove, I'm going to look out for Tel Porter first. And you'll have turned your back on those kids for less reason than I will." Porter smiled thinly and rose to his feet. "You sleep on it. I'll be in touch."

He walked out of the diner, cigarette in hand.

Tabitha sat for a moment, trying to calm her pulse and the twisting
nauseous feeling in her stomach. She rubbed a hand against her belly
and realized there was more to the urge than a bad memory. She lurched
to her feet and signaled to Dani that she was heading back to the
bathroom. Maybe some cold water on her face would help.

She barely made it into a stall before she started to retch up her guts.

Eyes narrowing as Tabitha gave the signal that she was going to the bathroom, Dani didn't like what she was getting from Tabitha. That wasn't true, she loved it, that was why it was worrisome. And while there was plenty of horrible to whet Dani's appetite for days, there was little fear of what was to come. That wasn't right.

Getting up from the table she'd been sitting at with a magazine, she snaked her way through the tables to the bathroom.