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When Hutch awoke he at first wondered if he was drunk. He didn't remember getting drunk but couldn't understand why he was sleeping on the floor and there was a bottle of wine laying across from him. As he got up he felt the pain in his neck and recalled how he had been attacked. For a moment he thought he had once again made an extremely bad choice in bed mates but then he saw that Juliana was still in bed, laying across the sheets in the nude.
Caressing his neck as he walked, he asked “Juliana, Juliana are you alright?” She was unresponsive, when he pulled on her shoulder she limply rolled over. Hutch recoiled at first then moved in closer to inspect the horror laying in his arms. Juliana stared up at him with a golden eye.
Hutch took her pulse to be sure, but the tear of blood from the eye socket made it clear that she was dead. A quick check of the room showed there to be no other occupants. Hutch twisted the ring on his index finger three times then made a decision.
He looked at the face of young Juliana Magdalena, frozen in terror. One normal gray pupil and one eye made of solid gold. Hutch tapped on the golden eye to confirm that what he saw was real. Next he gripped it between his index finger and his thumb and in one swift motion pulled it out. He had never seen an instrument like the blood stained one he held in his hand. It was a small, narrow dagger made of solid gold. The hilt had a shape of an eye so that if it were stabbed through someone's eye and pushed all the way in it would leave the appearance that the person had an eye made of gold. Hutch found no bruises Juliana, no skin under her fingernails or other signs of a struggle. So whoever had killed her had either been quiet enough to do it while she slept or quick and accurate enough to make the fatal blow on a small target in a single strike.
The golden dagger was wiped clean on the sheets, then placed in Hutch's bag. He then took the sheets and wrapped Juliana's corpse in them. Hotels could be good places for spies since everybody was a stranger, one more stranger was seldom noticed. The other side was that there were no schedules, no routines, you didn't know when anybody would be coming or going. Hutch wanted to hide the body but to get it out of the hotel unnoticed would be next to impossible. So he took the body and placed it under the bed. It was a dreadful excuse for a hiding place but it might help the remains to go unnoticed for a bit longer.
Hutch went over the the mirror to get a look at his neck. The mark where his skull met his neck was one unlike he had ever seen on his own body but it was instantly recognizable. The maroon mark, too red to be a normal bruise, could have only been caused by a weapon made of dragon shark skin.
Dragon sharks were for centuries thought to be the stuff of sailor stories. They were the size of great whites but with longer tails. Their eyes could rotate around like an iguana's. They were said to be able to spit boiling water and to feed on mermaids, both unlikely claims (Dissections have never found any method by which they could boil water inside them and mermaids were believed to be too fast to be caught.) Dragon sharks had maroon scales that could be tough and flexible, but with a shake could become stiff and impenetrable. Generals would armor their entire armies with dragon shark skin if they could. But dragon sharks were rare and beyond the means of fighting men. Whoever had attacked Hutch and Juliana had some choice weapons.
Going though Juliana's things he found a bottle of perfume. Hutch emptied it on the floor by the door and windows. He then gathered his things and went down to the front desk. A smiling young man, face scared by pox, behind the front desk greeted him. “Ah Mr.” he glanced down at the register “...Dan Mobjes, checking out then sir?”
Hutch tried not to wince at the pseudonym. “No actually, I'm going to be extending my stay for another week.”
“There is a lot to see in Sardis, isn't there sir.”
“Quite. And while I'm here I don't want anyone disturbing my room. No maids or anyone.”
“As you wish sir. Is there anything else I can help you with?”
“Yes, I want my horse saddled and brought up front. Right away.” With that Hutch tossed the boy a silver coin. The boy ran off to attend to prepare the horse. The hotel probably wouldn't leave his room undisturbed for an entire week once they realized that he wasn't coming back, but it would buy him some time. Hutch grabbed a few rolls from a next door bakery, by the time he came back Scorupco was ready to go. He mounted her and began a trot out of town. Once out of sight he kicked Scorupco into going a quicker pace.

*

The summer sun was still up though it was getting late when Hutch made it to the Coltrane River. There was a permanent border station that Hutch had to pass though before boarding the ferry; he did so without issue (he had handed the Findland crown jewel off to the

See album description - On the surface, one might see this tin can as a nod off to nostalgia. After all who makes tin cans for their bacon bits anymore? When did they stop doing that? And when in the world did Oscar Mayer even make bacon bits? While the canister is old, that is not the story behind this canister.

I once lived in my Grandmother’s house after she passed away. I was still trying to get back on my feet from my retched divorce, it was a means for me to have a place on my own, and it allowed my family to delay dealing with the personal possessions of my grandmother. For five years I sat in her memories while my family refused to deal with them…

I found this canister one day when I was cleaning out her things. It was in a period of my life that was very scary for me to say the very least. I was going through so many things that I wouldn’t know where to begin with them. I was being taken back to court for past due Child Support from my ex. I had every single intention of paying it, but my business was slowly dying and so I had gotten behind. I had a new bride who was a Canadian Citizen and could not work until paperwork was submitted. I was the only income, which happened to be $500 a month to cover food, electricity, gas, insurance, rent, etc. I basically had nothing except stacking bills and a lot of fear for the future.

I wanted to make sure that my new bride had something to eat in the house, so there were several days that I went without eating (she didn’t know this until later on down the road!). On top of everything else I was going through counseling. I was an emotional, physical, and financial mess.

When I found this canister I thought I struck it rich. Inside was several dollars worth of coins from Bicentennial quarters up to Silver Dollars. But could I really trade those in? These were after all my grandmother and grandfather’s collection, and as much as I didn’t want to trade them in I knew I had to survive. I told myself that I would never dip into these unless it was an absolute emergency. I carried this canister in my truck for a few years- in the console, ready to save the day. Every time I almost had to use the coins, intuition and creativity kicked in and I found a different solution. Necessity is the mother of invention and resolution.

I am proud that I made it through those days. I am proud that I never once had to use any of these coins. It was close some days- between gas, food and lawyers. But I made it through. Now, money is not so tight even in a bad economy… and every time I see this canister I am reminded again of all I went through, how I held onto my determination and never gave up!