Excerpt: Shadows of Never

The Watering Hole predated Riverview Heights proper, and had tried to avoid becoming upper-class, or at least the upper range of middle. there was a garden outside it, but every plant was spikey and the owner, Carlos, claimed the weeds were plants as well whenever the local beautification committee came calling. He'd even repainted the place last year, but hadn't bothered removing the last coat of paint or scraping the walls at all.
Dan liked the honesty of the place, though he didn't come here often; Emily didn't like him going out drinking, and besides it tended to be a needless expenditure of money. Dan tried to ignore that thought and headed inside, getting a light beer and finding a table. Most of the tables in the back were dimly lit, perfect for brooding, clandestine meetings and adulterous affairs. Dan settled for the former and drank his beer, staring sightlessly at the free newspaper he'd grabbed on his way in.
He was half-considering a second beer when one was put on the table beside him. Dan looked up in surprise and a red-haired man with a broken nose smiled genially at him. The man was wearing second-hand jeans and a t-shirt, both straining under the girth of his belly.
"Good evening, guv."
"I guess it is," Dan said cautiously.
The man sat down across from him, a light beer in his other hand. "Serious brooding should be done with after one drink, you know? Otherwise one becomes six and before you know it you're sinking pirate shanties."
"Pirate shanties."
"You know, fifteen men on a dead man's chest. As if that will hold him down." The man chugged back some of his beer. "Ah. Amazing that they can make light beer not taste like watered down piss and vinegar, isn't it?"
"Look, Mr. -."
"Smee." The man grinned, his teeth an impressive colour of yellow and waved a tobacco stained hand vaguely towards the bar. "I saw you from over there, and you looked pretty lost."
"Oh. Look," Dan said, "you might be nice and all but I am happily married and I don't swing that way."
The other man looked puzzled. "I only swing from chandeliers."
Dan laughed at the image. "Sorry, then. You can't be too careful."
"Oh, but you can," Smee said, his smile taking on a conspiratorial edge. "Fear can make anyone too careful. It's like pirates, see? Most of them couldn't swim. But were they afraid of water? God's balls, of course not! Safety is for pampered children; no one raised safely becomes a man."
Dan sipped at the beer, since Smee had bought it for him. "I guess," he said.
"Pirates are men, of course. But there are few men in any world, you know? No one wants to be a pirate anymore. They want to rob oil tankers and take hostages: all the swashbuckling and romance is gone from it these days."
"Accounting is pretty much the same," Dan said.
That won a laugh. "I imagine so. Everyone is cautious and careful these days, all 'politically correct'. Hah! Politics is about power, Danny boy," Smee said, waving his tankard of beer. "And fear, of course. All power is based on force, or the threat of it, but everyone keeps trying to pretend it's not these days."
"I guess," Dan said again.
"Even piracy isn't piracy anymore. You talk to people and they think you mean computers and victimless crime, whatever the clock that is." The other man snorted.
Dan froze, but took another sip of the beer quickly to cover himself. "You don't approve of white-collar crime?" he said, hoping he didn't look as worried as he felt.
"Crime is crime. But for pennies, with no one hurt?" Smee shrugged, gulping back some more beer. "Harder to be sure, then, isn't it? A few pennies here, a few there, and somehow there is a crime though no one really lost much. That's what this world had come to: you can't even have a proper crime anymore. What kind of heroes do you get in a world without any proper villains?"
"Celebrities?" Dan offered, putting a ten on the table. "Thanks for the beer, but I do need to be getting home."
"No problem," the other man said cheerfully, and Dan left. Piracy and pennies: he couldn't be certain 'Smee' hadn't been from Generica, a warning from someone at work -- though to continue with his investigation or end it, Dan wasn't certain.
He was halfway home before he realized Smee had said his name despite Dan never introducing himself. He closed his eyes and swore softly, sobering quickly and running the conversation through his head as he walked. Dan didn't think he'd said anything that would lead to getting fired, but Smee had been quite friendly. Friendly enough to have been from work and seeing just how much Dan knew about the irregularities in Shipping.
Dan scowled as he went back in the side door. He had enough problems without adding this to them, but he doubted a man like Smee would have cared. And however friendly he'd been, Dan hadn't felt the urge to really return one of the man's smiles. There had been a hint of something dangerous about the other man, as if he looked too friendly and silly to be that, but Dan wasn't sure if he was just imagining that to make himself feel better.