Excerpt: China in the Sand

The pub’s sign swayed slightly in the breeze. The words written on it in flourishing writing were The Green Fog Pub. The ‘G’ in green turned into a green coloured haze that was painted (also flourishingly) across the rest of the board.
Ryan Chelter, the bartender, had never really liked the sign. But his grandmother had, so he kept it up there. He couldn’t really think of a better sign anyway, but maybe he liked the idea of a plain black board with the pub’s name printed in white.
He had considered ripping it down today as his grandmother was out. Out of the country, in Spain as well! She was always the lucky one. He was stuck in this shabby place trying to wipe more grime out of the pint glasses than he liked to tell the customers about.
Ryan pulled at the collar of his shirt to loosen it and turned the heating down accordingly. If it was like this in Spain, maybe he didn’t want to go there.
He turned the radio on slightly to listen to some old rock classics, and then he stood there humming while waiting for the first customer to arrive.
A couple of regulars arrived for a snack and a quick drink of water like they always did, and sat at, the table in the corner like they always did. Regulars were uncommon here. Most people stumbled back out revolted when they stepped through the door, his gran had said.
Ha, well she’d come back next weekend and find that he’d done a bit of cleaning. But where had the duster gone…?
Uh oh, he was using it to clean out the mug he was holding. A customer came in asking for a drink. Play it cool, pretend this is the normal cloth you use!
“Uh… Hi.” He said, flinging the duster over his shoulder onto a shelf that probably needed dusting anyway.
The man was wearing a smart black suit with a hat. He had a briefcase in one hand and a grave expression on his face.
“I’m Edward Giles.” He said. “I have some terrible news for you… Your grandmother, Felicity Chelter is dead.”