Melissa, my mom and I were driving in south Florida to a hotel we were staying in. we were in a black SUV and the windows were up even though it was hot. I was terrified of iguanas and somehow thought they'd climb from the ground to the trees and then through the windows of the car were the windows open.
We passed an apartment complex which had curved sidewalks. The buildings were stone, palm trees in front of the archways.
We got the hotel and parked. Unbuckled and got out of the car. We went to the back of it were we helped my mom get the suitcases out. We got them out and set them on the sidewalk. Mom locked the car and we wheeled them into the lobby arriving at the big front desk.
"lizzie I have something for you," mom said opening her purse and taking something out.
"Ok…." I said, wondering.
She put something heavy and gray in my hand closing her purse. I looked down and saw it was a clay stone attached to a string. It was a necklace.
"Don't let anything happen to it and don't, let it open," mom warned me; "if it opens the inside will fall out."
What a weird thing to say the inside will fall out.
"Ok," I said.
The air conditioning was on in the hotel lobby which was big. There were several people lined up in front of mom.
"Mom how long do you think this will take?" Melissa asked.
"I don't know. Could be anywhere from 15 minutes to a half hour," she replied.
"Ok well we're going to try and find a café which is….."
"Right down the street," a woman in front of us said.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome."
We left the lobby.
"Why would she give you the necklace?" Melissa asked me.
"I don't know but it has to have some importance otherwise she wouldn't have told me not to let anything happen to it."
"Well, and that's usually implied."
"Yeah…"
"Maybe she made it at camp," Melissa said.
"Yeah. What a weird thing to say the insides will fall out."
"That was weird."
When we got to the coffee shop we opened it only to find it filled with fog.
"Ok this is a little weird," I said.
"Why would there be fog inside?" Melissa asked.
"Maybe they're decorating for Halloween?" I guessed trying to be logical.
"Halloween isn't for a few weeks."
"Oh."
"Hi ladies what can I get you?" a voice asked from somewhere in the fog.
"Well if we could see the menu we might be able to order," Melissa told the lady who we couldn't see but assumed was a clerk.
"You can't see it? Maybe you need your eyes checked."
"No…..do you see the fog? Why is it here?"
"Fog what fog?"
"You don't see it?"
"No. do you see the fog?" she asked a coworker.
"No. anyone else?" he replied.
"Ok, so, so far we're the only ones who can see it. Which is really weird. Maybe it has some connection to the necklace," I said.
"Yeah maybe. I mean mom gave you the necklace and then we decided to come here where there's fog," Melissa said.
I looked to my left and saw a small Asian man with dark hair, standing to the left of a round café table. He was wearing jeans, a short sleeve plaid shirt that was more light blue than light purple. He was looking at us.
"Who's that?" I asked.
"I don't know," Melissa answered.
"And why is he looking at us?"
"I don't know."
I got the feeling he was angry about something. I didn't want to stick around to find out what.
"Um. Maybe we should leave. For one we can't see a damn thing," I said.
"Yeah…probably," Melissa agreed.
We left going back to the hotel lobby where mom was still waiting.
"Hi girls how was the café?" she asked.
"Um. Really weird," I answered.
"There was all this fog. And a small Asian man who seemed angry," Melissa said.
"Yeah that's been there for years."
"So you saw it too?"
"Saw what?"
"The fog," Melissa told her as the line moved forward.
"What fog?"
Melissa and I looked at each other thinking how weird this all was.