New Century Shadowman

I knew that doll was sensitive, but even a shrewd man like yours truly didn't anticipate that. I was just pointing out a few flaws in that almighty master of her's and she got all worked up about it.

That doll was so shy I couldn't even put my arm around her without her tryin'a wiggle away from me. I'd never met anybody like this girl, she was so withdrawn from the world it was unbelieveable. It was like was judging me before she even knew me and I got the feeling she was like this with everybody. I had to figure out how this little doll saw the world so I decided that I was gonna follow her around town when the next morning came. But morning wasn't gonna arrive for another eight hours.

There I was lying in a kingsized bed in a room fit for a rich man. This was my kind of life. Money, high class, and above all respect! I can't stand disrespect. I have no idea how I managed to control my temper when that cocky little punk in the wheelchair insulted my appearance like that. She reminded me of the folks back in my time who took pleasure in treading down on poor sinners like myself. Singled out for my empty wallet. Singled out for my race. Life was pretty tough, I'll tell you that much. Especially with no good fat cats like Eli La Bouff running the show. I'd like to see the good people of New Orleans vote for his ass if he was sleepin' on the streets with no job!

I hate those rich bastards, making life unfair for the rest of us scroungers and poor folk. How do they expect men like me to get by with those guys hording all the city's cash? What I'd give for the chance to snatch it all way and make it mine. I had my chance to rob a rich man of his fortune eighty years ago, but I lost it when those two love-frogs ruined all my plans. I should have jabbed my pin in that goddamn doll when I had the chance!

I threw my fist down on the bed, I needed some kind of relieve from the old feelings of rage my bad memories had brought back to me. Rage and frustration from missing out on my only chance to rule all of New Orleans. Those two froggie lovers, that damn firefly, even that dumb gator! They're the reason I've spent the last eight decades stranded on the other side! If they weren't already dead I'd make them pay for what they did to me!

I thwacked my fist down a second time, but this time I guess I might have been a little too rough when I woke my sleeping buddy. That's one of the downsides to having a shadow with a mind of his own, your bed will never be entirely yours.

I could hear him grumbling at me for waking him up.

"Eh, go back to sleep, ya lazy good for nothin'." I snuggled back down under the covers and tried to act like nothing was even bothering me. But my shadow wasn't about to back down so easily now he knew that I had something on my mind.

"I'll tell you what I'm so worked up about!" I snapped at him with the leftover adrenaline in my veins as I sat up in bed. "Look around this place. What do y'all see?"

My question was obvious. Silk sheets, real leather furniture, paintings worth thousands of dollars, an en suite bathroom, a piano in the sitting room and a bedroom so big you could fit swimming pool in it. "Is this the kinda life those rich fat cats had back in our day?" My second obvious question. "And here I am, livin' like the rich man I always wanted to be."

'So what's the problem?' If he could talk that's what he'd be saying to me.

"It ain't gonna last, that's the problem." I finally let all the angry tension in my body relax when I thought about what I was gonna lose yet again. "Once that doll's out of the picture I can kiss this life of luxury goodbye. I lost my chance for power and wealth when I let that fat, money hoggin' La Bouff slip my voodoo grasp." I let my body just nonchalantly fall back against the pillow. "Oh well. I guess I'd better love it while it lasts."

You know, my shadow and I, we've been through thick and thin. (I was always thin and he's always been thick from time to time). Ever since my friends gave him life as part of an old deal I made he's been there for me. He doesn't always obey my orders like your everyday shadow and he can really piss me off sometimes when he acts out. But we look out for each other like partners in crime and my old buddy wasn't about to let me give up on my long forgotten dreams so easily.

'If you can't take his fortune.' I could hear him say. 'Take hers.'

I'd be lying if I said that I hadn't already thought of that. But when the same idea came from my trusty sidekick somehow it sounded more enticing the second time around.

"This ain't gonna be as easy as last time, you know that right? She's not exactly the type of lady who would rush into marrying the man of her dreams like Big Daddy's little princess. Besides, who would I get to marry her and give me all the money?" If I was gonna pull this off then I would have to do it without any legal stuff tying it all up. "If she warms up to me, which I have no doubt in my mind that she will, I'll have to use every trick in the book to persuade her into making my dreams come true. I'd have to rely on good old fashioned charm alone, and maybe some sly deceit somewhere down the line."

I didn't know if I could walk away with her magic and her money by the time all this was over and done with, but that wasn't gonna stop me from trying!

"Thanks, bud. You're a real pal." My faithful shadow had just given me something nice to fantasize about while I felt asleep, better than thinking about that dumb old Daddy and his dumb old cash.

I tried to imagine it. Snatching the fortune of a pretty little rich girl right before she gets dragged to the other side by my good friends. Besides even if I didn't managed to steal her fortune, it'd still feel good to know that a poor sinner like myself sealed the fate of a rich little kitty like her.

Oh yeah, I was having sweet dreams tonight!