Tobias waited outside the Elysian Café that Monday morning, drumming his fingers impatiently. He was late, as always. But, ah, could Tobias honestly blame him? Even at school, he had never been known for punctuality. But, he always remembered that charm about his old friend; he could talk his way out of Congress. But alas, the last he remembered of his companion was sitting at a train stop ten years ago; he had lent him twenty dollars to change his life. At first, he could not see more than a looming silhouette in the blazing sin, but then he moved out of the light. "Giorgio, I was certainly not expecting this."
Giorgio Pirelli stood nearly six foot, a wavy moustache below his pointed nose with a chin to match. His suit was flamboyantly red, which made Tobias feel quite foolish as he had chosen to wear brown slacks and an oversized black t-shirt covered with paint stains, the uniform of choice for writers across Britain. They sat down at the wire frame table and began to exchange tales of success. Tobias felt Giorgio's was unnecessary, as he had just read his tale in the alumni catalogue, but, nonetheless, decided to entertain his old colleague. He was in a good mood this morning, despite last night's events, or maybe because of them. Probably was the weather.
"I took that twenty dollars you gave-a me and made an investment," he began, in his outrageously faux Italian accent. It always made Tobias laugh. "I took night classes at the community college and applied to Academia Militario. I made it in, top of my class-e! I joined de air force and just got stationed here at London for some, como se dice, R&R?"
Tobias felt Giorgio was being relatively humble today; he had regretted to mention how he made the front page in assisting in the prevention of the air-raids that might have hit London. Stupid war. But, politics was not the focus of this discussion. Pirelli seemed inspired this morning. Tobias hoped this information could be contagious. He explained the situation as the clouds started to darken overhead. That damn waitress still hadn't gotten their coffee yet. Eh, youth.
"Hmmm…" Giorgio pondered, stroking his moustache, "Well, what did you fear as a child?"
T: Tried that one. I was too brave as kid.
G: You kid me; you must have some demons in your closet. (He has dropped his accent by now, just for the record)
T: Demons in the closet? That's been done.
G: Metaphorically, Toby.
T: Don't call me Toby. Verona called me Toby.
G: Who?
T: Not important.
G: Okay then. Zombies?
T: Been done as well.
G: Corporate Zombies?
T: That's redundant, my dear Giorgio.
G: Eh, maybe you need a change of pace, try a different career and use it in your books.
T: What?
G: They're doing it all the time in those documentaries now. Maybe you could use boot camp as a horror story. Heaven knows, my time spent prepping for the Sweeney Todd was downright hell.
T: What did you say?
G: I said it was a downright hell.
T: No, the part about Sweeney Todd.
G: You know the old saying, "Flying Squad, the Sweeney Todd". What's so important about it?
T: Don't you remember that old story of Sweeney Todd?
G: The barber on Fleet Street? Ugh, I can't even walk past there anymore. Not even during the daytime.
T: That's it! It's perfect!
Tobias rose from his seat at this statement, causing the waitress to drop her plates on the couple three tables over. That coffee was going to be a while. Tobias elatedly hugged his accomplice and almost kissed him, but he wasn't that happy. "Giorgio, thank you! My career is salvaged. Tell you what, I'll write you in the story. You'll be turning point in the novel, swear to whoever's up there-or not. Thanks, got to go."
Giorgio laughed, barely concealing his pearly whites. "You're going to kill me off, aren't you? I'll be your first victim, I can count on it." Tobias laughed as well, maybe something in the air was contagious. "Nope, don't worry. When my book gets published, everyone's going to remember the name Pirelli." Tobias practically skipped off, leaving his dear friend with the bill. Tobias was only partly right. People were going to remember Pirelli, but Tobias would be first and foremost in the readers' minds. For decades, professors would debate with their students to find at what point in the novel, in their opinion, it became apparent the author had begun to lose his grip on reality and turn down the bleak path of no return.
