the regulars

who's around, and where they've turned up

none of this was planned. somebody uses a name, and then somebody else uses it again, and after a while it's just part of the place — a cat nobody has seen since 1998, a takeout counter with an item on the menu that costs nothing, a house where the chairs are always for sale.

this is the list we keep behind the counter, with every posting they've turned up in.

the 3:47 light
every day at 3:47 the light hits the second shelf exactly right; some schedules, timetables, and instructions quietly account for this
2 sightings
Little Aumbry
a small out-of-the-way parish village, the kind with one old church and a rose window; good for a return address, a bus stop, or where someone's aunt retired.
2 sightings
Margot, age 4 ½
a child artist of local renown; signs everything with her age; her work has a sun in the corner; ask about Margot
2 sightings
Ray Pruett
the neighbor on Linden who'll come stand in your yard and tell you what bird you keep hearing, by ear, for free — you never have to see it, and neither does he.
2 sightings
Slade Shallows
a shallow river ford where the water's low enough to wade or pole across; the kind of crossing named on old maps, flyers, and directions given by memory.
2 sightings
Tindall's Confectionery
a neighborhood sweets counter that's 'had a counter here a long while'; hand-writes honest notes on every chocolate. Drop in anywhere as the old candy shop everyone's grandmother swore by.
2 sightings
429 Persimmon Ln
an address where everything is perpetually for sale — the chairs, the photos, the lamps, a kettle; please don't haggle on the kettle
one sighting
555-PEPR
a phone number on tear-away tabs; calling it is never described; the tabs are always mostly taken
one sighting
Bett's Orchard
a roadside cider-press stand (est. 1971) where you fill your own jug by the quart; the wasps, Bett notes, are non-paying customers.
one sighting
Castellane's
the grand old downtown department store, famous for the roof aviary worth the whole elevator ride — droppable in any era as a passing shopping-trip mention.
one sighting
the Deaver boys
the local pack of rowdy brothers everyone knows by name — the ones who break the rule you just posted; usable in any era as background mischief.
one sighting
the Ferncliff gravel pit
an abandoned gravel pit behind the old cement works — a half-flooded local hangout where kids skip stones and nothing official ever happens.
one sighting
Frederick
somebody's cousin; claims to have been an extra in something; claims to detect flavors that are not there; claims a lot of things; sticks by every claim
one sighting
The Good Wok
a takeout place; delivery 11–9, cash or check; menu item C4 is ??? and costs $0.00; the almond cookies come six to a bag
one sighting
Hempstead Brothers Shows
a small traveling carnival out of Frankfort, Indiana, est. 1903 — three wagons grown old; the kind of outfit that rolls into any town's fairgrounds for a week and is gone.
one sighting
Ledbetter's Practical Kite-Craft
a well-thumbed how-to book on kite-making, forever in a revised printing with the figures slightly wrong; drops onto any shelf, table, or reading list in any era.
one sighting
Mortimer
a kitten who dropped by once and is still talked about; whereabouts unknown; left an impression
one sighting
Old Haymaker's Switchel
a fizzy ginger-molasses-and-cider tonic pop bottled by Hollis & Son, prized on hot dusty afternoons; 2¢ back on the empty.
one sighting
Prewitt & Daughter
a hand-run dahlia-tuber farm out past the county fairgrounds — Ada Prewitt sells, daughter Ruth does the digging; a mail-order name to drop in any era.
one sighting
Prof. Orville Plumb
a long-ago mail-order huckster whose ten-dime ventriloquism course still turns up in classifieds and attic trunks; nobody ever quite mastered lesson three.
one sighting
the sign above the door
reads 'if the door is open, you are welcome inside.' — est. ~1962; quoted occasionally, attributed inconsistently
one sighting
Skipper the Seal
a cheerful cartoon mascot seal from an old draw-this talent ad, the kind of drugstore-rack character that could grin from any flyer, matchbook, or napkin in any era.
one sighting
Small Weather, Passing
a gentle old tune called 'Small Weather, Passing' — the kind of half-remembered melody that turns up in a music box, on a jukebox, or hummed absently by someone at a sink.
one sighting
St. Aidwin's
the parish of a fictional English saint — turns up as a church, a school, a jumble sale or a bell tower; something's always going on down at St. Aidwin's.
one sighting
Wren & Halloway
a maker's mark (est. 1879) that can be stamped or engraved on any well-built object, from a harmonograph to a barometer.
one sighting

not seen lately

still on the list, still expected back:

Deli Mustard · Eugene · Pepper · Roy