Discovered in Thirty Days and Thirty Nights - May 25

[ubicaritas9.livejournal.com]

This is not at all what I intended to post today.  Life has turned upside down (I've just been laid off from my job - thanks, Covid - and now I'm having to move house for the third time in less than six years).  But then you sit down to write, and you have to let the muse and its inspiration take you...
This is a teaser for a not-yet completed story, but I _will_ be working on it, because the prompt just reached out and grabbed me when I saw it... it's too good to let go.
(It's the photo at the end, (hopefully) under the cut, because to see it first might spoil things...)

Fortune’s Fate

“I’m telling you, Ray, this is the best Chinese restaurant I’ve had the – wait for it - … fortune … to find.”

Doyle rolled his eyes at Bodie’s attempted witticism.  Always quick off the mark, his partner had a sense of humour that ran the gamut from snappy comebacks and one-liners to darkly inappropriate observations in the most desperate of situations.  But for him to joke about food this way, it must really have made an impression.

“You sure about that, sunshine?”  Doyle frowned as he studied the small, nondescript restaurant sandwiched between another even more disreputable-looking eatery and a fruit-and-veg market with shelves and bins laden with unrecognizable varieties of produce crowding its front door. “I’ve seen better-looking dives than this, you know, and they’ve been closed for years.”

“Haven’t I managed to teach you anything about books and their covers, mate?”  Bodie tutted in dismay.  “You’ll never find treasures like this place with that kind of piss-poor attitude.”

“Convince me,” Doyle said.  “In fact, the best way to start with that is for you to pick up the tab.”  He grinned at the wince Bodie was unable to hide.  “Go on, then.  I’ll wait here in the car for you.”

But Bodie was already shaking his head.  “Not the way it’s gonna happen, Ray,” he said.  “Food made by these extremely talented cooks is best enjoyed in the ambience of their own establishment.”

“You mean, seated on broken chairs at a chipped countertop, surrounded by grotty Chinese décor and greasy hand-printed menus taped to the walls…?”

Bodie was out of the car and standing on the pavement in front of the restaurant, the very essence of eagerness as Doyle finally joined him.  “After you, mate,” he said, holding the creaking door open and waving Doyle in before him.  “And I sure hope you’re hungry…”

*

Forty-five minutes later, with the ruins of the meal cluttering the table between them, Doyle pushed away his plate and settled back into his chair with a grunt of satisfaction.  “All right, Bodie, I concede that I may have been a little… hasty … in my assessment of this establishment,” he said.  “But it’s more than a little off the beaten trail, even for you.  How did you discover it?"

Bodie grinned at his partner’s acknowledgement.  “Had a meet with one of my grasses a couple of weeks ago, up the road a bit,” he said.  “In addition to my contributing a bit of coin to his pocket, he may have conned me out of a meal in here, as the price for his very valuable information.”

“It’s a bit far from where either of us is living, right now,” Doyle said.  “But definitely worth remembering, if we’re back in the neighbourhood.”  He looked around the small, cluttered room.  “Now where did that waiter get to?  We need to pay our bill so we can get back out on the road.  The Cow waits for no man,”  he added mournfully.

“Yeah.  Over there.”  Bodie caught a glimpse of the slight Chinese man who’d served them their meal, standing in the doorway to the kitchen.  He waved a hand in his direction, hoping to grab his attention.  The young man cast an uncertain glance into the kitchen, and then headed towards them, stopping along the way to pick up a small black plastic tray from beside the cash register.  He hurried past their table, all but tossing the tray at them on the way by, and scurried back where he’d come from, disappearing deeper into the kitchen as the door swung shut in his wake.

Doyle rooted around amongst the empty platters on the table.  “Here it is,” he said, picking up the small black folder with their bill tucked inside.  “And look, there’s only one fortune cookie, mate.”  He looked over at his partner.  “Flip a coin for it?”

Bodie reached over and grabbed the cookie.  “I’m paying, so it’s mine,” he said.  “Besides, you don’t even like them…”

“Yeah, but I should have equal opportunity access at the fortune.”  Doyle acknowledged Bodie’s statement, even as he reached out to try and take the cookie back.  The two struggled briefly to hold on to it, but there was a sudden snap, and the cookie lay on the table between them, broken open.  “Christ, Bodie, now look what you’ve done!”

“Let’s have a look, then.”  Bodie grinned and poked at the crumbs.  A second later he froze, the humour wiped from his face in an instant.  “Ray,” he said, his hand slipping under his jacket to unsnap his holster.

Ray looked down, and immediately mirrored his partner’s actions.  “Bodie,” he said, his eyes doing a quick sweep of the room.  “Do you reckon we ought to…”

Bodie waited the half-second for Ray’s gaze to return and focus on him.  “Yes,” he said.  “I do.”

The two burst out of their seats in sudden, synchronous action, sprinting across the small space between their table and the restaurant entrance.  Bodie reached it first, and without slowing grasped the handle and jerked open the door.  He stumbled across the threshold, Doyle half a step behind him.

*



Title: Fortune's Fate
Author: ubicaritas
Slash/Gen: slash
Proslib: yes!
Notes: The photo was posted in the fb group of a (RL) writing group I belong to, with an open offer for members to use it. So I am.

Comments

[macklingirl.livejournal.com]

Hehe, that was great. I like the idea of good food in a not so good looking little chinese shop. And now I want to know what happens after. I hope there will be a sequel.

Oh, and if I had this in a fortune cookie I would run too. :-)

[jat-sapphire.livejournal.com]

Love the pic! Thanks for the amuse-bouche and hungry for more!

[tinturtle]

I am curious about the Chinese restaurant that stocks fortune cookies like this. What use are they usually put to? Very mysterious.

[cyanne]

You packed a lot into a few words, the descriptions were wonderful and the banter is very them. Love the ending, very clever.

Hope life gets better for you soon, I'm sorry things have gotten rough.

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

Uh oh. Run! What will happen next? I do want to know! Thanks for the teaser.

[trepkos.livejournal.com]

I like it!
And sorry to hear about your situation.

[livejournal.livejournal.com]

Hello! Your entry got to top-25 of the most popular entries in LiveJournal!
Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in FAQ (https://www.dreamwidth.org/support/faqbrowse?faqid=303).

[ali15son.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed that.

Thankyou.

[harshini bartlett (from livejournal.com)]

Omg you left it there? This could be the start of a story with notes left in food wrappings - from fish and chip newspaper to the bottom of coffee cups....

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

What a fun read this was and I take my hat off to you for managing to do it when you've been landed with so many worries. I hope things improve for you asap and I look forward to more of the lads having fun!

[msmoat.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry for what real life is throwing at you right now. I hope everything improves quickly. In the meantime, wow, thank you for gifting us with this! That is, indeed, a marvelous prompt. *g* I look forward to reading the rest of the story eventually!

[cim3745.livejournal.com]

Great teaser! I'd like to read more. The lads are superstitious ?

Good luck and best wishes to you.

[merentha13.livejournal.com]

Now you're not going to just leave us hanging there, are you??!!
A great teaser! Thanks for sharing.

Hope life starts treating you better soon!

[paris7am.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this! I was expecting a different fortune, along the lines of 'save me, I've been locked in a fortune cookie factory for 6 years!'... but this was so much better. ☺️

Hope RL starts improving.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

So sorry to hear about your job and house, that's just not fair... I hope you find somewhere decent that you like at least.

And then you went and wrote us this! Love that Bodie's turning the tables on Doyle with a bit of local knowledge - and wow for the fortune cookie! Definitely hoping you get to write more soon! Thank you. *g*

[dawnebeth.livejournal.com]

Exciting! Like the beginning of a much longer story--and somehow, I expect Doctor Who to pop in at some point. (Run, you clever boy, run.)

[sw33n3y.livejournal.com]

What a fabulous story teaser! I hope we get to read the whole story, some time. I agree, it's a wonderful prompt and you've made the most of it. Nice work!

So sorry to hear life is topsy-turvy right now. Wishing you better times in the months ahead.