Somdet-Ong-Yai Wok was the one and only asian food place in whole Windy Town. And probably a few miles around it. The owner, who was commonly known as ‘The Old Asian Guy’, moved to Windy Town about thirty years ago and had specialized himself on Thai Food. Until he realized that he could make much more money by making an all round asian cuisine. He had moved his restaurant pretty smart because it was just a short walk from the school to his place and everyone knew that students were the most hungriest customers, especially after a six periods school day and horrible cafeteria food.

A familiar breeze caught my relatively short hair and blew it into my face. With a bit of effort I put them back in place before I pressed myself on the stereotypical designed door of the restaurant in order to push it open. Inside it was warm and comfy, only in the kind of way cheap asian restaurants could be. A sweet smell of fried food stuck in the air and made me even hungrier, light and cliche traditional asian music played silently in the background and from the kitchen I could hear the sound of oil frying and kitchen utensils clattering. The place was empty except for Hunter and Jason, who hung around in a corner of the room. I joined them.

“- and also...ah, there he is!”, Hunter exclaimed and broke the small chat he had with Jason before I walked in.

“How did it go?”, asked Jason when I threw myself in the old bench, trying to pull my jacket off while doing it. I let out a heavy and a little annoyed sigh and broke down the whole story that found place just about twenty minutes ago.

When I finished both Jason and Hunter looked at me quite puzzled like the way I probably did when Connor basically told me that he just wanted peace between us.

“Well, didn’t see that comin’”, said Hunter and leaned back in his chair.

“Me neither”, murmured Jason and scratched kind of awkwardly behind his ear, “Maybe it’s a trap?”

“Oh stop, now you’re ridiculous, Jason. We maybe had a clash, but that doesn’t mean we’re in a Mafia movie, expecting revenge from every side. I mean, we’re in Windy Town here, but come on”, I said shortly before a yawn hit me. Tuesdays.

“Did you guys order already?”

“Yeah”, Hunter grinned, “I ordered for you too so you don’t have to wait that long”

“Oh God, thanks. I’m starving”

“You’re welcome”, Hunter said and was about to start a conversation, when Old Asian Guy came to the table with three plates balancing on his arm. He practically threw the plates on the table and left back to the kitchen. He was the perfect example of what people imagine under the phrase ‘Money can’t buy happiness’ because he was far away from happy. Or so it seemed, maybe he was just a bit grumpy, but who knew.

It was already getting dark, when we left the place. Even if we knew each other for years now, somehow we always got things to talk about until, like now, late in the evening. Which is kind of difficult, you have to find people who you can talk to first. Either people are way too enthusiastic or just extremely exhausting to talk to because they can’t get a whole sentence out.

I said goodbye toHunter and Jason and walked to the next bus stop, which was conveniently the main line of Windy Town and would safely drop me of a few streets away from my house. It got cold. The bomber jacket wasn’t really that warm and the winter-Everfall was just around the corner, I thought, breathing little white clouds in the chilly fall night. Now completely standing in the dark I had to rely on the cloudy neon light in the graffiti studded, old bus stop. It was intensely quiet, not even a dog barked somewhere in the distance and I stared in crawling, thick dark of the street. Some would may say that Windy Town got scary at night, that they would get the feeling that they’re not safe there, that there is even some spiritual, ghostly bullshit going on, but I didn’t feel that way.

I quite enjoy being alone with me and my thoughts, it gives me a breather in all the hustle and bustle one has everyday. And I knew my hometown pretty well, I grew up here, explored corners no one knows of and I’m acquainted with nearly every person in this small town. I felt as safe as if I were in my own room.

The bus arrived strangely on time for the bus never arrives on time and the middle aged bus driver looked pretty tired. I paid the cheap ticket, sat myself in a random seat and stared outside, waiting for my bus stop.

The street was as empty as a street in Windy Town could be. The lights gave a poor view on the street, dark shadows dominating the area making it seem more abandoned than it was. It was about half past ten on a weekday, only in a few houses there was still burning a light and they shut down one by one when I walked past them. The asphalt was glimmering from the rain that had been dominating the whole last week and it seemed like there were thousands of shining diamonds lying to my feet. Normally I would take my good time, marveling at the beauty of the night and the silence that came with it, maybe I would have listened to a bit of music during my walk. But I was already way past my curfew and I didn’t want to make my mom more angry than she probably already was. I sighed and sped up, she would be at work by now, but I expected an unpleasant conversation when she came back tomorrow.

I could already make out my house in the distance, even if it was difficult seeing something in the dark. The deep forest that surrounded and crept in a big part of Windy Town began about roughly 200 yards away from my home and swallowed nearly all light that could exist at such a time in the night. Soon the street lights would go out due to an economizing on electricity and I would be left in the complete dark due to the moon being concealed by many clouds.

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I was so focussed on that issue that I almost oversaw the slumped figure leaning against a street lamp. Almost.

I maybe would have been startled if I hadn’t recognized immediately who it was. I stopped in my tracks and stood still in front of him, not bothering to lean down because I knew he hated it.

“Gin”. May voice sounded weird echoing between the houses.

The figure stirred and lifted his head. An old man with asian features stared confused at me, a thick white, unkempt beard and oily, long hair hid most of his dirty, wrinkled face. Torn, old and neglected clothes rustled when he identified my face.

“Sean”, he laughed silently revealing the one tooth he had left in his mouth, honest joy in his voice, “What’s up, buddy?”

I had to smile back.

“Not much. I’m on my way home. What are you doing in this part of them town? You never come here, why aren’t you at your usual place? Next to the drug store”

It really was weird for the infamous homeless person of Windy Town, Gin ‘One Tooth Tiger’ Lung, to be away from his normal places where he usually hung around. There were many homeless people in this town, but he was well known. Everyone in town knew him. His real name wasn’t even ‘Gin’, it was just what he liked to drink, Gin. His normal first name, so he told me once, was a name that sounded really similar to the alcohol and people mispronounced it so often, that they concluded that his name was in fact Gin. Which wasn’t the truth. But he didn’t care that much because he just loved Gin. Why everybody called him ‘One Tooth Tiger’ was still a mystery to me. Not the first part, the ‘One Tooth’ thing was kinda obvious, but I wondered where the ‘Tiger’ came from. He would give me a new story every time I asked him:

‘I had a pet tiger’

‘I was a tiger dompteur at a chinese circus’

‘I survived a tiger attack’

‘I was raised by tigers’

‘I was an underground boxer and Tiger was my nickname’.

I gave up about finding out the truth.

“Ah”, Gin grumbled angrily his voice sounding old and strained as ever, “The owner chased me away because he didn’t want me to stick around and be ‘a disturbing factor’ for his customers. Now I have to wait at least a week for that bastard to calm down so I can go back”, he slurred and took a sip out of a brown, paper wrapped bottle.

Just a few years ago, this hadn’t been a problem. Because everyone in town was familiar with the sight of Gin, no one really cared what he did or where he went. But recently a lot of new families had moved into town and it seemed like the shopkeep was now making an effort.

“So the usual reason”, I stated, knowing that stuff like that had happened before.

“Yep”

I stood around saying nothing for a while, when the street lamps went out, leaving Gin and me in the dark.

“I have to get going”, I said and turned away.

“Hm”, Gin sounded absent. I was a few feets away already he rose his voice again.

“Hey Sean?”

“Yeah?”, I saw him staring into the sky.

“My stomach has been nervous for a while now. Somethin’s changing here”

I somehow made it home and upstairs, without waking my sister. It was point 11 and I was dead tired, throwing my backpack into a corner of my room. I would bother packing it for school tomorrow morning. I yawned, let my hand glide through my hair that had been messed up by the wind and tried to collect my mind what to do next.

I decided that I wouldn’t bother doing my homework either and would rush to get it done in the bus tomorrow. I went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth, changed into comfy sleeping clothes and silently went back into my room. Before I turned off the little lamp next to my bed in order to slide into the welcoming sleep, I allowed myself to glance through the blinds outside.

The other houses laid in front of me, dark and peaceful, the street was empty again and wind made the dark trees of the forest move. Looking up to the sky, I stared into the bright moon surrounded by stars, not a single, tiny cloud in sight. And as I laid in bed, sleep taking me to the land of dreams, I couldn’t help but wonder what Gin was talking about.