Wendy was proud of her victorian-era mourning ring. Her ex fiancee had given it to her one Christmas wrapped in red tissue paper. It displayed a skull and eerily shared her own initials. A strange thing to give a loved one on a Holiday celebrating the birth of Christ, but she adored it. When they broke up a year later, he had asked her to return it knowing its value but she had adamantly refused and quit returning his phone calls. After a few months he gave up entirely. She wore it to teach her tuesday night yoga class, and to dinner every night with her vegan friends. She never took it off.
Recently she had started chatting with a man over the internet. He had so far not asked her to purchase him an airline ticket, so she was not that worried. He claimed to be a vegan, but she noticed on his Facebook page he had claimed to “like” Stubbs Barbeque sauce, and that gave her pause. Even so, she let him talk her into meeting up at a bar on 7th street. Being new to Austin, she didn’t own a car but could easily walk the few blocks required to get anywhere she needed. The night of the blind date she selected a black strapless dress and a pair of wedge heels. It was a beautiful night and Wendy sang softly to herself as she strolled toward the bar. She kept her expectations low but was looking forward to a few drinks and hopefully some good conversation.
Wendy could see a few drifters sharing a cigarette as she got closer to the restaurant.
One of them was watching her and so she held her purse a little tighter to her chest and walked a little faster. She was getting nervous and was thinking about the conversations she had shared with the man who called himself Tribang64. She wondered why she never asked his real name.
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