Spring Fever

[Alejandro Riviera]

Siiiiip

A steaming mug of artisanal coffee was a joy on a cold morning like this. Alejo had wandered down to the area known as Little Asia in search of breakfast but somehow ended up at a hipster cafe. Just a coffee, a danish, a couple of newspapers and some time to himself to peruse the local news. He had yet to unpack his things--they were sitting back in the small motel room he'd rented out--but staring at suitcases made him feel homesick so here he was.

The barista behind the counter gave him a friendly smile when he looked up. He nodded gently, smiled back and pulled the Hazleton Gazette towards him. Most of the stories were puff pieces. An article about a rare fennec fox sighting had his interest piqued momentarily but it was just something about how the little fox lived near the woods, along with some nice pictures. Cute. But not what he was looking for.

So far, the trail had gone cold. Alejo didn't think this assignment would bring him here of all places but once he got to Hazleton the leads dried up. It was kind of a bummer, yeah... But then he remembered Judah grew up here and admittedly part of him hoped to go around and see all the places that Judah used to talk about. Little Asia was one of them; there was also Old Downtown and the Outskirts where the ranches were.

He rustled the paper softly with a crinkle as he turned a page. Hmm... Nothing about mysterious disappearances except--wait. Hold on a sec. Missing kids? An ad for leads into the disappearance of a boy called Danny Clayton... Interesting...

"Oops!" A gust of wind swiped the page from him and blew it into the face of a person walking by. "Oh! I'm so sorry!" He laughed softly as he stood up and reached out to pull the naughty newspaper away. "Are you okay?" Getting smacked in the face by a random flying piece of paper... Probably not a nice thing to experience in the morning.