Jasper’s cigarette tip burns quite and red, like the seething breath of a moody dragon. The smoke curls up around his face in the shadows giving him a moment of distraction as they dance but soon its back to watching.

It’s what he does best

Not watching people as they are around others, masks snapping shut the moment anyone comes by. No, he watches the little looks that slip out. The glances of hate or lust, how a hand might stay atop another just a moment longer, how a simple hand shake can mean hello or hatred.  All these little things give him a look deeper into the heart of a person and he feels, for a time, connected.

Even if it’s only to a stranger

An old tomato haired woman totters by an equally old man holding a large but empty black sac. They smile and wave at each other as the woman passes him but the man glances back at her, his eyes roaming over her back, seeing a woman he had loved years ago that to him still shines with beauty. A young boy holds tightly a ginger gold cat, his chubby face alive with the kind of malice only children can have. A car door slams and a young couple embraces through the window. The girl’s hips sway provocatively as she walks away from the car, a parting show for some lucky man. These are his neighbors but he knows none of them and all of them.

~So sad, the prince without a kingdom~ Owen sings to him softly in the back of his head, sad songs that reflect his mood and for some amazing reason, calms him. A laugh from the trees that frame the apartment complex he calls home, stabs through him. What a sound, like a drug to an addict. It’s filled with joy and love, filled with that light that sings through the blood at the very thought of that special someone. It’s a laugh he's never had and he runs to it with a masochistic hope in his heart.

It seems to fade even as he takes his first steps, tempting him to hurry. He runs down a back alley and down the street, keeping a safe distance behind the young couple he catches up to just at the corner. They look good together, one short and slight, the other broad chested but stocky. The man keeps his hand firmly on her shoulder like a warning to all others who come by. She looks at it there for a moment and glance back at Jasper. Their eyes meet for an instant, baby blue to distant black and he can see that the hand feels more like a shackle.

~The caged bird sings such a sad, sad song~ Once again Owen does not disappoint, hitting just the right note of melancholy. She looks away and down at her feet. No more laughter rips through the darkness but something else is breaking up the midnight shrouds that have hung about him. It was in that glance, her ocean deep eyes had whispered a promise, a hope. “I see you “they had told him, they had looked past his own mask and seen something that connected. The man stops by an advertisement for apartments open in the Elk Skin complex. Ceasing a moment Jasper walks past them slowly then stops a few steps ahead and turns back.

“Excuse me sir,” the stocky man looks up from the flyer, “but you wouldn’t be in the market would you?”  The man’s eyes flash with surprise and hope. ~ Oh he’s looking alright, been looking a while at dusty prairie roads~ Owen picks up a cheerful tenor at how well things are already going.  “Because you know I’m the super over at Elk Skin and the manager owes me quite a few big ones, if you know what I mean.” That look of hope darkens into distrust but the girl brightens instantly. Her smile beams and she hugs the man’s arm tighter.

“Well we were just looking there and the prices seem a bit high for the small size.” The man pulls her tighter, already wanting to turn away from what he feels to be just another scam.

“You must have seen the Edmire place, yeah it was a little on the small side but there is a larger loft open over in building three,” She brightens even more, “and that building is rent controlled.” Now it’s the man’s turn to crack a smile. Jasper can see that this guy had been put through the ringer with trying to find a place without him even having to say anything about it. He had that lost but searching look movers get when their destination becomes a little on the sketchy side. The fact that he was willing to even listen to some stranger on the street about a place instead of looking trough an agent tells him that he’s desperate. Jasper reaches out his hand and the man takes it.

“I’m Travis Bount and this is my wife Amy.” The girl takes Jasper’s hand as well. A small jolt runs up his arm as her smooth skin gently caresses the calluses on his fingers.

“Jasper, Jasper Cunning.” He gives her a little squeeze before letting go, “Why don’t you come around tomorrow at three, the manager has been neglecting to mention the place to prospective tenants cause he wants his son to move in next month but ask him about  it and he has to show it to you.”

“Alright then, thanks for the tip.” Travis and Amy both look at each other and smile, they one again thank Jasper before turning back down the street. Jasper watches them go, contemplating that the look back she gave him was just a trick of the street lights; he then turns slowly for home himself.

~Tomorrow is such a bright, bright and beautiful day ~