Shadow in Serenity by Terri Blackstock Page A

The goal now was to get to know the folks as well as he could while still holding himself aloof from them. That was the trick. Fortunately, he was good at it. It was what made it easy to leave the towns behind.
    Serenity was something else, though.
20/20
was right. It was just like Mayberry, for Pete’s sake. And this was Floyd’s Barber Shop, and the men in the chairs could have been Andy and Barney. He hadn’t really believed such towns existed. No wonder Carny was protective of it. But he couldn’t let that influence him. A man had to make a living, after all.
    Logan slid his hands into his pockets and strolled inside. Everyone turned and greeted him. “Logan!”
    Slade and Cecil shook his hand, and the mayor, almost completely hidden by a voluminous chair cloth, freed his hand and reached for Logan’s too. As if he were the town celebrity, the other men introduced themselves and told him they had been at his town meeting.
    Slade looked over at the chair where his dog sat, and said, “Jack, get up and let Logan sit down.” The dog jumped down immediately and went to lie beside Slade’s chair.
    Laughing, Logan stooped to pet the dog. Jack sat up and licked Logan’s hand. The gesture broke the shell of amemory Logan had kept stored away for years. Butch, a lab mix with big, soulful eyes — the dog he’d come to love in his first foster home. At five years old, Logan had curled up with Butch in bed every night, crying softly for his mother. Butch had been the only one who could comfort him.
    When Logan was taken from that home, he’d begged to take Butch with him. But the family wouldn’t give their dog to the homeless boy.
    “Logan?” Slade said. “You need a haircut?”
    Logan shook himself out of his reverie. “No thanks, Slade,” he said as he stroked the dog. “I just had a few minutes to kill before my next meeting and thought I’d see what you fellows are up to.”
    Fellows.
Wasn’t that how they would have said it in Mayberry?
    “Well, oddly enough, we were just talking about you.”
    “Oh yeah?” He looked up. They were smiling, so they hadn’t been raking him over the coals. “I came just in time to defend myself then, didn’t I?”
    “Oh, you don’t need defending. Not from us, anyways. From Carny Sullivan, maybe.”
    “Yeah, she’s not so bad, though. I’m taking flying lessons from her. I figure when the park gets underway, I probably ought to buy a plane.”
    “Carny’s teaching you?” The man who’d introduced himself as Joey, a younger man than the others, who had an enviable beard and was as big as a bear, gave him a surprised look.
    “She sure is. She’s a good lady. Just a little suspicious, and from what I’ve heard about her, you can’t blame her. It’s a shame about her childhood.”
    “So which class are you in?” Joey asked. “Her Monday night class?”
    “No. She’s teaching me privately. All the other classes were already in progress.”
    Joey got quiet, and Logan noticed something behind the man’s eyes. Was it jealousy? He couldn’t afford to make any enemies in this town, so he tried to rally. “You’re not the Joey she keeps mentioning, are you?”
    His eyes lit up. “She talks about me?”
    “Well, I guess it’s you.”
    “What did she say?”
    Logan laughed and bent down low to let the dog lick his face. “Well, now, whatever she said, it was in confidence. But I will tell you that she thinks a lot of you.”
    Joey smiled and looked off into space.
    “How long have you had Jack, Slade?” Logan asked.
    Slade put the finishing touches on the mayor’s hair. “Ten years. He’s been by my side almost every minute of that time. Goes everywhere I go, don’t you, boy?” Slade went over to pat the dog’s head, then resumed his cutting.
    “He looks like a loyal pal.” Logan patted the dog’s coat one last time, and, as if he knew that meant a dismissal, Jack wandered over to the corner.
    “So how are the plans for the park shaping up?”