The Life and Times of Johnny Plotpoint

Johnny put his sunglasses back on and walked slowly across the parking lot, the heels of his boots making just enough noise on the asphalt to catch the attention of a tall woman walking along the sidewalk toward a beat-up Oldsmobile. He glanced at her briefly - just long enough to notice a moon charm hanging from a gold chain around her neck. He wanted to ask her about it because it was so unusual, but he knew that he shouldn't stop to talk to her. That wasn't his part to play here. She continued to stare at him until she got into the car and he stared back.

Johnny stopped in front of the window to the Stompin Grounds and checked his hair. He adjusted his leather jacket and pulled the door open. He almost ran directly into a guy dressed in a leather jacket and jeans, wearing sunglasses with his hair pulled back into a ponytail. They both paused, not sure whether to say "excuse me" or to draw switchblades and start snapping their fingers. They looked each other over from boot to Brill cream. The man coming out of the coffee shop was slightly taller and somehow seemed less polished - like he hadn't been getting enough sleep.

"Pardon me, friend," the man said as he stepped aside and held the door for Johnny. As he did so, he turned to the side, and Johnny noticed his earring - a moon charm, much like the one the woman in the parking lot was wearing.

"No, excuse me," Johnny said, stepping to the side. "That's a nice earring. Is there someone around here selling those charms?" he asked as he held the door to let the man out. The man stopped and turned on him and looked him square in the sunglasses.

"Why? Where have you seen this design before?" the man asked, grabbing Johnny by the front of his jacket. Johnny wasn't afraid of the man, despite his demeanor. He knew that no matter what happened, the man wouldn't really hurt him. That sort of thing just didn't happen to him.

"Back there, in the parking lot. A woman, tall, with long brown hair, was wearing one on a gold chain around her neck," Johnny said calmly, pointing over his shoulder toward the parking lot. The man looked at the parking lot then back at Johnny.

"Where did she go?" he asked, tightening his grip on Johnny's coat.

"She was getting into a green Oldsmobile. It was sort of beat up and dirty."

"DesiRei." The man let go of Johnny's coat and ran off through the parking lot toward another motorcycle parked around the side of the building. Johnny was used to this type of reaction.

Most everyone he had ever talked to had reacted in much the same way. It had been happening to him for as long as he could remember. Johnny showed up at just the right time, with just the right information, and said it at just the right time. That was the thing he did. Well, that and ride his bike down the road. He had been all over the world on his bike - always on the bike. Somehow he made it to where he needed to go, always on the same road. Johnny watched the guy tear through the parking lot, trying to catch up with the green Oldsmobile. Johnny stamped out his cigarette and pulled open the door to the diner.

Inside the coffee shop, Johnny looked around to see what sort of food they had. Unlike most of the newer coffee shops around that only have super-sweet cakes, muffins and some petrified crap called Biscotti, the Stompin Grounds served breakfast - real breakfast, not some kind of high-fiber muffin and a bottle of carbonated fruit juice for $4.95. Johnny walked over to a table by the window and sat down, pulling off his sunglasses and slipping them into the inside pocket of his coat.