The San Francisco White Sox

"good evening, everybody!" gavin cardigan shouted out his greeting as he entered the Pub. "what's on the menu, danny? i'm hungry."

"welsh rarebit," danny blake replied, pouring his friend a Guinness. "in your honor."

"my honor? well, thank you," cardigan grinned as he accepted his pint. "or as they say in wales, 'thank you, mate!'" he added with a accent of dubious authenticity.

"hey, cardigan," sierra charlie waved him over to their regular table. "how's your day been?"

"busy," he admitted as he settled down into his stool. "burkie finally got around to giving me a new case and i've been working on it all day."

"really?" marian elfman asked excitedly. "what's it about?"

"the mayor's corgi has been dognapped."

"you mean monte?" taylor asked in surprise. "how could you dognap him? i think he's more famous than the mayor."

"didn't you shoot some ads with him, sierra?" Mysterious Lurker appeared suddenly, her hair neon pink.

"yes," sierra nodded. "we did some public awareness spots about the dangers of acid rain. i hope monte's okay. he's such a little cutie with his pointy ears and white socks."

"you definitely have a thing for pointy ears, don't you charles?" cardigan teased her. "first spock, now monte. is yoda next?"

"i remember that campaign," danny commented as he delivered cardigan's welsh rarebit. "you talked about the fact that corgis are safe from acid rain because of their water-repellent fur, but the rest of us aren't so lucky. hey cardigan, did you know that corgis are welsh, too?"

cardigan had just placed a forkful of the cheese-y toast into his mouth and was chewing thoughtfully. "if you dognapped monte to make this, i'll buy you a kennel of corgis."

"that's not nice, gavin!" marian stomped her foot. "monte is our city's unofficial mascot. what's the ransom?"

"removal of tolls as you cross the bridge from oakland," cardigan replied. "which means the suspect more than likely lives in oakland and works in san francisco. that's why i'm working the case instead of the police because most san francisco police officers can't afford to live in the city, so they live in oakland instead. they would seem to have a conflict of interest in this case."

"so you've been in oakland all day? i'm sorry, man." taylor commiserated.

"not today. i'll be there tomorrow, though. i was looking into the circumstances of monte's abduction today. turns out that the mayor's personal assistant was taking monte for a walk last night and got mugged. well, none other than our good friend The Black Darter was lurking in the neighborhood and--"

"don't EVER use the word 'lurking' or any other form of the verb 'to lurk' in association with The Black Darter!" the Lurker was indignant, tugging on the thick braid of her now black hair.

"oh no," sierra groaned. "let me guess. dat shot the mayor's assistant instead of the mugger and monte ran off."

"ding ding ding! right the first time." cardigan drained his pint. "i visited her in the hospital. she'll be fine. dat's dart just made her dizzy. actually, she's more than fine. remind me to thank dat."

"gavin! are you going out with her?" marian look scandalized. "that's not ethical, is it?"

"i don't care if it's ethical or not. burkie finally gave me shot at romance in this story and i'm not going to waste it."

"what's her name, gavin?" the Lurker asked.

"kim. kim park."

marian exchanged a look with sierra and the Lurker. "kim park?"

"yes, why?"

shakespeare walked over to collect the dirty dishes. "methinks thou hast the making of a fine tragedy inside you, friend gavin. or a comedy of errors. say, i like the sound of that. a comedy of errors...hmmm...."

**Note: i wrote and published this post without knowledge that three Oakland police officers were slain and another crticially wounded yesterday in a terrible, terrible act of violence. please do not take my silly writings as an indication of insensitivity toward police officers or the city of Oakland. my heart is with the family and friends of those police officers and the citizens of Oakland.