Chomp and Circumstance

gavin cardigan walked into Poor Yorick's Pub, stood by the bar, and inhaled deeply. "i smell garlic, my friend, and i approve."

danny blake gave him a smile and poured him an ale. "lebanese-style stuffed eggplant and burkie's focaccia. you will not be disappointed."

"better bring me extra, then. thanks!"

cardigan took a sip from his pint and walked over to join his friends, pausing next to a table where three elderly women sat. "good evening, ladies."

"hello, gavin," ruby smiled at him, waving a TEAM FOXY pennant at him.

"you need hair cut," pearl told him, clutching a TEAM SIERRA pennant in her hand.

"nice shirt," esmerelda smirked.

"thank--," gavin realized he was wearing a pink shirt, glared at esmerelda, then glared at the pennants and hissed, "put those things away!"

"hey, cardigan," sierra charles greeted him.

"what's up, charles?" he took the seat next to her.

"i'm going to host the miss california pageant," sierra told him.

"co-host," taylor put in.

"co-host, huh? who's the other co-host?"

"cole king."

"cole king? i've never heard of him."

"he was on American Idol," Mysterious Lurker informed him. "he didn't win, but he was very charismatic and popular."

"and handsome," sierra added. "isn't he marian?"

"huh? oh, yeah. he's all right, i guess," mairan elfman shrugged.

"it's okay, duckie. i won't get jealous if you think another man is handsome," taylor patted her head.

that earned taylor a look for which burkie has no words.

"that's an odd name," danny commented as he delivered cardigan's meal. "cole king. it sounds like caulking."

"i think i remember reading somewhere that he changed his name or something," the Lurker noted as her hair changed from black to red.

"he changed his name to that?" cardigan said after swallowing a forkfull of eggplant and giving danny a thumb's up. "it must've been pretty bad before. marian, why don't you look it up on your laptop?"

"oh, um, i think my battery is getting low," she mumbled. "i don't want to waste it on something as silly as that. look, it's the judge!"

they turned to see judge st. bishop stride into the Pub at his usual brisk pace.

"good evening, your honor," taylor greeted him. "how's the courtroom drama these days?"

"it gets more complicated every day," the judge sighed. "no, actually, that's not true. the law never changes. people just complicate their lives more and more everyday. unnecessarily."

he reached over and stole some of cardigan's focaccia. "this smells terrific, danny. can you bring some more? thanks!"

cardigan glared at the judge and moved his plate to the other side.

"your honor, did you hear? sierra is going to co-host the miss california pageant with cole king." the Lurker informed him.

"cole king? the guy from Idol who changed his name from King Cole?"

cardigan and sierra looked at each other, then over at marian, who was red-faced and staring a little too intently at her fingernails, and started laughing.

"old king cole was a merry old soul!"

"and a merry old soul was he!"

"marian, did you really used to date him before he changed his name?" the Lurker asked her, aware that marian had a baker's dozen of ex-boyfriends with nursery rhyme names.

"he was very merry," marian muttered. "but he partied too much for my liking."

"i'm going to enjoy this job more than i thought," sierra grinned.