Tokens and Dreams

By R Kane

Tokens and Dreams, a short tale from the creative mind of R Kane. Told in the narrative by one Otto Buchwald, Tokens and Dreams tells how the small tailor met the enigmatic John Greywolf and how the meeting changed his life forever. The main character Otto, also known as ‘The Mouse’ was first introduced in R Kane’s book ‘The Four Winds From the Silver Mountain’ and here he comes to life even more while telling his friends his favorite tale in only a style he can.

Please enjoy this short story from the one and only R Kane

• Language: English
• Publisher: R Kane
• Release date: Apr 26, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463999561

R Kane

In a word, if someone forced me to use one, would be eclectic. I don’t subscribe, follow, or otherwise allow myself to be associated with anything in particular. Sounds weird I know but I like it all because I can choose from it all. My music taste goes across the spectrum from country to punk, I eat all kinds of food from Southern to Moroccan, and I enjoy both fiction and non-fiction books. I love history and I’m insatiably curious about the future and new technology. I’m just a funny kind of guy, or so I’ve been told.

Book preview

Tokens and Dreams

By

R Kane

Tokens and Dreams

By R Kane

SmashwordsEdition | Copyright 2018 R Kane

This ebook is licensed for your enjoyment, so read and enjoy.  Please feel free to pass around and visit the author’s website for other works.

Thank you.

http://www.rkanepublications.com

Author’s Note

This short story comes from the series The Man in the Black Hat. The characters in this short story have been established in the series already, so if you feel a little lost as to their traits and actions, then may I suggest visiting my website and perusing the other two novels in the series. I hope you enjoy the small taste of John Greywolf here, and you seek him out, if for anything, just a word or two while sipping a cup of peppermint tea.

Guten Morgen my friends.

My name is Otto Adalbert Buchwald, as you probably already knew, and you are probably wondering why I am writing to you this beautiful Chicago morning. It is because of my liebenswerte ehefrau, that is, my lovely wife Helga and her insistence I tell you how I met the man who changed the course of my life and hers. Of course, I am speaking of John Greywolf, The Man in The Black Hat, as everyone has taken to calling him. I know my friends that you have all heard the stories about the mysterious man who suddenly appears at your door one night, who seems to know all your secrets, and like you, I chuckled at these tales. I was never one to let myself become distracted by such stories and fictitious whispers. I am German, and I have read the works of my favored Nietzsche, which only makes my intellect more resolute and stubborn not to believe what I had heard about John. A man who can talk with the long departed, who flies around in an airship no one can see, it was all too much of a child’s gute nacht geschichte. Oh, I am sorry, forgive me, I forget some do not speak my actual tongue. I meant to say a child’s ‘bedtime story.’

And yet, there came a morning not so long ago where my convictions, the very tenets I stand on, were shaken. Thus, I began to climb out of a dark I had been living in, unknowingly, so long. And it was such a beautiful morning, a superb Fall day here in Chicago, with not a cloud in the bright blue sky. I remember it vividly, so fresh in my mind it is, and not just because of what happened. The flying ships were all up and passing overhead, the long and tall freight cars of the slow-moving trains hauling all kinds of cargo to the little whips darting here and there like dragonflies, moving people through the city. It was a chilly morning like I said, so much so I could wear the new jacket and waistcoat Helga made for me. I was a very proud husband that morning.

Oh, good morning to you, Mr. Otto! It is such a nice sight to see you visit our store!

The voice belonged to a charming and quite spirited young Irish woman named Kate. You may have heard her mentioned, her strong nature makes her a person one can always look up to, and in my case and my height, that is too true. Still, Mrs. Kate has always shown me nothing but respect and courtesy, which is why I treat her with the same graciousness.

And my morning is always better for seeing you, Frau Kate! I laughed while tipping my hat, a distinguished-looking bowler I had made, especially for my head by a very gifted and respected haberdasher. The day a man has the cover for his head made just for him, by exceptionally skilled hands, is a day he will and should remember for a very long time.

Kate laughed more, as did I while handing me the sack of items I had just purchased. It was nothing much, the usual weekly order, food, and other things Helga and I needed. Being newly