conversations in idleness; more to come

Two seemingly inconsequential gentlemen stand in the shadows of Whitman’s derelict warehouse district; waiting.

“So, I’ve been reading this new book.”
“Is it another one about time travel? Time-traveling pirate ninjas maybe.”
“No need to be condescending… And they are time-traveling strippers.”
“Well that is much better.”
“Everybody loves a stripper. I know I do.”
“And what might these strippers be doing with their merry little time jaunts?”
“Trying to save Lincoln.”
“What?? What a horrible, ill-advised, catastrophic plan.”
“What do you mean?”
“Along the timeline that Lincoln was not assassinated, the one where Johnny Wilkes turns the gun on himself instead, the world goes to shit. Lincoln becomes the most fearsome tyrant in all of recorded history. Way beyond that petty orgies and making your horse senator kiddie shit.”
“Where do you get this stuff? You act like you know this for certain. Like it’s fact and not just some pulp novel I found discarded in a bus station bathroom.”
“Yeah, well. I read it in a book or something.
(awkward pause)
“You know, if they were traveling back in time to save Alexander Hamilton, I could support that. He should have lived. Fucking Aaron Burr. Plus old Alex would have loved to have been rescued by strippers. He was a big fan. Invented the g-string you know. Not that anyone wants to give him credit.”
(less awkward but equally pregnant pause)
“Want to hit up On the Roxxx later?”
“We’ll see if there’s time… Hold up, I think this might be him. Quiet.”