As it turns out, I am a decent mini-golfer, but Colin is genuinely a master of the craft. He is currently in the lead by two points, with a lower score than Dienaba and Ousmane, who is tied with me for third place.

We are playing the second-to-last hole of the course, consisting of sending our balls to the left on the synthetic neon purple grass, up a slope with wooden obstacles shaped like small glowing elephants, then down into the hole, which is intermittently blocked by a mechanic wall, between the legs of an orange and green giraffe.

It is Ousmane's turn.

Laughing, he asks us for the umpteenth time, "Wait, what color is mine again?"

Dienaba, half-annoyed, tells him, "Look at your stick, mon amour. We don't have all day!"

The Senegalese man lifts the putter in front of his eyes, to look at the fluorescent yellow handle.

"It's easy, Ousmane! You already know you're not pink, right!?" Mi-Young encourages him.

Scott laughs alongside us, tightening his arm around her frail shoulders and leaning down to peck her temple.

His fiancée pokes his chest with the bright pink extremity of her golf club, adding, "Thanks, hubbie."

"Not yet," he teases her.

The sublime woman rolls her artificially green eyes.

"If it were up to him, we'd be married already," she proudly states, in my direction.

"Yeah, I know," I chuckle.

According to Scott's thoughts, that is the truth, even if his beloved's clumsy mini-golf hits have made him dead-last in our amateur ranking; she keeps accidentally knocking his ball into random corners with hers.

The redheaded paramedic reminds her jokingly, as she steps up to the game structure: "Remember, Mimi, we're playing golf, not pool, okay?"

Mi-Young sticks out her tongue at him momentarily before hitting her pink ball. The small lustrous sphere bounces randomly, quickly bumping into mine and sending both of our golf balls further away from the hole.

"Wow, thanks," I laugh and, shrugging, she grins at me.

In the end, Dienaba wins by a whopping single point, which she believes to be a remarkable distinction between their scores.

"Take that, White boy! Suck it up and cry, you loser!"

Nearly cackling, she hugs her boyfriend. Laughing, the latter throws all of us a look that plainly expresses an apology.

"That kinda felt personal." Colin's hushed comment is amused, but his eyes betray an underlying turmoil.

/It's not my fault if I'm better at mini-golf than a Black woman, I didn't mean to insult her. I probably said something out of line earlier... Is it more racist or less racist to even be thinking about this?! Or is it sexism? And, now, Tanza's going to think I'm some idiot..! But if I mention it, it's just going to make everything awkward. There's a chance Dienaba did not feel persecuted by our rivalry. I thought it.../

I wish I could comfort the well-meaning paramedic, however a normal human could not have guessed that all of this self-questioning is rushing though his head.

On our way to relinquish our equipment, I lightly punch his right shoulder.

Startled, he chuckles, breathing out, "What's up?"

I joyfully begin.

"You played like a pro. You're..." I smile at him, noticing that my action prompted his arm to move out and our hands are closer. "Great."

I cease hesitating and grab his hand, relieved that he reciprocates the grip around my palm.

~

Joseph drinks a hearty gulp of hot chocolate, inviting me to do the same. Meanwhile, Cedric lowers the volume of their television, keeping a distracted eye on the commercials. I enjoy the warm beverage, putting down the red cup they have lent me, while they are actively discussing the hurling game. The main cause for animation in their conversation is the attractiveness of the coaches, which is not the most compelling for me.

I subtly slip my cellphone out of my coat's pocket, thrown across the arm of the couch. Persephone has sent me a couple of messages since this afternoon, including a traditional meme to kick things off.

(I thought I was gonna die at work today, legitimately 😐)

(How is hurling night with my uncles? Are they drooling 🏳‍🌈 over the players yet haha?)

Apparently, I chuckle a little too loud, because the pair of middle-aged men are staring at me when I finish up my reply and look up.

"Who were you texting, Tanza?" sneakily wonders Joseph, lifting his eyebrows suggestively.

"That new boyfriend of yours?" inquires his loved one, curious.

"No..! And he isn't my boyfriend. We..."

My neighbors' good intentions and friendly listening get rid of my doubts.

"We've only been on two dates together, anyway. He's a coworker."

"I didn't know that was still a thing, I guess 'Ric is my roommate, then."

Joseph's husband bursts into hiccup-like laughter, a phenomenon I have rarely witnessed before. I smirk at them.

"It's not like that. I don't know if I wanna be in a relationship and Colin probably feels the same way. Two dates is nothing."

"Colin. Isn't that sort of a sexy name?"

Cedric nods in agreement, focusing back on the hurling match, which has begun playing once more.

His spouse keeps speaking, except at my intention.

"You know, Tanza, it's crazy how much you've got in common with our Percy."

Unsure, I double-check my hunch inside Joseph's mind before asking, "Persephone?"

"Yeah. You can't tie that girl down, she needs her freedom. We're kinda hoping she meets someone nice and settles down. We'd hate for her to be alone when it matters most."

"Are you all close?" I inquire.

"I like to think we are, her mother is my sister and my best friend... But her daughters stayed in Montana, so they don't visit a whole lot. More whipped cream?" The man hands me the can, suddenly jovial at the end of a nostalgic monologue.

Surprised, I answer, "No, thanks, Joseph. I didn't know Persephone had sisters."

"Only one, Cora. She is such a doll, that one, sweeter than sugar. Ever since she had kids, though, she's way too busy to come here or give us a call."

Cedric adds, mostly directing his comments at his partner, "Cora knows better than to come here. Gotham isn't for the faint of heart, dear. She's got a family to take care of."

"I know, I know... Anywho, Tanza, we're real glad you're writing and all, Percy and you."

"And I'm glad that you're glad. Persephone and I really hit it off at your party."

"Yeah, well, she needs someone like you in her life, with that boring-ass job of hers, excuse my language," Joseph complains, shaking his head.

"Oh? I didn't know she disliked being a travel agent."

His dark blue eyes widen in confusion.

"A what now?"

His husband specifies, "Persephone works for a big pharmaceuticals company, last time we checked. Maybe you misunderstood her."

A chill installs itself in my stomach. It would appear as though she lied to either her uncles or me... Although, she was impish when she told me about her career, wasn't she? And my new friend is often highly deadpan when it comes to jokes or sarcasm...

"Then, she was messing with me," I confess, laughing nervously.

"Ah, that's Percy for you! But she doesn't joke around with important stuff, don't worry."

I concur by tilting my head, and the three of us resume watching the hurling game.

At a quarter to eleven, I get ready to leave the couple. The slightly unexpected revelation that Persephone deceived me for her own amusement bothered me for a few minutes, but I got over it timely. Her uncles cherish many loving memories of her and they are good people whom I respect; if they trust Persephone, so can I.

The issue of her thoughts not reaching my scope is still on my mind, but why should that immediately equal to her harboring nefarious intent?

Joseph chooses this moment to remember some gossip he meant to share with me.

"... and, then, the guy who moved in about 3 months ago? That skinny, gray-skinned man with a poodle, you know?"

"Yes... I used to see him around," I confirm my knowledge of him.

My neighbor wraps his left arm across his husband's hips, continuing in a lower tone.

"Most dreadful thing happened, he died. Poor guy overdosed. His dog was barking and howlin' like crazy, so Joanne called the cops, and that's how they found the body. We watched the whole thing through our window, it was something."

I am truthfully unfazed, yet intrigued by the proximity of the event, as humans tend to be. As a general rule, one death on a person's street will worry them more than one hundred deaths in another city or one hundred thousand deaths in a different country.

"When did this happen?"

"It wasn't last night, it was the night before that, so... Monday night. You must've been working, that's why you missed it, Tanza."

He is correct, I was on duty that day.

"Yeah, that's it. He lived on my floor, right? Do you guys know if they're already looking for new tenants?"

"Since someone died, they'd wait 48 hours before listing it, just enough time to go through the paperwork and hire people to empty the place. But there's still police tape on his door, so I guess the cleaners will come tomorrow." Cedric informs us, visibly contemptuous when he speaks about the people who manage our apartment complex.

/... And if they can't extort their way into getting this month's rent from whatever money that sorry soul had saved up, I bet they'll make us pay for it. Of course, no one knows that they sold his dog and kept the money for themselves.../

Joseph's partner is an intelligent and observant person who, additionally, is employed by the Gotham City Council. If anyone recognizes corruption when he sees it, it is him; he swims in it every weekday from 9 to 5. His unwillingness to become like his colleagues is why I consider him to be not only a reliable judge of character, but a well-meaning man.

We wish each other a good night, and I leave my neighbors' unit.

I am grateful for the cheap awnings that shelter the outdoor corridors and staircases, sparing me from the cold and humid rain which is dripping from the clouds tonight. I pull the unbuttoned flaps of my paletot together, vapor pouring from my lips as I exhale. Weak yellowish white light from humming wall sconces lights up the platform that connects my front door to the others.

Startled, I halt, seeing someone climbing the stairs on the opposite end of the landing as I step off.