STV-004
St. Valentine's Ledger
Patron: Nickels Costigan
Date: Aug 7th, 1923 – Gold Coast District
Location: St. Valentine's
Proprietor: Glass-Eyes
Fine.
You win.
I won’t put your name on the flyer. I won’t shine the spotlight on you. I won’t even hum the opening bars of that tune you used to love. But let me say it plain, Nickels: you got a gift, and we both know it didn’t come wrapped up in a pretty little ribbon.
You made a deal. Long ago. With something cruel, something old, something that heard you once and decided the world needed to as well. It didn’t give you the voice of angels. It gave you something older. Wilder. Something from the deep places where choirs don’t dare go. But that voice… that voice still carries you in it.
And maybe that’s what kills me.
You got a voice given to you by the cruelest forces of darkness and despite, but somehow you keep singing like a ray of sunshine on the plight of humanity. You got soul, Nickels. Warmth. Hurt. Hope. When you sing, the room feels again. And maybe that’s why it’s so dangerous. Because it reminds the world it still has blood in its veins.
That’s why I keep asking.
But all right. No act tonight. No flyers. No spotlight. Just plenty of hooch and some half-burnt cigarettes. It's not much but it'll have to do. We can call it a soft opening. I’ll find another act, another hotsy-totsy crowd packer. If one ever shows up on my doorstep, that is. This city, it's tired of the same old, same old. The only thing they want is to hear you sing again, Nickels.
…Which, yes, I realize is part of that little pact you made with your master. But like I said, I still think your singing is worth more than the trouble it causes.