Upon first entering the bar, Ned paused for a few moments for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. In the corner a jazz fusion band blasted something barely recognizable as music. Several patrons sat scattered around the place. The thick blanket of sweet cigar smoke kept the place from being the relief of summer heat that Ned was hoping for.

Ned made his way to the bar. The bartender was an overweight woman who looked to be in her mid forties. She held a cigarette with her lips while she poured a beer for one of the patrons. When she saw Ned, the cigarette fell, bounced off the edge of the glass, and landed on the bar counter. Without looking in the drink to see the ashes floating on it’s surface, she pushed it to the patron and started towards the newcomer.

“I told you never to come back here again”

Ned smiled, “I know, and I wouldn’t have, but I need to call in a favour. And you owe me a really really big favour.”