Edward Klausner

The old man then looked up from his ledger, and and smirked a little. He took of his glasses and folded them back into his chest pocket. The smile on his face grew wider as he congratulated the boy, "Happy Birthday my dear boy. You have reached the ripe old age of 18 today."

With that, the old man revealed himself, standing upright from beneath his mahogany table. His 6" body stood tall, with broad shoulders jutting across the room, filling it might, his arms and legs brawny, projecting the feeling of a warrior. His callous hands emitted an atmosphere of war and discipline. His hair, though lush, was stark white, further cementing his age. Scars, though rare, could be seen from his collar, further cementing his status as a former soldier.

Yet his face contrasted with the rest of his body. The wrinkles emanated wisdom and compassion, kindness radiating from them. His smile, though rare, often provoked feelings of relief and safety. Yet his eyes, his eyes were the star.

Dark brown they were, with light seemingly unable to escape from their depths, yet filled with wisdom and knowledge. Whenever he stared off in thought, you could almost swear that they were glowing. Yet contrary to this, they held much sadness and melancholy.

Young Jake first observed this when the old man first net him. Whenever the old man looked at the city and the people within, the sadness within seemed to magnify immensely. Sometimes, he even imagined that they were his children.

Today, in celebration of his birthday, the old man wore better, more newer clothes compared to before. Gone were the old, decrepit, and dusty clothes, and in were the shiny, and oddly enough, glowing shirt, corduroy pants, and a very odd form of jacket.

"Mr. Klausner, how many times have I told toy before: we live at the edge of the city, no one's coming here, so it's wishful thinking in your part that you will earn anything at all. Just stop going through the ledger everyday, and ste up something new. You know, many young people nowadays, especially the faeries, have set up MeToob channels. Especially the hot ones. I mean, have you seen the obscene amount of money they earn from just twirling their hops for 20 seconds. This would need an entire town for an entire month. An entire month!" Jake rambled on as he set down his backpack and started to change his smelly clothes to fresher ones.

Mr. Klausner turned to go into the back, while commenting "Now, now, you know how I feel when you call me Mr. Klausner. It makes me feel that I have a family and grandkids. You know how that makes me feel. Just call me Mr. Edward, but it would better if you call me old man, Ed, Eddy. I hate being told upfront that I'm old." With that the old man went inside the backroom.

"I mean, you are old..." Jake mumbled as he contained the trash-fulled clothes inside his backpack. "I heard that young man!" A shout was heard from the storage closet as books and things were heard being thrown across.

While making himself comfortable, young Jake could not help but wonder, what the old man was going to give him. As he started to explore the shop for the umpteenth time, his eyes could not help but spot a dusty, rusty, yet well preserved book in the corner of the shop.