The Deep

Compared to Hollywood, New Orleans is the middle of nowhere.

Not that Theresa minds. A complete change of scenery had been what she'd looking for when she left California, and if this isn't it she doesn't know what is. There are actual trees down here, for one thing, and the air smells clean without all that pollution from passing cars. There's a sense of anticipation about the night, as if anything could happen.

Tonight she's working, strolling from one bar to the next as she looks for her next date. There are other girls here, but some of them have started to look old very fast, as if the hard living was just around the corner ready to catch up with them. Theresa knows she'll look better to potential customers just because she still looks so fresh. There are advantages to being undead other than just living forever.

( She Works Hard for the Money )

Normally Judy really disliked Starbucks, but she found herself dying for a caffeine fix after visiting one of the bigger bookstores in New Orleans, so she pulled her car into the lot and resigned herself to drinking their tea. Next time, she would bring a thermos of her own stuff, but for today she would grin and bear it.

There were only a few customers inside, it being the middle of the day, and she ordered a cup of iced mint tea before going to one of the plush chairs and taking a seat. There was an array of magazines, but most of them were out of date, so she just picked up a section of that day’s
newspaper and opened it up to the crossword puzzle. Now if she could only find a pencil. The
blonde cast a slightly baleful eye on her purse, then started digging around. One of the days she was going to buy something practical, but that day was not today.

One thing Dr. Alfred Thomas loved most about the late spring and summer months was the fact
that he didn’t have to work. His work in academia, teaching religious studies at Tulane University,afforded him a lot of time off in the years he didn’t burden himself with teaching summer courses, and he took great pains to use that time to great effect.

( Not So Different After All )