"It's okay to look up," he almost guffawed.

"No one is going to hurt you."

Jane raised her head. Everyone was smiling, except the lady in red.

She looked none too pleased.

"Why am I here?" she asked.

"I you don't mind me asking . . . sir," she added.

Laughter filled the room.

"She said ‘sir'!" the big man said.

"Oh, that's precious! No one has called me 'sir' in. . . ever!" He wiped his eyes.

“Young lady, we don't exactly stand on formality down here.

Anyway, you are here because you apparently performed a great service to us, even if you didn't realize it at the time."

"What?" she asked.

"You helped rescue Robbie, one of our own. He had been assaulted by some . . . nemeses of ours, and you distracted them. It gave our rescue party time to get there."

"Assaulted? You mean that dog in the alley?"

A young man sitting at the table with his arm in a sling spit his beverage out his nose while everyone else began to chuckle again.

"Dog?!?" he said at last.

"I'm sorry," Jane apologized.

"Cat? Gorilla?" Her mouth was still moving but her brain was on a twenty-second delay.

The entire crowd lost all control and began to laugh uproariously.

Everyone laughed except for the red-haired beauty, who was noticeably clenching her fists.

"QUIET!" the woman shouted, and the laughter stopped. She paused and glared at the man with the broken arm and then she glared at the large man standing next to her.

"Oh . . . kay," he grumbled.

"Looks like Red is getting testy, so we'd better move along." He stared at Jane.

"That wasn't a ‘dog,’ as you put it. Young lady . . . do you believe in magic?"