One real candle

I lit the candle before Shade finished the ID. Fake torch LEDs hummed like they always do. The wax did what wax does — smell, drip, insist. League kids in the third row went quiet like they had been waiting for permission to feel something that was not a bit. That is the whole job on a good night.

Road Without a Punchline is not a lecture. It is a travel lay that refuses the easy gag because some roads do not owe you a punchline. Loombridge can have the dragons. I will keep the chair facing the door and the hands that mend strings between sets.

If you tip, tip in real coin. If you want comedy crossover, ask someone else. Mag-boots under the table. Candle lit.