Speaker 1: Welcome to end too the night. I'm Nri your guide
on today's excursion down a twisted path. Be careful not
to get lost, be it dark or light, It's easy
to lose your way. Are you ready? Then let's begin.
Speaker 2: The Name Dropper Society Part two. Before I knew it,
more than weeks and months had passed. Years started slipping. By.
One evening, my friends joined me once again at their booth.
So how old are you now? Twenty four? Ed? Twenty four? Huh?
Have you decided what you're going to do in life? Son?
You're wasting your time here working at the pub. You
have so much more to offer than this, Lionel motioned
with his hand at the room. You're right, I need
to find my path in life. I can't figure out
what to do with myself. A history degree doesn't offer
much in the way of career options. The men looked
at one another, say, Kyle, we think a lot of you.
We may be able to help you out. Really, Yes,
we've talked about it and are in agreement. I appreciate it.
What do you have in mind? I'd rather not talk
about it right now. This offer is intended for you alone,
and we don't want others listening in. Henry handed me
a slip of paper with an address on it. Can
you meet us at this house on Saturday morning around
eight o'clock? Definitely. I have to go take care of
those tables right now, but if we don't get to
talk again before you leave, I'll see you Saturday morning.
It was a busier night than usual for a third,
so the men and I only waved good night as
they left. About an hour later. I kept the address
in my wallet for safe keeping and finished my shift.
On Saturday morning, I arrived at the address's planned The
sky was blue and the birds sang in the trees
lining the street. I pulled into the driveway of a
small white clapboard house in a neighborhood I hadn't been
to since i'd delivered papers as a boy. Except for
the new paint, the houses were all as I remembered them.
Little did I know back then that I'd have friends
who lived on this block. The lilac in the yard
fullyam bloom attracted the bees that swarmed from blossom to blossom.
The scent, which always reminded me and my grandmother, was intoxicating.
I walked down the sidewalk to the front door and
gently knocked. Come in, Come in, you're right on time.
The guys are in the living room waiting for you.
I could tell that none of the decorations had changed
since when his late wife was alive. Old men don't
tend to be decorators by nature. Rose from their seats
and greeted me and asked me to have a seat.
Ed poured us all coffee. I know you youngsters at
the pub call us the Thursday night ers, and that's okay.
We don't mean anything by it. I promise everyone at
the pub loves you. We take no offense. Ed only
brought it up because we have a name for ourselves too.
As a matter of fact, that's why we asked you
over here this morning. I'm all ears. Henry cleared his throat.
This is something we'll talk about with you because we
trust you and we like you. I nodded, and he
went on, you know how we're always talking about the
big name people we've met. Yeah, you've all lived fascinating lives.
I took a bite of the Danish ed set down
in front of me, and you know how sometimes we
talk about history from a long time ago, yeah, you
guys are always joking about being older than you are.
I know it's all in good fun. The men's faces
grew serious and they glanced at one another. Ed leaned
forward in his chair. What if I told you we
aren't joking. Come on, guys, I know you're just kidding.
You're no older than my grandpa. That much is true, Kyle.
We are that age, but we've also met people from
long ago. It's our job that brings us to the
name we call ourselves. What do you call yourselves? The
name dropper society? That's perfect. You're the best name droppers
I've ever met. We aren't the first, Kyle. We carry
on a mission. When you asked about how the other
night and we told you he was lost during the
French Revolution, we were serious. He laughed it off as
a joke. But it's true. No, no, no way, you're
just pulling my leg. We're not. Our job is to
travel through time and be at the right place at
the right time, to make sure history happens the way
it's supposed to. I was in that security detail with Kennedy.
I loved that man, but I knew I had to
let him die. Why, let's just say any of this
is true. Why couldn't you stop something like that from happening?
Because we have to, Kyle. We have to go back
and make sure that certain people don't die, because we
have to keep history consistent, or else our entire civilization
could be destroyed. Why don't you just let history happen?
Why go back in time at all? There are bad
actors out there, Kyle. They work for the other side.
You'll hopefully learn more about that later. They seek to
upset the normal progression of history. We have to make
sure that they don't. The five of us sat in silence.
Why are you telling me this? If it's true? Like
I said earlier, we like you and trust you. We're hoping,
with your keen mind for history and your good intentions,
that you'll join us and take over for us when
you need to. We won't die for decades to come,
so don't worry that we're going anywhere fast. Though we
recognize that none of us are spring chickens. We can't
do everything we did before. We need your help. This
mission must be continued, and we're hoping you'll agree. Too
stunned to even put coherent thoughts together, I sat staring
at the half eaten Danish on the plate in front
of me. This, I feel, is what I meant to do.
This is why I've always felt a connection to the
four of you. Relief swept across their faces and their
shoulders relaxed. They smiled at me, and in unison, they said,
let's get get startled. That's how I became a member
of the Name Dropper Society, and now here I am
telling you my stories. Years and years ago I became
a member, and we still meet at O'Malley's Pub every
Thursday night to share our adventures with each other and
with an especially smart young man who waits our tables.
He doesn't know it yet, but he's about to join us.
We can hardly wait.
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining me for this episode of the
Into the Night Anthology podcast. Written by Caroline Giamanco, narrated
by Nari, Theme music by Nico Rodriguez, all other original music,
sound design and editing by Ohmenhawk Studios. You can find
our links in the show notes. Into the Night is
on your favorite podcatcher, so make sure to like, subscribe
and leave a five star review to help other excursionists
to join us. I'll see you next time, and remember,
whether in the shadows or in the daylight, all twisted
paths lead you into the night. Into the Night. Anthology
is a creative typo entertainment production. Hi, excursionists, I'm so
glad you stayed. If you ever wonder what I'm moorting
working on when I'm not here, you can find my
current and past projects at narinarrates dot com. That's also
where you can sign up to be a story in
my library, where every story somehow finds its way back home.