by TheTimeTrust
The next morning:
In Apartment 101, Pete "the Chimp" Glover snored loudly as he slept on an old shag carpet with a ragged gray blanket to keep him warm. He was also fully clothed. Although the apartment was fully furnished, Pete could not get used to sleeping in a real bed, having slept on the streets of more cities around the world than he could name.
His snoring ceased even as he heard a voice calling out to him.
"Pete."
"Whu--?"
"Pete, get up."
"Whu... whoozat?"
"Pete, get up now!"
"I'll be over now, d'once," Pete mumbled while half-asleep.
"PETE!"
"'M goin', 'm goin'!" Pete said loudly as he rose and grabbed his blanket, thinking that he was still on the streets and being told to "move along" by a member of the local constabulary. That is, until he tripped over the sofa and fell on his face.
"Ouch! I been clobbered!" Pete groaned. "Where I at now, b'y?"
"Pete..."
"AHH!" Pete shouted as he jumped a foot in the air. Before him stood a figure of a man who was transparent. He was tall, blonde, and seemed to be hovering just over the floor. "Oh... 't's you! Where you been lately? I a'most been missing ya!"
The spectre seemed to laugh slightly. "I'm never too far away from you, Pete. It is my mission to watch over you and make sure you use your luck for good. You and I are connected because of it. Such is my fate after death."
"Walll, ya better get yerself a new mission, me son. Ye're liable to scare me out of my wits one o' dese days!"
"Pete, don't you remember what you were going to do today? You have an appointment with Mr. Piper."
"Whadda you care?"
"Let's just say... we think it's important that you keep this meeting."
"Who's 'we'?"
"Call him, Pete," the ghost of Kristofer Schanz said as if from a distance. Seconds later, he vanished slowly like a camera fading to black.
Pete sat there and scratched himself for a couple of minutes. Then he finally found the card that Kit Piper had given him the previous day in his wrinkled clothes, which he had purchased at an upscale airport clothier (although his clothes were very expensive, Pete had the unique ability to make any clothes look shabby). He left his apartment and went outside to look for a telephone. The telephone lines were hopefully being installed this afternoon with individual phone numbers for each apartment, although the electrical and water lines had already been taken care of a day before they arrived.
Pete found an old rotary public telephone and inserted a quarter. He grumbled and rubbed his eyes as he dialed the numbers on the card he held in his hand. He knew that irritating spirit would keep hounding him about it until he did. "Hi, it's Pete," he said, waiting on the phone for about three minutes while Kit Piper talked. Finally he said, "Okay, stay where you're at, and I'll come to where you to."