"Slow tonight," I tell Omar as we sit at a table for drinks at the Blue Lotus.

"Hardly," he replies with gaffaw. "The joint is positivly rowdy!" I glance around the room as I light a cigarette. There were many, many, many new faces at the Hotel Cairo, and I'd say all of them were in this room. This would be my second year with the hotel, and while I was looking forward to it, part of me was worried that the real adventure we had experienced and the stories that we'll tell would be old hat to these newcomers, and that bothered me.

"Lucky Strike?" a stranger asks as I pocket the lighter.

"Salome," I reply, and turn back to Omar.

"Terrible habit for a lady," Omar comments. "When did you pick that up again?"

"Somewhere between the Andes and the Arabians," I replied cockily, sipping my Cosmopolitan. I crank my neck- was that Simon Niall across the room?

"You're in a fine mood tonight," he says, sipping his brandy.

"Ah, come on, darling," I smile. "Here I got all dolled up and everything."

"You just seem distant." I shrug, poking out the cigarette.

"I just expected it to be different, I guess," I reply. "The old crowd and all. Instead there's an onslaught of new faces and new music."

"You know what they say," he replies with a smile. I raise an eyebrow in curiousity. "Can't beat em, join em..." A smile spreads across my face.

"Come on then," I say, standing and reaching out a hand. "Let's have us a dance, lighten the mood, and be happy that we are back in the land of sand and mystery." He chuckles as we head towards the dancefloor. "Who knows, if we're lucky we may even catch a glimpse of The Shadow? Now wouldn't that be the cat's pajamas..."