Thanks Sail and Deena. I like it though I'm not quite sure I truly conveyed the psychedelic eldritch feel of the dream.

Typo, I love the way you write. It reminds me a little of Zelazny, and I mean that as a huge compliment.

Sorry I've been lax on the challenges, but this one popped into my head - don't know why.

The First

It had taken me months to finally talk to the bus stop man - to Leonard Fitzroy Cooper - such a delectable name. Leonard was delighted to have the conversation. So many just ignored him and his delicious cardboard sign. Although I was too embarrassed to accept his shoe shine offer, I listened and savored his many stories.

It took three invitations before Leonard brought his sign upstairs. I wonder if he knew I didn’t need the “will work” part. Don’t worry - he felt no pain. As you well know, I enjoyed all my first meals post-mortem.

It's time for another edition of Name That Character!

Which of these last names, in your opinion, best meets the following criteria: 1) sounds strong and attractive, and 2) sounds like it should be preceded by "of the Boston" (this is for a fictional family of Boston VIPs with roots going back to Puritan days)

Barlow
Bonfield
Foster
Gardner
Hawkins
Lyons
Mayes
Morgan

Ooh, that's chilling, Wolfram.

I do like that Wolfram. I like the way you always manage to put a bit of horror/scifi into the mix.

Susan, my eyes stopped at Barlow. All the other names seemed like second best after that one.

Thanks guys. Comes from growing up on lots of King, Koontz and Barker.

For strong and attractive I like Morgan and Lyons, though the latter may be too on-the-nose.

Wolfram, the twist got to me. Here was this nice guy making friends with a homeless person, and the boom! Vampire or Ghoul or Serial Killer or whatever. Total shock.

Susan - I'm with Sail on "of the Boston Barlows". Nothing else works as well for me.

And for "strong and attractive choose a good first name:

Bernard
Baron
Ben
Blaise
Blaine
Boaz
Bredan/Brendon
Bradford
Brice/Bryce
Bryan/Brian
Bruce

Wolfram, the twist got to me. Here was this nice guy making friends with a homeless person, and the boom! Vampire or Ghoul or Serial Killer or whatever. Total shock.

Thanks. I actually started with run-of-the-mill serial killer/cannibal, but I like the vampire or ghoul thing better. Also, I was coy on the killer's gender, but I thought a woman would be more interesting. Was the "will work" pun too obscure?

Gardner actually is an old Boston name.