Small Places : Nick L Belardes [14 of 128]

• Four.
• Guy: hair stands on end, metal glasses on a long pale nose, faded Hawaiian shirt and book, "Massage Mataphysics" tucked under scrawny arm.
• He follows me. I get a hot dog and he's reading that book. I'm in a cafe looking for a muffin with more than two blueberries. He's there.
• The next day I see him just as the Winona Ryder look-a-like girl behind the coffee counter says: "My boyfriend has a catheter."
• She continues: “It’s a skateboard injury. The skateboard stood straight up on him in the half-pipe and he injured his dick.
• Want the usual?”  I grimace. I notice he is reading that book. I finally realize he works less than I do.
• He must be an agile downtown business escape artist. I want to become efficient as such an expert corporate Houdini.
• Alakazam! Alavamooshka! I can't get away from time: 8-hour day, 1-hour lunch, two 10-minute breaks, boss comes in at eight,
• I come in at seven. I'm a bug. Stomp me.