barry woke up at five thirty as he always did, without the aid of an alarm clock.
he had his usual breakfast of instant coffee and a coupe of slices of cold pizza. on some mornings he also had a small glass of orange juice - in an old welch’s jelly jar that his father had owned before him, because he knew he should get some vitamin c - but on this morning he just was not up to it.
he could hear it raining outside, though not nearly as hard as it had been on the night - was it really less than a week ago? - that he had decided to start a new life.
in his usual routine, barry would give himself about half an hour after finishing his breakfast before leaving for work. he might check the baseball scores from the previous night - many of which he might already have seen or heard before gong to bed. or, more usually, he would just stare into space for the half hour.
but on this morning, he left as soon as he finished his second cup of coffee, so as to check out 53 wayne street before reporting to work. he realized that 53 wayne street, if it existed at all, and whatever it might be, might not be open for business so early in the morning, but he just wanted to see if it was there.
barry got into his van - actually the delivery company’s van. but as a trusted employee he was allowed to take it home at night. he kept it spotlessly clean and made sure it was always in good working order. and he always scrupulously logged the mileage he accrued for his personal use.
he quickly found 53 wayne street on the gps. as he thought, it was not that far away, or that out of the way from the dispatch office.
barry parked on wayne, directly across from number 53. there were no people on the street at all. there was a little diner on the first floor of one of the buildings, but it did not look open. none of the other buildings on the street, including 53, seemed to have any commercial occupancies.
it was still raining, pretty hard. barry got out of the van and approached 53. it looked like an ordinary apartment building, with steps leading up to a front door, and the windows to basement apartments on either side of the stairs.
barry squinted up at the number on the door. yes, it said 53 all right. there were no lights showing in any of the windows.
he was getting wet very quickly. he decided to give it up and come back some other time. as he turned to go back to the van, he heard a voice.
“looking for someone?”
it was a girl, or young woman, under an umbrella. she was ordinary looking, and wearing dark or thick glasses. barry did not care much for women, and avoided them as much as possible, but he thought this one looked like a particularly nasty specimen.
“is this 53 wayne street?” barry asked.
“it looks that way. can’t you read the number on the door?”
“are you mac?” barry asked the young woman. as soon as he said it, he realized he had gotten it wrong, he was supposed to ask for muggsy and tell him that mac sent him.
“am i who?” the young woman asked in a mean voice.
“i’m sorry, i meant are you muggsy?”
“what? what? what are you talking about, asshole?”
this is not going too well, barry thought. “i am sorry, i was told to come to this address - “
“i don’t give a fuck what anybody told you, get the fuck away from me, you creep.”
“sure, sure, whatever you say.” barry did not think he had been standing that close to the young woman, but he did not want to argue with her, he just wanted to get away.
i really messed this up good, he thought, as he headed back to the van with the rain beating on his head.
the young woman shouted a few things at him as he got back in the van and drove off, but he could not make out what she said.
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