william had a way of coming into the store, and launching into a conversation as if he were resuming one that had been interrupted a few minutes before, even though the listener, yancey or anyone else, had no idea what he was talking about.
yancey usually found this amusing, or at least not annoying. he had known people in prison with a similar manner.
once, around three in the morning, when the store was empty except for yancey behind the counter, william suddenly appeared with a scowl on his face and announced -
that guy in toledo, who found that thing in his back yard, he disappeared!
hold on, yancey replied tolerantly, what guy in toledo? i never heard about any guy in toledo. what did he do that was so important?
he found a space ship in his back yard!
how did he know it was a space ship? did it had a label on it marked space ship?
there you go again, william said, trying to change the subject. what else would it be but a space ship?
william walked over to the aisle containing potato chips and began intently examining the variously colored bags of chips.
yancey did not say anything more about the space ship. the subject was apparently dropped.
and that football game in russia where that girl got killed, what do you think about that? william asked.
i didn’t hear about that, yancey answered.
you should have , william said, it shows how messed up everything is. but nobody wants to learn, or take any responsibility.
that could be, yancey agreed.
the door opened and zorina came in. she did not usually come in at night.
yancey nodded at her.
you are up late, william said to zorina. did you hear about the guy in toledo.
no, and he probably didn’t hear about me. i just came in to get a couple of white pills and a mountain dew.
zorina went over to the cold drinks section and grabbed a can of mountain dew.
she wished she had not come in, because now she would have to listen to william, and maybe have to chase him away if he followed her out of the store.
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