I'm so lucky. The lock to my apartment was broken. The Super, Lou, wasn't able to get to it by the time Arlynn was ready to leave for her latest pre-surgical tests at nine AM, so the place remained vulnerable to any potential thief. I took all my money and my cell phone with me, and I hid my laptop in a box containing the remaining 30 or so copies of A Hitch in Twilight, beneath a number of them. Those are the items I consider the most vital. My guitar is dear to me. My mom gave it to me for my 25th birthday in 1975. I would miss it, even though my playing seems more atrocious than ever, but its absence would give me a reason to quit, so I didn't stash it. It would be a burden to replace my 25 inch analog TV, but there was no place I could have hidden it. And I've been expecting my Panasonic DVD player to break down, as it has played nearly 900 movies, so I wasn't too nervous about it. What a product, by the way.
I didn't want Arlynn to know about the situation. She tends to obsess. She keeps her gas tank full perpetually, for instance. And as someone fighting cancer, even though it's at an early stage, she has every right to be a wreck. To my surprise, she was very calm today. She came down to my place earlier than expected. Fortunately, she did not notice the hole in the door, which I pretended to lock. She completed her tests quickly and insisted on again taking me to lunch. She was looking forward to the spinach pie she'd seen through the glass the last time we were at the diner. She'd been thinking about it ever since. Unfortunately, the lone slice left did not look appetizing. She settled for an omelet. I had a burger and fries.
As soon as I'd seen her to her apartment, her birds cawing in the background, I hurried down to my own. Everything was in its place. I was so relieved. A while later, Lou showed up with a lock. Again he refused cash. I asked if he were interested in any of the CD's Marie had given me the other day. I handed him one by John Secada and another by Tevin Campbell, and he thanked me. No, thank you, sir. You saved me a lot of money and agita.
The floating bookshop will re-open tomorrow.
Read Vic's stories, free: http://vicfortezza.homestead.com/
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