Out of place
I don’t know if it was the black eyes of people watching me or the way everything looked dark and overused in that city, but I was ill at ease, as if restlessness could be defined by leg that wouldn’t stop bouncing under the table and an imagination that predicted I would be mugged. I was in a fifties-style diner and waited . I waited for half an hour, forty-five minutes, an hour. I felt like I had been waiting for people all day. But then he showed up, his dark hair in small dreads, loose-bound behind his head. He was a black man but had sounded Hispanic over the phone. He sat down in front of me. “Sorry for being late,” he said, “Your wife told me about what happened. You want to see it?”.He showed me the merchandise, that nefarious thing I’d driven to the city for, the thing I couldn’t live without.”It looks good. I’ll take it.” I pulled out my checkbook.” Woah. . .no no no,we only do cash here. I thought i was very clear about that on the site”. “I didn’t see the site.” ” Right, yeah, I’m sorry about that, but we only do cash”.” I don’t have cash,” I said , my stomach sinking, as it has been all day.” I don’t know then. You could come back tomorrow, or. . .” “I am not coming back tomorrow. I can get cash. Can you meet again in 45 minutes?” “The banks are closed, man.”, ” It’s fine”. I hit up the grocery store first, dropping a half-dozen begels on the dirty conveyor belt in that dimlit place.” What’s your cash back limit”, I asked.” One hundred dollars,” said the uninterested checker.” Great,” I said…………….. The next part will come soon…….