Episode 03: You Can Own It But Mostly It'll Own You

“C’mon, let’s go grab a smoke.”

“Can I bum one from you?”

“Really?

Demon rolled his eyes, but nodded.

Boots, jacket, scarf, hat, gloves, bottles of Premium, out the back door.

The alleyway behind the Dupont Complex wasn’t particularly warm, but the building was large enough that it blocked the wind pretty well. He pulled out his pack and kicked out two cigarettes. He lit one and handed it to me.

“Thanks,” I said as he struggled to light his own.

“Damn, girl, you must be freezing.” He finally got his lit, taking a few quick puffs to make sure the cherry was glowing.

“Please… For those of us who were born here, this is nothing. Believe me, it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better. You should learn to love it.”

“’Those of us born here…’ You wear it like a fucking badge of honor. Girl, ain’t no honor is freezing. Pretty fucking stupid if you ask me.”

“Believe me, you gotta be born into it.”

“Back east, it never got this cold. We got snowstorms though. Oh shit did we get some snowstorms. When I was back home last year, the snow came so thick and so fast that it jammed up the pipes under the street. People couldn’t shower because there was no water. People couldn’t even flush there damn toilets!”

“Really? YOU are gonna tell ME about snowstorms?”

“Trust me. Ain’t nothing like those East Coast snowstorms.”

I hate when he gets on about the East Coast. He’ll talk and talk about how great things are back in the city. How he misses it and how he hates Minneapolis. I tried to change the subject.

“That’s some good stuff you got upstairs. You bring that back from New York?”

“Oh you like that?”

I had to admit I did. I’m a little new to the game, but I knew good from bad.

“Yeah, it’s not bad.”

“Some of my old Brooklyn friends hooked me up with that. Sure helped get through the drive back. You ever try to drive through Ohio straight? Shit‘s boring as hell.”

“Well, don’t let me leave without paying you.”

“Ha huh! Girl, don’t even worry about it. We’re friends, it’s no big deal.”

God, he had the dumbest laugh. It was always so fake. I wonder what his actual laugh sounds like.

“No, really. Let me pay before I go.”

“Right, right…”

He sucked down the last of his beer and strode across the alleyway, setting the bottle on top of the dumpster at the other end of the parking lot.

“Check out what else I picked up while I was back home.”