Chapter Two: Street Cred

With his hands pressed firmly into his coat pockets, David walked silently and somberly through colorless streets under a colorless sky. The alleys were damp, and as he walked on some buildings hissed steam from their vents while other vents just droned. The sights and smells weren’t always pleasant, but whatever they lacked in aesthetics they made up for in intrigue because, in David’s mind, anything foreign to the suburbs seemed dynamic to him.

David had fair hair and fair skin, and his face soon became ruddy with the cold. Breathing into his hands, he sat down on a bench outside the bus station where two men approached him.

“Hey man, you got the time?”

“Yeah, 10 o’clock.”

The first man smiled and took another step towards David. He was a black man, tall and stocky and he was wearing an army style coat with a large duffle bag over his shoulder. His friend, however, was small and frail, and long strands of gray hair were slicked back on his head. Coarse facial hair sprung from unexpected places: high up to the tops of his cheeks, between his eyebrows and hairline, and even a few hairs sprouted from the tip of his nose.

“Dang, brother,” the first man continued, “Is that your coat?”

David nodded, suspicious of where this exchange was going.

“My name’s Tony. This here is William.” He slapped David on the shoulder with big paws. “Seriously, that’s your coat? Dang, man! You’re waiting for a bus?”

“No, I have a car.”

“Look, man. I’ll be straight up. Me and Will here are in a bind. Can you give us a lift to the Super 8 uptown? Huh?” Tony smiled and slapped David’s shoulder again. David didn’t have much time to respond before Tony interrupted with an exaggerated sigh. “Aw, Buddy! I think Buddy’s scared of us, Will! Look at ‘im!”

William flashed a toothless grin and fidgeted nervously. David was unsure how serious Tony was, and decided to laugh and go along with it. “Just to the Super 8? That’s on my way home.” David wasn’t sure if he was performing his good deed for the day or if he was getting duped. At any rate, Tony and Will seemed harmless. If anything out of the ordinary happened, David would have a good story to tell his friends.

Tony talked all the way back to the car. He was from Queens. The streets are tough. David is a good man. Will is his friend; don’t mess with Will. David smiled and nodded and laughed as Tony rambled, but that didn’t stop Tony from occasionally declaring, “Oh no! Buddy’s scared to death now.” Again, David laughed. But he could never tell how serious the stranger was.

The car was quiet in the parking lot of the Super 8 motel. David could see Will in the rear view mirror, he was quiet and wrenched his hands by his chin. “Look, man,” Tony quietly started, “I’ll be straight up. We don’t have a room at the Super 8. But listen, we just needed you to help us out.” The words came quietly and rhythmically, “All I’m asking is for you help me get a hat and some band-aids for Will’s feet. Is that too much to ask, Dave? Huh?”

David wondered if he made the right decision. “A hat and band-aids?” David cleared his throat, “OK, hat and band-aids, guys. Then I gotta get going, you know?” Tony came back to life and started rambling again as the car made its way to Wal Mart.

“Buddy, is that your watch? Seriously, is that your watch? Is it stainless steel? My watch is stainless steel. You know what that means?”

“What.”

“Brother! It’s STAINLESS...and it’s STEEL! Geez!” With that Will rattled off a stream of laughs and mumbles that didn’t make sense.

Soon David found himself at the register with a hat and band-aids. It was an NFL certified beanie for $11.97, not the equally warm beanie for $2.99. Also at the register: gloves, Hot Tamales, socks, SpongeBob Squarepants boxers, and a litany of other items that may or may not have been necessary. David wasn’t sure if he had been duped or if he was being uncommonly charitable.

Still, it wasn’t his place to establish what was needed for survival on the wilderness of the streets. As David extended a hand to wish his dubious amigos a polite farewell, Tony shook it heartily, but didn't let go. “Look, man. I’ll be straight up...”