“How long has that guy been out there?” he said to Kim.

“Oh, him?” Kim said. “I guess he just showed up.”

“Come on, Kimberly,” Max said. He sat down behind the desk and put his head in his hands.

“Leslie, come help me,” Kim said. She hooked Leslie’s arm through hers and went outside. The man was sprawled to the left of the door, his head resting on his outstretched arm, which extended into the entranceway.

“Sir,” Kim yelled. “I’m really sorry but you need to move now, okay?”

He grunted and shifted slightly, revealing a puddle of urine.

“Sir, we don’t want to call the police, but you have to move now.”

“No cops,” he muttered. He opened his eyes and fixed them unfocusedly on Leslie. She told herself that she understood this, sympathized with it. She knew what it was like to have done too much, to be out of control. She also knew, or suspected, at least, that this really wasn’t like that, and that whatever sympathy she had for him was just pity, which she was trying to keep ahead of disgust in her emotional calculus.

“No cops,” the man said again, and began dragging himself down the sidewalk, leaving a trail of piss and garbage in his wake. They watched as he re-settled a few storefronts down, curling himself up in the doorway of the closed secondhand clothing store.

“Maybe we should call the cops?” Leslie said. “I mean, fuck, jail is better than that.”

“No, it’s not,” Kim said.

They went back into the store, where a few people had begun drifting in and picking up cans of Cal’s deformed beer.

“Hey, Les, this is Megan,” Cal said. “She’s my opening act. Or rather, I’m the, uh, cool-down mix to her energizing jams.”

Megan acknowledged this with a stifled laugh and shook Leslie’s hand. Megan was unusually tall and long-limbed and delicate. Leslie thought Megan was raising her eyebrows ironically but it turned out that was just how they were all the time.

“I’m looking forward to hearing your stuff,” Leslie said.

Megan shrugged.

“I think it’s good, at least,” she said.

“That’s a start,” said Leslie. “What are you reading?”

“It’s kind of a reflection on … I don’t know.” She let out a heavy sigh. “The body? I don’t really know what I’m doing anymore. It’s just … it’s really hard, you know?” She stared down at the floor.

“I’m sure you’re going to be great,” Leslie said. “This is a very forgiving audience.”

“Oh God,” she said, “I hope I don’t have to be forgiven for anything.”