He stopped talking when I came out of the bathroom. "Are you finished?" I asked, annoyed. "Let's go. Did you bring the truck?"

Henry nodded. “Can you read this?” he asked, picking up a Bulgarian paper from the table.

“Yes.” I locked the door behind us. He was right about the room and it bothered me. There was no reason to live like this, in a place like this, other than habit. But if I had better habits, I'd just have to work harder or get a regular job to support them. Besides, what's the point in a better standard of living if you’re not that standard?

When we reached his white pickup truck, I hesitated to open the passenger door and looked at him through the open windows. "Don’t worry about the noose. I put it up just to mess with the management."

"Where to?"

"Sierra Chemical Company near Riverside and The 2, I'll show you."

Henry made the turn into the parking lot of the chemical store and left the motor running. "So do you just go in and buy it or what?"

"Yeah, they sell chemicals here, it’s no big deal. They don't know what it's going to be used for."

I had no trouble buying the alcohol and emerged minutes later with a white, five-gallon can.

"That was quick," Henry said.

"Quick and easy, let's go." A feeling of overwhelming paranoia swept over me as we pulled away. Funny thing, I never feel nervous or larcenous about the lighting of the fire, but I always feel like I'm walking into a sting operation when I buy supplies or prep a job site.

"We need to go by a hardware store and then to the warehouse," I said.

"Where is the warehouse?"

"Commerce."

He pulled into the alley and stopped by the door. "Take off after I unload the stuff and come back in an hour. I'll leave the door open if I'm ready to go. If it's not open, come back in another hour. It shouldn't take any longer than that." I put on a pair of black rubber gloves and jumped out of the cab of the truck. In less than fifteen seconds, I had opened the warehouse door, unloaded the truck, and closed the door behind me.

My heart raced and I sat for a moment on the steps to keep my legs from shaking. There was more light now and I could easily see up the stairs. I pulled out a cigarette and smoked it down to the end, smoked it until it started to scorch my throat. I crushed out the remainder and placed it in my pocket before unwrapping the roller pan and mop head. 'You're not thinking clearly, you should have removed these wrappers beforehand. Concentrate.'