Steven
grimaced as the loud, droning elevator music blared over the
loudspeaker. The florescent lights and the stifling heat in this
tiny room made Steven feel like he was in a sauna. Sadly, Steven was
not relaxing on a bench somewhere, he was in a long, slow moving
line, waiting to talk to some unhappy person about getting his car
back.
Steven
had awoken that morning to find that his 2010 Toyota had been stolen
right off the street. Worse, it had not been by some loner looking
for a quick buck, nor by some nefarious, shadowy organization
intending to use it for some kind of fast and furious scheme. It had
been commandeered by the city. The very city that Steven pays taxes
to and supports. They had decided to arbitrarily post a sign on his
street that allowed them to take his car hostage, then force him to
pay money to get it back. If he wasn't so angry, Steven would have
been impressed at that kind of extortion.
So here
he was, fresh off a 25 dollar taxi ride, in a terrible part of town,
already late for work. His boss would never let him hear the end of
this. Somehow he would make this all Steven's fault, as if he did
all of this intentionally. Steven profoundly hated that man. He
also hated every other living thing in this room. They were all
hindrances to him. It was all a constant reminder of why he hated
going out in public, save for occasional forays with Susan and band
gigs with Leonard.
The door
slammed as another person entered the room, loudly agitated and
yelling at everyone he could. Steven avoided eye contact as best he
could and tried to make himself smaller. He did not need that now.
As much as he agreed with the man, he had to get out of here as
quickly as he could, and for that to happen he had to suck it up and
cooperate. He could think of few things he would rather do right
now.
He
finally got to the window, only for the bored, inattentive high
school graduate to tell him that the paperwork he needs was in his
car, which happened to be in their lot. Now he had to go out and
speak with another person he did not care about, retrieve the
document, and start all over again. He wondered how many people just
gave up. Many of the cities used car lots could be stocked
exclusively with the leftovers from these places of despair. This
was going to be a long, long day.
