Whether by grace of God or cosmic force of nature he’s directed and trapped in a liquid life.

These words rang through David’s mind. He couldn’t get that so-called run-on sentence out of his head. No matter what he did, the words could not escape him. He tried thinking of such questions as if one could be fit as a whistle, then why are whistle dogs so unhealthy? Then his right brain observational skills mocked him, denouncing his query as too masochistically commercial. He wept.

David Schultz turned the corner down Paper Street and felt a chill as if a penguin had just signed an autograph at a zoo in Phoenix. He wept. David continued walking down Paper Street until he reached the concrete steps of the plastics factory. He was looking for a sign. He thought to himself if he were to taunt a man with a derby who said he knew God, would the doors in front of him open and then he would be forced to remove his clothing and join them for cake. Then David saw a sign, it read “Since 1956”. David wept.

As a result of a gift-wrapping incident at the age of nine, David always jumps backward off a flight of stairs that have an odd count. This time was no exception. After picking himself up, the sentence that was haunting him all day shot through his mind with a pink glow. David then thought he heard a laugh. That thought quickly disappeared as he remembered that it was soup night at Sardies. He wept.

David looked back up at the numbers 1956. He felt he was owed an explanation for the numbers being in red and yellow. In David’s mind those two colours when combined, were associated with the Soviet flag and the Ketchard product invented by his uncle Stacy in honour of the New York World’s Fair. David shuffled sideways up the stairs and stormed through the open doors and looked to his left and then to his right.

Upon David seeing a corridor, which lead to a closed door, unknown professional boxer Junior Caesar purchases a Harlequin novel. David wept. He followed the corridor, which then lead to a door that had “T.R. Bule – Manager” written on the door.

“Come in,” came from a beefy and fresh voice inside the office. David Schultz’s mind went blank but was soon filled with thoughts of vacation luggage as he realized that a childhood premonition of his English Setter had come true. He would one day meet trouble.

(C) 2006, Marty Finestone