Part the 37th - In which Adam returns to the house ...

Adam burst unannounced into his own home with the pamphlet still in hand, damaged by folding, twisting and hand sweat. Justin was there to greet him. He held the pamphlet out for Justin to see.

“What’s this?”

“Yo, man,” Justin said, distractedly, “I don’t know but your computer got jacked.”

It didn’t register with Adam, “this pamphlet,” he said, “did you print these out?”

“You’re not listening, bra.”

“The pamphlets.”

“Oh, shit. Yeah I ran them off an shit at the nearest Kinko’s and shit.”

“Then, who handed me this?”

“That was probably my friend Marco.”

“Ah. Probably your friend, Marco. How come I’ve never met this Marco and he’s handing me pamphlets about myself.”

“I been bigging him up in the way of the force, yo. Relax, G.”

“Don’t tell me to ‘relax, G.’ This is getting way out of hand. I can’t do this anymore, I can’t cope with the craziness.”

Justin caught a big whiff of Adam’s breath.

“Oh damn, man. You been out all night drinking and shit? Yo breath is rank, you know what I’m sayin?”

“Yeah. Yeah. I know what you’re saying. Don’t ask me how, but I know. I’m going to bed.”

***

Adam awoke after four black hours of dreamless sleep with a headache and an unsettled gut. He took a leak and went to check his e-mail but found his computer was missing.

“What is this?”

A knock came at the door. He opened it and found another agent.

“Long night?” the agent said. He handed Adam an envelope and walked off.

Adam closed the door, scratched his head sleepily and opened it. He brushed the money aside and took out the post-it note. It said Grocery Money, all in capitals, underlined with three angry exclamation points.

Adam smiled.

***

“There was sensitive material on that computer,” Marsh said, “I can’t stress that enough.”

“You,” Adam emphasized, “had sensitive material on my computer?”

“I’ve webcast the show from it, and downloaded some documents I was going to use for my next show.”

“Well,” Justin said flippantly, “it’s gone now.”

“You’re not helping,” Adam said, “it’s your fault to begin with. Tell me again what happened.”

“Well, I grabbed this crackhead motherfucker off the streets, you know what I’m saying? And I took him in for the night, on the real. I thought I’s getting through to him and shit. Motherfucker was talking shit all night, for reals. Man, I woke up, that motherfucker was gone.”

“With the computer,” Marsh added.

Justin made a smacking sound with corner of his mouth.

“Who said you could take in vagrants, anyway?” Adam asked.

“I don’t know,” Justin replied, “I guess I just assumed. Look, I fucked up, yo.”

“Yeah, well,” Adam said, rubbing the back of his head, “Marsh here has some important documents on it and I think we ought to try to track it down.”

“Forget it,” Marsh said, “it’s gone. Just leave it, it’s probably sold by now for rock cocaine money. Pff, that computer is probably all smoked away by now.”

“No,” Adam said, “don’t worry about it. We’ll get it back. Show me,” he said to Justin, “you found him once you can do it again, take me to him.”

***

And there was David, right where Justin had found him the last time.

“Ooowhee,” Justin said, “you dumb as shit, son. Right in the same place I found you. Shit.”

David jerked around, rubbing his head and swinging his arm off erratically. He had a cardboard roll from wrapping paper in his other hand. He turned back around and began smacking the roll against the wall, destroying it easily.

“I don’t have your TV,” David said and laughed, “I don’t know what happened to it.” He laughed again and hit the wall again.

“Yeah, I think I got an idea what happened to it,” Justin said, stepping up, “what’s up now, boy?”

Adam grabbed Justin by the chest and held him back.

“You think you’re wise, boy,” David said, “yeah, you may be wise but you don’t know like I know. I know it’s like, whuagh!” he went into a karate pose and struck the wall again, “whuagh! You don’t know shit. You don’t know the things what I’ve seen, things that - that you couldn’t fathom in your whole entire lifespan. But I see them and I just smack them down, whuagh! And I’m smacking and I’m smacking and they keep on coming but I just keep on smacking them down like whuagh, whuagh, whuagh!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Justin said, “you smack them down, motherfucker--”

“Motherfucker, who in the fuck you think you’re calling a motherfucker? Whuagh!”

“Where’s the computer, yo?”

“The comp - what? - the computer? I told you, I don’t know nothing about no goddamn computer. The State Department took it.” David laughed, “yeah - those motherfuckers - they take everything. They took my dentures and they were there in the morning in the house and then I smacked them down. I smacked them down, and smacked them down. Boom, boom, boom! And they followed me here and now here they are again.”

He took a flying jump kick at the wall and fell down like a rag doll on the wet puddly pavement.

“Look,” Marsh said, “he doesn’t have it. Let’s get the hell out of here.”

“Yeah,” Justin said, “this shit is whack. Last time I ever help out a crackhead, motherfucker!”

David was sprawled out on the ground. He reached over and yelled nasily toward Justin, crying.

Adam had a hard time just walking away, but he just didn’t feel like he could help anyone anymore.