When Thomas stepped out of the theater, the street was steaming. A rain shower had doused the city some time during the film. He checked his watch, crossed the street, and tucked into a dark bar with a stool propping the door open. Just inside, a fat man with a dirty apron wiped his hands down his front. He was faced toward the door, stock still. He was in Thomas’s way. Thomas approached close, then slid by as if the obstacle was planned. As he passed, Thomas caught the man’s breath. Beef and bad hygiene. Before he could get two feet away, the man turned and hollered, “This idiot is coming back!” Thomas’s eardrums rocked. He winced. No one noticed. There weren’t many patrons. A woman at the bar, smoking, and two men at a booth, deep in discussion, papers between them. The woman at the bar was in her fifties. She sat slouched, a short glass of amber liquid in front of her. She was reading a magazine. As Thomas took his seat three stools down, the man from the door stepped behind the bar. He had a scraggly beard, sparce and too long. He stood in front of Thomas and asked, “What do you want?” Thomas wondered if they were closed. He tried, “Are you serving dinner yet?” The man looked away, just shy of rolling his eyes, saying “I’ll get you a menu,” turning his back. He walked behind a door into the kitchen. Simultaneously, a figure burst into the bar, kicking over the stool at the door. A thin replica of the fat man. Dirty apron, dumb look. Over the apron, he was wearing a jacket. He came close behind Thomas, nearly knocking into him as he marched toward the kitchen. He shoved the kitchen door with both hands, blasting it open. The door closed behind him, then shouting from the kitchen. A few moments of silence passed, and the fat man came out, walked quickly toward Thomas, threw down a laminated menu. He stood and stared at Thomas, expecting a decision. Thomas ordered a Reuben and a beer. He didn’t bother with the menu. He passed it back. The fat man walked back to the kitchen again. More shouting. Thomas waited for his sandwich. He waited fifteen minutes. A old man, aproned, brought his sandwich out, set it down quickly without speaking, then rushed back to the kitchen, using a towel at his side to wipe his hands. Thomas was not more than a few bites into his meal when a loud thud came from the kitchen door, then it opened just enough for the thin man to come out. He wasn’t wearing his jacket. His arms were up, his hands covering the top of his head. He was bent slightly forward. He stumbled, knocking into a counter, not looking where he was going. Then suddenly he dropped his arms, stood up straight and still. There was blood on his face. His mouth was open. He stared at Thomas. He swayed in place. Thomas stared, stood up from his stool. The two men in the corner were turned and staring, half out of their seats. The woman at the bar leapt up from her stool and took several quick steps backwards. Her voice, “What?” and the bleeding man’s eyes shifted slowly toward her. There was a large, black hilt of a knife tucked under his left cheek. Thomas wondered at how long it took him to notice such a thing. The bleeding man began looking around wildly. He looked behind him. He seemed to give up on the patrons he’d encountered outside of the kitchen. He turned toward a hall at the back of the dining area. He stumbled toward, then down the hall. It took a long time. Thomas stood and watched. They all stood and watched. One of the two men at the booth had a cloth napkin in his hand, and it unfolded toward his feet. Finally, a sound that was the bleeding man’s shoulder finding a door and shoving through. Sunlight, then another sound of the door closing. Dark. Silence. The woman turned and looked at the men. The two men at the booth stood still staring toward the door. Thomas stepped forward, down the hall, following the path laid out by the bleeding man. He went to the door, touched it. He pushed it open. He expected it not to give. He expected the bleeding man to be on his ass outside, leaned up against it. But the door opened. Easily. Thomas walked out into an alley. He looked one way, but not the other. The other direction seemed implausible somehow. The man was gone. A few feet away, a cat. The cat was gaunt. Thomas stepped forward, slow. The cat was gray with markings, but also there was blood. The cat stood and crossed the alley, showing its other side. Its other side was a barn fresh painted red.
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