Page 7: — Answering an ad

Very down-and-out grocery mart, with a line along one wall waiting for the cashier. Alma is toward the back of the line, looking casually at the ads and notices posted on ratty cork panels beside her.

One day when I was in a mini-mart, I noticed an ad on a bulletin board.

Closer view of a wide assortment of ads and notices, most of which seem real enough (room for rent, seeking roommate, refrigerator for sale, kittens available, housecleaning, lose 10 pounds in a week, etc. ) and some less so (2 free tickets to Hawaii, werewolf support group, willing ritual sacrifice wanted, soul cleaning, intergalactic trade opportunities, etc. ). Prominent, slightly off center, is a tattered note advertising "Deal with your darkness! One-time opportunity to come to terms with what scares you about yourself. Work with the goddess directly! Change your life. " Along the bottom of the note are tear-strips on each of which is written a different address, date and time. Alma's hand is visible tearing off one of these strips.

I don't know why, but it seemed interesting. . . no, it just seemed like a way to start. . . something I could back out of, too. I don't know. Anyway, I tore off the phone number while I was waiting.

Alma is looking up at a sign over a sleazy bar at twilight.

What was strange was, instead of a phone number, there was just this address written on the slip I tore off, with a time and date. The time was 6:00 PM, the date was that same day, and the address turned out to be not far from where I worked. Partly out of curiosity, I guess, I walked over that evening. The address turned out to be just a run-down club of the sort I never go into. I don't remember going into it.

This script may be copied freely and used provided that its authorship in each instance is prominently and clearly attributed to Harold S. Henry.

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(last updated 20 March 2004)