The Bird And The Domino

The Bird And The Domino, Part 2

Let's actually start the story.

So it begins at a library on a Tuesday afternoon. Yes, that Tuesday. So off with my voice; you'll be getting this story straight from the source. And before I go, I'd like to point out to you that I'm actually quite the gentleman. You'll find that unnecessary swearing is not typical of me.

Mangus, 1:47 PM

This is the worst fucking afternoon in the history of afternoons. And I'm a janitor at a public library, so that should tell you just how fucked my day was.

Nobody told me that refereeing for a junior-league football game would be so dangerous. I kid you not, my old job as a floo-driver back in Mumbai would have been preferable to this. I needed the money, though, so when that asshole Chad lied through his teeth in telling me how fun it would be to play judge and jury over the physical misanthropes of confused nine-year olds engaging themselves in an activity at the whims of their parents— well, I happily obliged at the first mention of the word "pay."

I'm not going to lay out to you the evidence pointing to my overall lack of self-respect, but you should probably already be guessing that I'm financially unstable. I don't actually have a bank account anywhere; my only insurance is like five quid stashed inside my cat's mattress. Mind you, not like Stella ever actually sleeps on it, I just call it "her mattress" because when I bought that undersized rectangle of foam a couple years ago at the flea market outside Irvington, I for some reason imagined the stupid cat using it.

I imagine it cost more than the five quid currently inside it. 

Anyways, here's basically why that day was as bad as I'm making it out to be: it's not actually the things that happened that were bad, it's really just the fact that everything that happened to me and everything I did just tore away any lasting fiber of decency within me.

The game ended at around 3. After I returned the uniform to the host tent, I received my money and left the field. I had an off day at my actual job, which was a first, considering that I worked through weekends and holidays. I never used a vacation day until now. Okay, don't be thinking that I took a day off just for the game, that's ridiculous. I took a day off because Ladwick called for an emergency meeting in the library basement (I'll get into that later).

I got into my car, a forlorn, colorless machine rescued from my uncle's brother-in-law, who was planning on donating it to the local classical radio station. I stopped by my house to pick up my D&D duffel bag, and headed over to the the library, its basement being the make-believe alternative to getting a girlfriend.