Suzie’s House 423 : A Righteous Young Man

Once Ethan had gobbled down a couple of slices of pizza, his stomach protested. He lingered over the open box, loath to part with it even though eating anything more would probably push him from queasy mortifying. It was too rich to eat in one sitting after so long without food.

Still, he couldn’t pass up this bounty. Pathetic though it may be, he intended to keep every square inch the nice young man had given him. He looked around for a paper napkin to store the remainder in. Alas, the kitchen of the pizzeria gleamed too cleanly for that.

The young man closed the door of the little office adjoining the kitchen and locked it with a key tethered to his hip by a retractable cord. Ethan looked about more desperately. He needed to find some way to carry the pizza that would not attract too much attention before he was evicted from his stool.

“Where are you planning on sleeping tonight?”

“Oh. Um…. I don’t know. I’m sure I can manage,” Ethan said with more confidence than he felt. He wasn’t looking forward to attempting another bridge or underpass. When those accommodations were acceptable, they tended to be occupied.

He wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to such a lifestyle. He rather hoped he would not.

“Why don’t you come home with me?”

“Oh! No. I couldn’t impose.” Ethan carefully stacked up the slices of pizza. Though the pockets of his trousers weren’t exactly sanitary, they could accommodate the food.

“Seriously. I have a bathtub with your name on it.” The young man reached under the counter and extracted a length of plastic wrap.

“A bath.” Ethan didn’t mean to say it with such longing. The thought of being clean again held so much appeal he couldn’t stand it.

“You could do some laundry, too. You’re a bit bigger than me, but I have some clothes that might fit.” He wrapped up Ethan’s remaining pizza in sedate yet competent movements.

“A bath,” Ethan said again. When would he get another chance? It wouldn’t hurt to be clean, or at least cleaner, when he made it home.

“Wait for me at the back door. I’ll drive around and pick you up.” He ushered Ethan out the back door with hand pressed firmly to his shoulder.

It was all done so quickly and so smoothly that Ethan hadn’t even gotten beyond the mental image of taking a bath before he found himself standing alone under the security light over the door to the alley. There he stood in a pool of light with a plastic wrapped stack of pizza slices and no idea what he might be getting into.

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