The Book of a Few by Austen Rodgers Page A

the fact he could blow my skull open, but also by what I had caught him in the middle of. He was sitting in a bathroom stall, with his pants pulled down to his ankles. Finding a man taking care of his bodily business isn’t what was awkward about it. It was the items that lay at his feet that made our first meeting uncomfortable.
     
    Now, let me take a step back and explain how it all happened. The Squad and I were searching throughout the sporting goods store in search of the key we desperately need, like we had planned. Noises such as grunting, moaning, and heavy breathing were coming from the men’s bathroom. We stood outside the door for a few moments and felt that the noises coming from inside were not normal. Branden, Taylor, and Will all deemed me to be the scout, so I went in the bathroom first. While remaining as quiet as possible, I approached the stall where the noises were coming from.
     
    I was nervous walking into an unknown situation, yet I still felt relatively safe knowing that standing in the doorway were three other men who would help me if I needed them. Just a few short seconds before I reached out to open the door, it swung open. The door slammed into the next stall and nearly ripped my face off in the process. By chance, I was quick enough to step back in time to not get hit by it, but then I became stunned by what I was seeing inside the stall.
     
    With his handgun pointed in my direction, the man cursed and tried to pull up his pants. An adult magazine, a small plastic jar with a blue label and lid, and what appeared to be paraphernalia rested on the ground near his feet. Having never experimented with drugs of any kind myself, but having witnessed all different kinds of substances in use in movies, I had a general idea what the syringes were for.
     
    In the surprise of the moment, I glanced away like I was trying to respect his privacy. That was probably foolish since he had a gun pointed at me. Nonetheless, I saw what I saw. I feared for my own safety and dove out of the doorway of the stall. Branden and the others rushed in at that point and quickly pulled me up from the floor. Profanity poured from the bathroom stall unrelentingly. Before too long, the man stepped out with his gun pointed at us from his side.
     
    “ What the fuck!” the stranger screamed. “World’s gone to shit and you think it’s fun to peep on strangers, ya fuck?”
     
    Now this guy is by no means a small man. Don’t get me wrong; he is completely capable of carrying his own body. While he is overweight, he is built like a goddamn tank. It would hurt to be punched with his full force.
     
    He took a step closer, and his eyes bounced back and forth between all four of us but always seemed to return to me. We all tried to stammer out an excuse, but with all of us talking at once, our point didn’t come across to Dana.
     
    He spoke, “Shut the fuck up! All of you!” He waved the muzzle of his gun at all of us. “If one of you doesn’t give me a good reason as to why this fuck,” Dana motioned toward me, “is going around trying to get glimpses of people in their ‘personal time,’ I swear to God I will fucking take all I got right now.”
     
    Taylor, Branden, and Will looked bewildered. I took a closer look at Dana and noticed his hands were shaking. A short moment passed where all of us were simply trying to make sense of what was going on.
     
    “ What happened to your shoelace?” Will pointed down toward Dana’s feet.
     
    “ What about it?” Dana looked down for a brief second, and I’m not even sure if he looked down long enough for his brain to register that his left shoelace was missing.
     
    “ Well, it’s not there, so I was just wondering, ya know…where did it go?” Will asked. “Or I guess I should rephrase, what did you do with it?” Will’s tone of voice made it seem that he was nervous.
     
    Suddenly, and without any warning, the stranger lowered his firearm. A grin stretched