There must've been something in the air, Joey thought. Not only was his coworker Tony acting weird. But he noticed his girlfriend Jane being weird too. She rustled her fingers through his hair. "You're so creative."
"What?" he asked. Trying to laugh it off.
"You're like one of those artist types."
"Jane. What are you talking about?"
She looked at him thirstily. She grabbed for his belt but he backed off. Something was off.
Later he was at the gas station. A man was trying to buy a pack of cigarettes. But he was ten cents short. Joey hadn't thought about such a situation. They. didn't happen anymore. People usually just used their
credit cards
. But here was a man. Probably homeless. Who didn't have enough
cash
.
When the woman behind the counter said she was sorry there was nothing she could do... Joey reached to look for a dime. He didn't have any change. Just a dollar. He handed it over to the homeless man who took the bill from him. He began to laugh maniacally. Like the joker.
"You're. Going to. Help. Me?"
Then he began a shriek of a laughter. Joey didn't know what to think of it. He just walked out of there once the homeless man ripped up the dollar bill. The laughing went on even as Joey left the gas station.
On the road back to his apartment his radio didn't work. Nothing but static. He tried a bunch of stations. When at a red light, he tried to put on Spotify he heard the whoop whoop of a siren. Damn Joey thought.
He pulled over to the side after the light turned green.
"You were staring at your phone while driving, son."
"Sorry sir. I was. Yeah there's no excuse."
"That's right. License, registration, and proof of insurance."
The cop took it all back to his car. Joey watched through his mirror. The cop seemed to run the cards through his machine a few times. Saw him scratch his head. Look confused.
Then he came back.
"Looks like it's your lucky day. The machine hates me right now. Try not to look at your phone while you're driving, kid."