Larry Cain and the Strangers
Larry Cain and the Strangers
Larry Cain was down to his last $36.50 in his checking account. He was quite aware of this after ordering a Chinese takeout for $13.50 when an alert on his balance rudely interrupted his food daze. Two minutes later, the phone rang. However, Larry let the phone rang out, then on the 4th ring, he picked it up. He didn’t speak immediately, but he didn’t have a chance to either. The voice on the other end of the line sounded far away in the distance as he said “hello,” faintly. Hello, said Larry, raising his voice loudly as though to cue the stranger to speak up. Is this Larry Cain? The voice echoed. “Who is this?” Larry questioned, suspiciously. He had been screening his calls because the barrage of phone calls from bill collectors has been absurd. However, today Larry was expecting a call from a friend of a friend about picking up some work on the docks by the waterfront, in Cambridge Heights, an artsy neighborhood in downtown Chicago. He was in desperate need of some serious cash since moving to Chicago from New York 2 months ago. Hence, that call meant everything to him and his livelihood. So, he swallowed his nerves and anchored himself to push back the knots that had formed in the back of his throat and said, “Yes, this is he!”
