ASMSG Scifi Fantasy Paranormal Emagazine August 2014 | Page 28

SFP Indie Issue 3
“Yeah,” he replied with a dirty chuckle. “I saw the
cop and said that.” He looked at Unruh like he thought the
cop would be amused. The cop was not, so he looked
away.
Max produced a small notebook and pen from the
bag hanging at his side. “Who are you?”
“I’m Jim…I live with Donna.”
“You sleep on the couch?” He gestured to it. Jim
shook his head.
“Only in the day.”
Must be nice, Max thought, sleeping in the day. “You
work nights, then?” Max had perfected the art of over-tact,
being a complete dick without getting punched. The
people he dealt with didn’t tend to get subtlety. Unruh’s
grin showed he got it—the cops usually did. They both
knew the answer already.
“Naw, I’m what you’d call unemployed.”
He thought about asking him to elaborate: What
exactly do you mean by, unemployed, sir? But that might
be overdoing it. White trash will only tolerate so much
subtle condescension.
“Would you call Donna unemployed?” Max asked,
after collecting pedigree information; Jim’s last name, date
of birth, social security number. Max was always surprised
when people gave all that to him, especially the social
security number.
“No, she w