Gunnar Ross: Chapter 2.5

Edit: this is a direct continuation of chapter two of my last Writing, and will also be posting Chapter 3 alongside this.

Gunnar knew it looks bad to have a flask
with you at all times, but he could talk for an hour about how he
perfected the art of drinking at work. He had rules, no more than a
swig every hour is one of them. It keeps him chill, but no real buzz.
Plus the greasy food he sneaks all day makes becoming drunk at work a
near impossibility.

He walked into the women’s restroom,
“A man is walking in to clean the restroom, please say ‘Occupied’
if there’s anyone in here.” No answer. Gunnar went through the
motions; scrub the toilets, throw away a pad wrapper, clean the
mirror, mop the floors.

He went to the men’s room. “Cleaning,
say occupied if you’re in here,” He announced.

Snoooooore.
Gunnar heard a loud snore come from one of the stalls. Sometimes he
sees someone passed out on the floor from an OD and calls the police
and ambulance. However this time, Gunnar didn’t smell the
burnt metal, or anything sickly sweet. It also wouldn’t be the
first time someone simply fell asleep while taking a shit. He pounded
on the stall door.

“Hey wake up in there! Restaurants
closed, you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.”

He heard a groan that sounded somewhat
familiar. He heard the shuffling of pulling up pants, and waited to
escort the man out. When the door opened, he almost wasn’t
surprised to see the old man from earlier.

“Sir, I’m asking as a concerned
civilian, is there anything you did in here that I need to contact
EMS for?” Gunnar asked genuinely, “Drugs? Medical condition?”

The man simply laughed, “No my boy, I
simply needed an evening in air conditioning, truly one of humanities
greatest inventions. Its been getting harder to make my own cold, so
I use whatever scraps of money I can find and take naps in various
restaurants during the hot part of the day.” He seemed earnest to
Gunnar, he believed him for the most part. Yet he doesn’t rule out
weed as a possible reason.

“Usually I wake up before close
though. Here, take this, if you could be so kind as to keep this
between us,” He says with a wink and pulls something out of his
pocket, and holds his fist to Gunnar to take whatever is in his palm.
Gunnar reached out hesitantly.

The old man dropped the crumpled ten
dollar bill from earlier. Gunnar pocketed it, glad to make this
exchange, he needed a six pack. Gunnar finished cleaning up the
bathroom, and makes sure the coast is clear for the old man to leave.
Arnold would have him arrested, he hates homeless people.

Before he was out of earshot, the old
man turned to Gunnar, and says, “I like you, I’ll show you some
more magic sometime. By the way, is that your card?” He pointed at
Gunnars pocket. Gunnar reaches into his pocket and pulls out the ten
dollar bill. Except it wasn’t the ten dollar bill, it was a
crumpled, definitely not a screen red Joker with the J bent into a
spade.