Category: All Guests Must Be Announced
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All Guests Must Be Announced – Ch. 27
“All the soarings of my mind begin in my blood.” My namesake, Rainer Maria Rilke, wrote that and it rang true to me. I admitted that I never had the highest opinion of people, for my parents, or myself. Nothing about my parents was ever poetic, it astonished me that they even knew Rilke existed…
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All Guests Must Be Announced – Ch. 26
Fisicaro relieved me of my doorman duties for what was my final shift, the last time I would be employed by 534 E57th street. No longer part of the sentry. No more hours clocked in the vortex of the lobby where time split and stretched. An hour at the building felt like ten. I would be lying…
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All Guests Must Be Announced – Ch. 24
When Gerry returned to the lobby he was in civilian clothes. Old blue jeans and a gray Mets hoodie. He appeared to have taken a shower. The lobby smelled like my father, Old Spice and whiskey. Gerry returned the spare key to the Abruzzi’s apartment to the lock box. He had an old baseball in his hand, a…
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All Guests Must Be Announced – Ch. 23
Gerry did not sneak around the halls or creep around in the shadows of 534. He made no attempt to conceal himself or to quietly land the service elevator, having missed the intended floor, then descended back down before lining up the elevator perfectly. Unfazed with no second thought he entered 8A through the front door into Pruitt…
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All Guests Must Be Announced – Ch. 22
It was obvious Gerry felt no pain when he challenged me to a contest of fifty push ups in the lobby. After all, his tie was off and we all knew what that meant. I thought it was close while Gerry disagreed, asserting victory over me. I wondered what the shareholders would have thought if…
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All Guests Must Be Announced – Ch. XXI
“Lotto is up to 45 fucking million,” said Gerry, looking at a newspaper, standing at the table by the lobby phone. “Nice fucking haul, huh. What would you do if you won the lotto?” “I don’t play the lotto.” “But If you did?” “But I don’t,” I said, sitting on the bench where I removed Ichabod’s…
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All Guests Must Be Announced – Ch. 20
“We got plenty of beers left but maybe we should get some Tully? Good idea or recipe for disaster? What do you think?” “Tully is never a bad idea,” I said. “Here’s some bread,” said Gerry, pulling a hundred dollar bill from a stack of cash, suffocating inside his wallet. He must have withdrawn funds for…