"Jesus Christ you scared the shit out of me. What's wrong with you?"

Hortense peered down at the old lady behind the counter. She was. Hortense smiled at her. "Would you like a peppermint?"

"No. Whaddaya want. How tall are you, anyway?

Hortense didn't know how tall he was. He continued to smile.

"Freak," she muttered, pulling on a cigarette until her cheeks.

"How much for the newspapers?"

"Fifty sense, like I toldya." Her voice was.

Hortense tucked a paper under his arm expertly. He held a dollar out, at arm's length, with his thumb and two fingers. "Please. Keep the change." Long E in "the" : thee. "Change" like it was a morsel or portion of something. A rich sound.

"Yeah whatever," and she pulled her sweater tightly over her shoulders, trying to shiver.

Hortense walked good naturedly down the sidewalk, sucking on a peppermint. Soon he was accosted by a large man with a bald head and a moustache.

"Hey, Buddy, you-"

"Hello."

"Yeah. You know where thoity-thoid is? At?"

"No." Hortense smiled.

"Yeah?" He looked up at Hortense, then left and right, then produced a wide knife. "Gimme your wallet. Quick."

"Absolutely not." Hortense started to hum a tune he heard on a jazz.

The looked back up at him again, peering. "Don't be a hero, buddy. Gimme the wallet, or else." He rotated the.

"Absolutely not." Hortense said. "Would you like a peppermint?"

"Aw geez, I ain't got time for this." The guy turned and ran away.

Hortense continued down the sidewalk. The tune was gone from his so he just watched the horizon. It was some buildings.

A large sign read: "You Gotta Try Our Caneloni!"

Hortense looked at the sign. It said, "You Gotta," so he swallowed his peppermint and went in the.

Inside, a man in white, covered with, said, "Hey, welcome, okay."

"I have got to try your caneloni," Hortense said, leaving out the !

"Allright, yes, siddown, good." The man jumped through a doorway.

Hortense sat down. The tune came back, so he played it on the tablecloth with his left hand. His right caressed a parmesan.

"You want some wine, right?" The cook set a bowl in front of Hortense. Steam.

"No, I do not." Hortense smiled at the man.

"Bread."

Hortense smidel. The man.

Hortense picked up a fork with his right hand, poked a caneloni, and transferred the fork to his left hand, and took a bite of caneloni. It tasted.

Hortense stood up and walked good naturedly to the counter.

The man looked up at him. The cook did. "Hey, you just gonna eat one bite?"

"Yes." Hortense smiled. "Would you like a peppermint?"

The man blinked at him. "Yeah, okay."

Hortense held one out with his, palm up, fingers. The cook took it. He put it next to the cash.

"So, whatsa matta, was it good?"

"Yes." Hortense held out a ten-dollar bill, folded, between his index and middle fingers. "Is ten dollars enough money?"

"Hey sure okay."

Hortense walked to the door.

"Hey, you want change?"

Hortense turned around. "No. It was very good. Caneloni." He ducked out the door.

Inside the sun had made the windows a white hot sheet but outside the sun was invisible and the sky was a deep rich. Hortense smiled up at it secretly and walked. He was in the mood to carry and chew an apple but he didn't have one so he put his hands in his pockets instead. Walked.

A tiny brown dog trotted up to him. It stopped and stared up; Hortense stared down. The dog barked once.

"Hello little dog."

The dog blinked, turned around in a circle, and almost barked again.

"Dog." Hortense considered giving it a peppermint, but changed his mind.

The dog again almost barked, then turned and ran down the sidewalk. It stopped, looked back at Hortense, turned to sniff a piece of brick, then ran off.

Hortense watched it run off.

Around the corner, he saw a man with a card table and three cards.

"Find the lady, find the red lady, buy your wife a present, buy her something real nice, find the lucky red lady in red."

Hortense. "I don't have a wife."

The man was wearing a vest and a beret and a look of greasy satisfaction on his face. "Well, buy one for your mother, what do I care."

"Okay." Hortense started to leave.

"Whoa big fella. Find the lucky lady red, win some dough."

"Dough."

"Here's a practice round." The man danced the cards. "Point to the queen."

Hortense pointed.

"Not bad, not bad, do it again." Shuffle. Hortense pointed.

"You definitely got the touch okay this one's for green show me your green."

Hortense held out a twenty.

"Okay yessir this is for real here we go point to the lady."

Hortense pointed. At the.

The man stopped moving. He very carefully pulled on one ear. "Let it ride, what do you say, lucky now, lucky later, let it ride. Let it."

Hortense. At the queen.

The man very carefully pulled on his earlobe, twice. "Okay, let it ride, double or nothing, here we go, you the man, you the lucky man find the red lucky."

Hortense. Pointed. The.

From down the block an insistent whistling, shrill, rich, filling the air.

"Oh no the cops," the man said as he expertly snatched the table folded and took off running.

Hortense fingered a peppermint in his pocket, then noted the queen of diamonds on the sidewalk, left behind. He picked it up.

Hortense saw trees, fountains, grass. He felt his legs. The were tired, so he decided to sit down on a bench.

"Hey homeslice you got some change for me?" A homeless man wearing a hat with a feather in it said.

"No." Hortense smiled and took a breathe. He exhaled.

"Okay, that's cool, I'm hip, I am hip to that brother." The homeless man sat down.

Hortense held out a peppermint. "Would you like one?"

The homeless man looked up at Hortense in the eye. "Yes sir, thank you sir, welcome to my park." He took the, unwrapped and popped it in.

"I will have one too." Hortense put a mint in his mouth.

"Minty."

"I dip them in mint oil."

"Makes my tongue tingle."

Hortense looked at the sky. The trees were in it, some building held it up. In his pocket, he fingered the queen of diamonds. He pulled it out and looked. "Would you like this queen of diamonds?" He handed it.

"Ah yes, my soul sister, the lucky lady." The homeless man looked at it for a while.

Hortense sang a different jazz song in his head.

"Yes sir, this lady is why I can afford all this." The homeless held out his hands.

Hortense stood up.

"Better take this back, my son. I got all the luck I need right now."

Hortense looked down at him. "Me too."