Vinny dropped the Bushnels onto his lap and froze paralyzed with fear. Another knock tapped on his driver's side window. When he turned his head he saw a wild looking tenuous black man holding up a Budweiser can that had been cut in half. The homeless man looked like he hadn't slept in days and his head shook like an Alan Iverson bobble head.
Vinny cautiously pushed the down button to his driver's side window. “ Yes? What do you want?” Asked Vinny averting his eyes to the carnage he created up ahead. The homeless man smiled and shook the can. There was a jingling sound as the man's hands shook incessantly.
“ Eh mon, like you got any bread for a brother mon?”
Vinny felt nauseated by the smell of alcohol wafting from the man's breath. The homeless man leaned inside the window making Vinny all the more nervous. Without saying a word Vinny fished in his pockets for some loose change amounting to $1.35. He placed the coins into the Budweiser can almost cutting his grimy hands on the pointy edges of the can.
“ God bless you my brudda.” Said the man holding up a bottle concealed in a brown paper bag in the other hand. “ Would you like a swig brudda mon?”
The Gadget Man looked at him with disgust. “ No thanks, I don't drink.” replied Vinny still focusing on the burning building wishing the man would go away. The homeless man took a few swigs from the bottle and focused his attention on the burning building as well. “ It looks like something big is going down at the FBI building.” The homeless man said deciding to tarry against Vinny's wishes.
Feeling a little less threatened Vinny picked up the Bushnels and watched the frenzied crowd. Still staring through the binoculars Vinny said, “ Yeah, something big alright.” He said chuckling.
The homeless man rested his sticky right hand on Vinny's window sill and looked intrigued by the blaze. Vinny gave a furtive glance towards the man's hand and noticed his fingernails hadn't been clipped in months. He wished the parasite would leave but the homeless man wanted to hang around and talk.
“ You know, I'm glad to see stuff like this. They should get the courthouse too.” Said the homeless man chugging at his bottle, “ They're all a bunch of crooks anyhow. I've got homies doing time in the pen. The Feds make them work for 12 cents an hour and then charge them $2.65 for a loaf of bread. Who wants to work 10 hours for a measly loaf of bread?” Said the man trying to keep his drunken body from falling to the ground.
“ It would be 22 hours.” Corrected Vinny, “ They would have to work 22 hours.” Vinny was the math teacher, he should know.
The homeless man looked at Vinny with recognition. “ Hey mon, don't I know you from somewhere? And how do you just so happen to have a pair of binoculars?”
The Gadget Man tensed up and squeezed the steering wheel with all of his might. If I don't know my next move how will they? He thought to himself.
Vinny brushed off the comment with a mirthful chuckle. “ Aw, you don't know me. My name is Harry Sachs. I keep these Bushnels with me at all times because I'm a reporter.”
The inebriated man staggered backwards a little bit releasing his hand off the door and looking all bleary eyed. “ Well, I guess you should be down there reporting Harry Sachs mon.”
Vinny snorted a little bit wondering if the man would discover the humor in the fake name he gave him. He started up the truck relieved that the man had finally given
him room to breathe. “ It was good talking to you. I've got to get down there like you said.” Replied Vinny reaching for a pack of Newport.
The homeless man let out a belly laugh and pointed a bony finger at Vinny. “ You funny as sheed mon! You Harry Sachs mon!” The homeless man held onto his abdomen and then pussy footed along looking for his next victim to pan handle.
Vinny drove his truck down the winding slope exiting the parking garage and was greeted by a portly fellow with copper red curly hair munching on cheese curls. Vinny proudly held out his ticket with panache like he was showing off a report card to his mother. The garage custodian leaned over to grab the ticket then stopped midway realizing his hands were covered in cheese curl crumbs.
“ How long you've been here?” Asked the employee. “ About 30 minutes.” Replied Vinny wondering where the conversation was going. The portly fellow not wanting to get cheese curl crumbs all over the ticket and currency, waved him through and continued nibbling on his favorite snack. The Gadget Man curtly nodded then made his way onto the frantic streets.
Vinny drove up the street and passed a newspaper vending machine that was engulfed in flames. He had hidden a self-destructing booster inside the newspaper vending machine designed to go up in flames after his mission was accomplished so there would be less evidence for the Feds.
Vinny made his way towards the FBI building like an old man on a Sunday drive and noticed reporters taking refuge under a kiosk filming the entire conflagration. Here I am, thought Vinny, you want to talk to the man behind it all? I'm right here.
Dozens of flashing lights and chopping sounds of helicopters hovering over the FBI building made the scene look like 9/11 all over again. With what looked like almost all of the police force surrounding the blazing FBI building Vinny was half tempted to rob his favorite jewelry store at the far end of the city. With all the cops busy with the catastrophe up ahead he could probably get away with it.
A police officer with a thick bushy mustache the size of a boomerang was waving an orange baton and directing traffic. Other officers set up yellow tape cordoning the premises from passersby and persistent rubbernecks.
Moving at the speed of a parade, Vinny drove the Tacoma as close to the scene as he could get. A pregnant woman with dirty blond crimped hair was crying and rubbing the side of her head that had been charred leaving a big bald spot on her head. The Gadget Man picked the digital camera off of the passenger's seat and began taking pictures. He could hear the sounds of a standing ovation going on inside of his head. He wished he could take credit for all that had happened today. But this time the Gadget Man did not act alone.