the destroyed

by nick nelson

when he stepped outside, stephens almost collided with benson, whom he had not seen for many years and who had destroyed his life. i beg your pardon, stephens addressed benson.. i should think you would, you idiot, benson replied tartly. why don’t you watch you are going? don’t you remember me? stephens asked plaintively. i am afraid i do not. you destroyed my life. did i? i am afraid i do not remember doing any such thing. if i did, i am sure you deserved it. now, if you will excuse me, i am not a person with nothing to do all day except talk nonsense. but surely you remember me? stephens raised his voice. could you not, after all these years, favor me with some sort of apology? a policeperson, observing the confrontation, approached. what is going on here? this idiot, whom i have never seen before in my life, almost bumped into me, and instead of apologizing, is making harebrained accusations against me. and i am a busy man with a full schedule. but he destroyed my life! i did not see that, sir. i only saw you rush out of the building and almost knock this gentleman over. but - no buts, sir , i am an officer of the law and i saw what i saw. would you mind, officer, making sure that this fellow does not follow me? not at all, sir, i will be happy to detain him. thank you. and with that, benson took his leave. the policeperson pointed down the street in the opposite direction from that which benson had taken. i would advise you, sir, to move off that way. i will circle around the block , stephens thought, and hopefully waylay benson in that manner. aloud he said, yes, officer, i will do that. i did not mean to cause any disturbance. i am happy to hear it. now, be off with you. stephens marched away down the street in the direction indicated, without looking back. he found himself in an area he was not familiar with, and he was surprised at how far he had to walk before he came to a cross street that he could take a left or right on. and should he take a left or a right if he hoped to meet benson as he circled back? he had no idea where benson was going, but taking a right seemed more likely as it took him in the direction of city hall and the financial district. but when he took a right he found himself in even more unfamiliar territory, on a street filled with quaint old fashioned looking shops. and the street seemed to go on forever without giving him another opportunity to turn right again. it started to get dark. he felt that he was lost. he came to a little shop labeled “sylvie’s tea shoppe”. it seemed like a civilized place , and he decided to enter it, to catch his breath and rest his weary feet. the tea shop was even smaller than it looked from the outside, with only two small tables with two chairs each. a small elderly woman stood behind a glass case containing small cakes and other delicacies. a tea pot and other apparatus was visible on a shelf behind her. stephens ordered a cup of tea and a small chocolate eclair and sank into a high backed chair at one of the tables. how late do you stay open? he enquired politely of the woman. we are open twenty-four hours, sir. you do not say so. and are you here yourself for the entire twenty-four hours? oh no, sir, i am here for twelve hours, and then my twin sister relieves me for the next twelve hours. it seems a very comfortable place. we try to make it so, sir. i would not mind sitting here for the rest of my life. indeed, sir. as i said, we are open twenty-four hours a day.