Bill Barker was a straight man without a side kick.

Billy would stand outside of a dozen and main, on twelfth that is, and he would tip his hat and give a good morning to everybody who went by. He'd look expectantly at the fellow would pass by, they were usually a little wary, but it was never the case that he got anything in return.

Billy would get quite dejected after that. You would notice his shoulder shrug and he would stare at the ground. He would stay this way for sometimes a moment or sometimes a day, but he would perk back up as soon as he heard the sound of steps on the pavement. Billy had a house around the corner but he wasn't there much. He lived alone except for his sister who no one saw anyway. There was one day, about ten years back, that Billy brought out Marie onto the corner with him. Before the sun even came up she was spooked and ran to the house crying and yelling that Billy would ever do something so mean.

After that, Billy was all alone on the corner. This went on for maybe twenty years. Maybe still does. A year ago I close down and moved myself to Tulsa. I don't know what became of Billy, but I doubt he ever did find his partner.

- posted by Sigurd8/20/2004 02:42:00 PM