Instead they sat under a tree while traffic backed up behind the police barricades. They arrived at the fountain but it was full of kids and parents on summer break and so they stayed away. Just knew that a citizen found him near the quickie mart on Hamilton the morning before. He’d been on the street nearly as long as Mac which led to a certain closeness and he’d always been a nice guy, willing to share a swig or a sleeping spot. Not one of the new faces who showed up every week from Seattle or California. He hadn’t known him well, but he was one of the old-school bums, a classic wino. Maybe if there weren’t too many people out, they’d cool off or at least catch some spray before park cops drove them away. Mac and Jamie headed toward the fountain. “Wonder what that’s all about,” Mac asked. The main downtown streets were all blocked off, police barricades and officers redirecting traffic. It was Tuesday and the working stiffs poured out of the offices looking overfed and uncomfortable, their collared shirts and suits plastered to their bodies, faces flushing already from the heat. Stepping outside the heat slapped Mac, pinpricks of sweat beading on his face. “Come on Jamie,” Landon said, wiping tears from his eyes and smacking his baton on the chair. But he did know an awful lot about buildings. Hard to know if that was true, Jamie talked fast and said a lot of things that sounded like bull. Jamie maintained he’d been a hotshot architect back before. “I used to be an architect, I paid into this.” Landon nearly choked laughing, shaking his head in mirth. Landon was a big fleshy man with a deep and slow voice, but kind as far as rent-a-cops went. He slapped the metal chair, to emphasize his ownership, and winced in pain. The news settled slowly, and they sat in silence until one of the rent-a-cops, Landon, came by and told them to move along. Mac remembered when chairs at the plaza were comfortable. “George got shanked,” Jamie said, half slumped in an uncomfortable looking metal chair. But that day was a scorcher and he decided to try to find some air conditioning, so he’d walked up and out of the river valley and to the bus plaza, which is where he heard the news from Jamie. Most days he’d stay there for a few hours waking up slowly and watching the light dance on the water. He’d woken up down by the river in a nice spot he’d found a month back, shaded and near a little pool.
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