Yesterday after I had gotten my belligerent bagels, and my newspapers, I had decided to treat myself to some donuts. It was fairly busy and Sabrina took my order. Then she put the box in the bag, and walked away. I stood there for about 2 minutes, totally ignored and unseen. So I turned around and walked out the door. Of course I kept looking over my shoulder, thinking I was being followed.

I know it was wrong, but I just wanted to see if I could do it. Yes, I am a donut thief. The lowest of the low. I think Miguel Pinero wrote a play about Donut thieves, called ‘Short Pies’. Ouch. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

Needless to say, the donuts were horrible. Sour, bitter donuts. The worst donuts ever. The kind that in order to lose the taste of these foul doughy products was through repeated cups of coffee throughout the day.

Still the taste of illicit pastries weighed on my tongue all day. That and the aftertaste of coffee. I mentioned to Bill my crossing over to the dark side and wanting to make amends. He suggested that it would be the right thing to do, and it would be good karma as well.

On the bus back to Hoboken we passed Lois who was with a friend. I told Bill I wanted to go to Dunkin Donuts and make amends. We got off the bus at the same stop as Lois. She met her partner Fred at the bus stop and mentioned to him that she wanted to go to Dunkin Donuts. I told them my tale of woe regarding donuts. Lois was amused. Couldn’t get a grip on what Fred might’ve been thinking.

Bill went into Village Market to buy his vitamin sugar water, and the three of us went into Dunkin’s. Lois ordered what she wanted then the girl behind the counter asked me what I wanted.

I told her that I was in the store earlier today and had gotten too much change and I wanted to give it back and gave her five dollars.

My conscience was assuaged somewhat though I knew she was going to put the fiver in her pocket as soon as we left.

I used to be a get over, always looking for the easy way. I used to shoplift when I was a kid. Just for a thrill. Nothing else to do. I used to steal blank Memorex tapes. Stole quite a bit from Two Guys department store. Me and my friends also used to pick up something that cost maybe a dollar, put it in a shopping bag and go to the courtesy counter saying we needed to return this ruler and we didn’t have a receipt.

They would take the ruler back and give us store credit. Then we’d go buy some gum and have 85 cents left to play pinball or video games.

A pock marked store dick eventually caught me. Had the tape in my pocket and had just walked through the door. “Excuse me son, could you come back into the store?”

“I forgot to pay for it.” “We’ve been watching you the past few weeks. Come with me”

He brought me downstairs to a wood paneled office. He had me in tears in about 30 seconds. He had me write out my confession, telling me what to write. Then I signed it. Then he tried to have me banned from the store.

I told he couldn’t do that I need to come here all the time. Then he said I couldn’t without my parents. I saw him once while I was there with my mother. He was trailing someone else in the store. I was under the radar. I put the ruler in the bag.

Mick sat down at the table. It was a mess as usual. Papers, magazines and bills strewn about. It was a mess, yes, but he knew exactly where things were. Or at least he kidded himself that he did. Brenda left about an hour ago and said that she’d be back soon. He didn’t know where she was going. He hoped she’d get cigarettes. He should’ve given her money.

The phone rang. It was his brother Mark. He was in the neighborhood and wanted to stop by. Mick usually didn’t mind Mark dropping by unannounced, as long as his friend Danny didn’t tag along. He didn’t think of asking Mark for cigarettes and he didn’t think of asking if Danny was coming along with him. It wasn’t a good day of thinking for Mark.

Brenda parallel parked the Mini Cooper a few doors down from where she and Mick lived. She looked in the rear view mirror and saw Mark and Danny stumbling down the street. Here it was not even noon and they both looked wasted. Drunk probably. Literally hanging onto each other as the walked. Brenda ducked as they walked by. Luckily they didn’t see her or the car.

‘What the hell do they want?’ she thought. She considered her options. Should she get out and join them? Should she wait until after they went into her building? Should she just drive away and hope they’d be gone when she came back from nowhere? She sat and bit her nails.

Mick buzzed Mark in and heard Danny coughing as they climbed the stairs. He rolled his eyes and wondered why he didn’t let the call go to voice mail. ‘Too late for that shit’ he said to himself. The loud knock on the door and Mick opened to have Mark stumble into his arms in a brotherly hug. Danny, all red eyed and stinking of beer shuffled in after Mark.

“Hey Mick, how’s it hanging?” Danny slurred. “Hey Danny, how’s it going? Keeping my baby brother out of trouble?” Mick jokingly asked. “You know it man. It’s all good Nigga” Mick couldn’t stand white guys using that word. Too many barbs. He’d been called Nigga many a time by his buds, but never used the word himself.

Now here was Danny, his brother’s best friend, all hip hopped, droopy drawers, baseball cap turned to the side. Oh he was hard. Like margarine. Mick never understood why his brother hung out with Danny. He knew it used to be drugs. A chemical bond, but he had hoped that Mark had grown out of it.

Danny had a hard time with booze, and had started chipping at heroin. Mick had seen him once nodding out, with the shit powdered under his nose. Mick had done his fair share of drugs but drew the line at H. He didn’t want to prove that marijuana was a gateway drug to Heroin. So he stopped short, saving his own life while proving the naysayers wrong.

Danny sat on the couch and Mick called Mark into the kitchen.

“What the fuck is wrong with you? Why are you still hanging out with Danny? He’s a fucking mess!” Mick hissed at his brother.

Mark tsk’d and said, “You wouldn’t understand Mick. It’s not your scene” “My scene? What the fuck does that mean? Your idiot friend is nodding out on my couch. Is that the scene I’m not a part of?” “Oh man, if I knew you were gonna be like this I wouldn’t have come over.” “Yeah well,” Mick said as he looked out the window, “yeah well, there’s Brenda in the car. You better sober up homeboy before she comes back here.”

“Hey we’re gonna split anyway. Could you lend me 20 bucks?” “You still owe me from last time jerk off.” “Aw c’mon man, don’t be like that. Lend me 20, we split and Brenda wouldn’t know shit.”

It seemed like a bribe, but Mick gave him a 20 from his wallet. Mark walked over to the couch and got Danny animated somehow. The left, Mick hugging Mark, Mark saying he’ll call later, Danny giving out a drunken pound.

Brenda climbed the stairs as they were descending. “Hey my favorite sister in law, Brenda!” Mark said. “You remember my man Danny right?”

“Yeah, hey Danny,” she said as she climbed past them, “Take care Mark.”

She walked through the door and threw a couple packs of cigarettes at Mick who was sitting on the couch. “Just saw your brother and his buddy. Bad news those two…”

Mark got up and walked over to Brenda. He gave her a nice warm hug. He buried his face in her hair. “Yeah, tell me about it…”