Diverse Voices Quarterly Issue 1 & 2

Ten minutes later I stood in a fetid, dingy alley before a gouged wooden door. I
knocked six times, three fast, three slow, as instructed. An eternity passed before the
door opened a crack.
“Beowolf sent me,” I whispered. The craggy man stared at me with watery eyes, his
bumpy chin finally nodding to me to follow him.
He locked the door behind me. I took a deep whiff and fell to my knees. INK! The
smell of ink. The machines were silent, but several small piles of newspapers lay
around. I lunged at one and was met with a knee to the rib cage.
“Not yet,” he growled. “First, we have a brew. Then, we negotiate price. And if you
breathe a word of this, I kill you.”
His fierce expression left no doubt in my mind. So we sat, drank, tossed around
some numbers. I said I wanted back dates, as many as he had. I didn’t care how old
the news was, I needed to finger and fold a goddamn newspaper. He said I get one
copy, that’s it. He told me nothing of who his reporters were, only that he published a
run every few days. Glaring, he asked if I owned a computer, if I browsed the Internet.
I spit on the floor. He got up and hugged me. I let my gaze lovingly roam around the
dimly lit room, as it waited for the machines to hum. He released me, pointed to the
nearest pile.
“The top one is yours, my friend. I am satisfied you are genuine. There aren’t many
of us left.”
“Tell me about it.”
I paid him our negotiated fee, cautiously folded my treasure, and hid it beneath my
coat. Fondling it, I skulked into the night. It took forever, stumbling to my place, as I
kept glancing behind me. Inside, I flicked on the light, ripped off my coat, and carefully
placed my booty on the kitchen table. The headline was “North Korea Fires Missile.” I
flipped through it. More headlines, photos, comics, puzzles, and yes, a horoscope. I
chewed each page, remembering what it was like when every newsstand and kiosk
held the world’s secrets. I turned a page, saw Dilbert with his upturned tie, and began
sobbing.
Diverse Voices Quarterly, Vol. 1, Issue 1 & 2
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