Be regular and orderly in your life...

...so that you may be violent and original in your work.

                                                            —Gustave Flaubert

Call from the agency this morning - I was needed over on the West Side to cross the eyes and dot the tease. Ran into several ghosts from Christ! My past! All of them greyer, just like me, though some still wearing a doubtful smile.

Decaying office, clearly once posh; empty cubicles now line peeling hallways. Huge deserted kitchen of chipped formica, greasy microwave the size of a big screen TV, burnt pot of coffee left over from late last Armageddon.

Scanned the bulletin boards: Heimlich maneuver poster, yellowing thank you cards, notices, warnings ("Attention! Don't let yourself die still employed here!").

Pasty-faced failed execs in frayed trench coats, gym bags slung over their shoulders, leave for the day without a word. The ones still at their desks look guilty when I pass by. Customer service yes men apologizing to irate clients on speaker phone in ugly New York accents. Some of them still think they have a future.

Each task a crisis, every job a rush. Beaten down swing shift zombies wander in, muttering about "Gettingthefuckouttathisshithole."

Rode up in the elevator with the delivery guy from Great Wall. The stink of $5.25 shrimp and broccoli announced us.