"My name is Richard Daniels. I am on a quest." I looked across the counter,
staring down the clerk at "Ryan's Secondhand Shop". It was the sign that drew me
here- there was a clock out front that only had a second hand. A pun, see? "And
on my quest, I cannot pay more than three dollars for this year book." I held up
a Class of 98 year book for Brown Deer high school.
The clerk eyed the tag on the yearbook, which clearly displayed a price of $5.
He looked back into my eyes, and I think my stare broke him down. "Fine, three
bucks it is buddy. Anything else?"
"Yes." I put a pair of rhinestone covered pumps, size 9, on the counter. "These.
The ticket price is fine."
The clerk nodded, slowly, as if afraid to make sudden movements. It's a
treatment that I had gotten used to years before that encouter, and would see
again thousands of times before my quest was complete. I paid, and walked out of
the store, and spent a moment basking in the bright sunlight and warmth of an
early spring.
#
My quest started six months before that trip to Ryan's Secondhand Shop. My lease
ran out in one apartment, and it was a shithole, to be frank. Seventh floor, and
the elevator was broken three days for every one that it worked. The wiring
fried two computers right through the surge protector- horrible place. Anyway, I
had everything bundled up in a rented moving van. I was in no particular rush,
so on the way to my new apartment, I parked the van in a Dunkin' Donuts, and sat
down to enjoy a coffee and an apple fritter.
When I stepped back outside- the truck was gone. Stolen. The truck and
everything in the truck- stolen. Gone. Every single item in the world I owned
gone. Hell, the keys to my new apartment were in that truck. I didn't have a
place to live.
That's when I did something most people would call crazy. I took my wallet out,
removed the cash and stuffed that back into my pocket. I then dropped the wallet
down a sewer grate. Now I officially had lost everything.
#
I became Richard Daniels the next day. I had a name, but no life. And that is
what started my quest- I wanted to create Richard Daniels.
