The Carpenter

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Leland King was back in town. He hadn’t yet figured out what to make of that.

He’d arrived on the bus in the midafternoon on Labour Day, and had gone directly to a bachelor apartment that Pastor Barry had arranged for him. The apartment was above a variety store at the bottom of Union Street, near the south end of the town’s lakefront. Across the street was the back of an A amp;P grocery. Beside the variety store, past a patch of grass, was a fence around a small scrapyard.

All of Lee’s earthly possessions amounted to the clothes on his back and one suitcase and a wallet and cigarettes and a plastic lighter. The apartment contained some furniture abandoned by the outgoing tenant. A swivel chair. A pullout couch. A lamp with an anchor motif on the shade. There were pale patches on the walls where pictures had hung, and from the bathroom came a steady hiss. Nothing was square or level.

The variety store owner was also the landlord. His name was Mr. Yoon and he was one of Pastor Barry’s congregants. Mr. Yoon curtly told Lee a few of the rules, how he didn’t want loud noises or trouble. He wanted to know if Lee had a job.

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