He left the McDonald's restroom, pushed open an outside door and crossed the parking lot. As he walked down the street, traffic sped past, and the sun shone into his eyes. He reached the corner and waited for the light to change. When the cars halted, he crossed the street, walked around the building to the alley and went in the garage door. He sat down at the table and watched the pigeons flutter in and out, treating an open sack of seed like their own free cafeteria.

His phone rang, and he pulled it from his pocket. He saw Rachel's name, left the table and stepped outside. Pacing back and forth across the gravel, he tapped his screen. 

"Hey, Rachel," he said, holding his phone to his ear. 

"Hi," she said. "Are you at work?" 

"Yeah. Well, I'm on my lunch break." 

"Yeah, me too." He thought he heard some background noise, like little kids laughing and some cartoony music. 

"Where do you work, anyway?" he asked. "I mean, like, where is it?"

"Oh, it's on Fifth Street. Close to the post office."

"Oh, that's not far from my house."

"Yeah, well, nothing's that far from anything around here," she said, and kind of laughed. 

The pickup truck came into sight as it drove down the street. When it pulled into the alley, gravel spat up from its tires, and Tyler backed up to the wall. Jen parked and went in, and he leaned back against the bricks. 

"Um," Rachel said, and her voice was literally shaking, "um.... Well, I was wondering if, um.... Since the Fourth of July is coming up, um...." 

Tyler smiled to himself. All those little pauses and "ums" were pulling at his emotions, and he just wanted to put his arm around her and say, Jeez, it's all right, it's all right, just calm down. 

"I was wondering, if you weren't doing anything else.... They're shooting off fireworks at Hillcrest Park, and I'm going to go with a few people... if you wanted to come...." And her nerves took her sentence-structuring skills and destroyed them.

"Well, yeah," he said. "That sounds like fun. When's the Fourth?" 

"It's tomorrow." 

"Oh, yeah. What park did you say it was at?" 

"Hillcrest," she said. "Do you know where that is?" 

"Well, I can look it up. What time?" 

"Around when the sun goes down, I guess. Probably about eight-thirty or nine." 

"Okay. Well, I guess we can meet there, then. Who else did you say was coming?"

"Um, Bethany and Will. And I think maybe some people Will knows."

"All right, then. I'll see you there."

"Okay. I guess I got to go."

"Okay. See you tomorrow."

"Okay, bye," and they hung up. 

Tyler went back in, went to the table and pushed in his chair. He stepped to the wall to check for any pending orders, and the shop door opened. Mike walked into the room, saw him and said, "Tyler? Ty?"

"What?"

"Come in here."

"Why...." He went to the door and stepped into the shop. Lee was behind the counter assisting a customer, and someone else was loading a box of cat food into a cart. Tyler looked across the room and saw the reason for his summoning. Officer Samson had arrived, and was standing close to the office door. Tyler looked at the little black box he was carrying and thought, Oh goody, random drug test time. 

"Can we wait until...."

The customer at the counter was looking curiously, obviously wondering what could be going on. Tyler wanted to tell him that it really wasn't that interesting, but instead stepped into the office. Samson stepped in after him, and Tyler pulled out a chair and sat down. "It might be a while," he said. "If you want a magazine or something...."

"I'll wait," Samson said, and he set down his box and pulled out a chair. 

Mike stepped into the doorway. "It might be a while," Tyler told him. 

"Well," he said, "I guess some coffee might help." He went to the desk and grabbed his keys. "What kind does everyone want?" 

"Whatever makes you piss the fastest," Tyler said. 

"Officer...?" Mike asked. "Would you like...?"

"Oh, I can't take anything from an offender," he said, "because it could be considered a bribe."

"Well, Tyler's not giving it to you, I am. Do you want something? It's just a coffee."

"Well, if you actually hand it to me." 

"Okay." Mike asked him what kind he wanted, and left the shop. Tyler leaned onto the table, resting on one arm. He watched the clock tick on the wall, and when that got boring he closed his eyes. He let his imagination take over, and pictured long, long blonde hair, flowing over a girl's shoulders, wavy and soft, all the way down to her knees....

When he opened his eyes, Officer Samson had propped his feet on the table, and was rocking back in his chair. Mike returned to the room, and set down a few refrigerated cans. Tyler took one, popped it open and gulped it down. He picked up his phone, opened a browser and typed: how to make yourself pee. Apparently, coughing could help. He covered his mouth with one arm and coughed a few times, and then sat still. He didn't think it was working....

He stood up and stretched, and tried to touch the ceiling. He walked into the other room, saw Mike and asked, "Are we closed all day tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Mike said. "I told you that last week." 

"Oh... yeah." Tyler went back to the office and stretched some more. He wondered where exactly the bladder was, and what the kidneys had to do with it, and thought maybe he should get a book about anatomy. He finally felt that his body was ready, and looked at the officer. "Guess I can go now," he said, and Samson opened his black box. 

The only restroom was a small one-person-at-a-time thing. They went in together, and Tyler locked the door. He undid his jeans, and Samson handed him the cup before leaning down for a better view. 

When the cup was full they went back to the office, and Tyler signed his sample. Samson packed up his things and left, and Tyler grabbed what remained of his coffee. He went back to the warehouse to see Jen sitting at the table. "What was that all about?" she asked. 

"Oh," he said, "I just have to have a random drug test every so often. That doesn't make me a bad person, does it?" 

"No," she said. "I guess not. You seem to be a pretty nice guy." 

************

When the day was over, he lowered the garage door and turned its lock into place. Jen had left, and Mike and Lee were in the shop, closing up for the day. Tyler stepped across the floor and heard his phone ring. He pulled it from his pocket and saw Rachel's name. 

Pushing open the front door, he stepped outside. The sun was on its way down, and the parking lot was empty. Cars drove down the street, and their headlights and tail lights shone in the dark. Tyler leaned back onto a window and tapped his screen. 

"Hey," he said, holding the phone to his ear. 

"Hi." 

"Are you off work?"

"Yeah," she said, "I just got home."

"Well, I'm off all day tomorrow," he said.

"Yeah, um... that's kind of why I called, um...." She took a really deep breath. "I was just thinking that if, um, if you have something else you'd rather do.... I mean, if you don't really want to go to the park with us you don't have to. I mean, if, um... if you don't want to." 

He nearly laughed, but he had detected something in her voice... something tragic, like she was almost about to cry. "No, I want to," he said. "I wouldn't have said I wanted to if I didn't." 

"Oh, okay," she said, and her voice kind of trailed into a whimper. 

"I would have asked you out pretty soon anyway," he said. "I was going to. You just beat me to it." 

"Oh, really?" And they kind of laughed together. 

Two headlights shone into the parking lot, and his grandmother's car pulled in and drove to the curb. 

On the phone, Rachel breathed. "So it's definitely like a date, right? Like, you and me?" 

"Yeah, definitely. We're meeting there, right?" 

"Mm-hmm."

"About eight-thirty?"

"Yeah."

"Okay," he said. "I got to go. See you tomorrow." 

"Okay, bye."

He stuck his phone in his pocket and went to the car. He pulled open the door and got in, and his grandma asked, "Well, how was your day?" 

He pulled on his seatbelt. "Really incredibly weird." 

She laughed. "Oh? Why?"

"Well.... I've been talking to Rachel Matthews. We're going to the park tomorrow, to watch the fireworks."

"The two of you?" 

"Well, like a group thing." He paused. "What kind of person asks you to go somewhere and then after you say yes calls you back and says you don't have to go if you don't really want to?" 

"Is that what she did?"

"Yes." 

"Well.... Well, I don't know."