Harold the bum sat on the pavement outside a tall brick building. He leaned his head against the wall and adjusted the cardboard sign in front of him and made sure the Styrofoam cup was still in front of him. An occasional pedestrian dropped a coin in the cup, but most ignored him.
“Come on dude, I don’t have all day...” Harold mumbled and glared at the door leading inside the building next to him.

The sun was setting when the door swung open and a brown haired man with a very long beard and strange straw hat stepped onto the sidewalk.
“Oh good, you’re still here!” He exclaimed.
“Glad you finally made it Matthew.” Harold replied.
“I apologize for taking so long, the paperwork was very tedious. I had to sign my name thirty-three times!”
“It’s fine, I actually have enough money for dinner tonight...” Harold said and jingled the coins around in his cup.
“Indeed, well, do you know where he is?”
“Actually, no.”
“Pardon?”
“I dunno know where the kid ran off to.”
“And why not? You are aware that you won’t be paid until he is safely home.”
“I’m gettin’ to it... these things take time!”
“I’ve already waited years!”
“So you can stand a few more months.”
“Months?” Matthew angrily kicked over Harold’s sign, then restored it to its original position, “I’m sorry, my temper got the best of me.” he apologized.
“No problem, worse has happened.”
They remained silent for a few uncomfortable moments.
“Well, I shall leave you know so you can get back to work.” Matthew said.
“Yea, work. Right” Harold offered Matthew his hand, and Matthew disdainfully examined it before quickly grasping it and turning to walk away. He hailed a taxi, then drove away. Harold sat back down on the pavement and placed his cup in front of the sign, then began to plan how he was going to track down Timothy.

Timothy shuddered and tuned to Adam,
“Ugh, I just got the chills!”
“Why? It’s still warm out.”
“I dunno, I just got creeped out.”
“I see.”
They continued walking along the highway.