"Hi. Remember me?" Corey asked, twirling his keys around his finger, when the man opened the door of the ruined apartment. "You [i]are[/i] Jimmy, right?"

"Uh, yeah. And . . . I don't remember--wait. weren't you the guy who sold me that sword thingy a while back?"

"It's a machete, Jim, and due to the circumstances, I need a weapon, meaning I need that blade back."

Jim hesitated. "I can't just give it back. I need a little compensation so I can survive," he said, rubbing his fingers together.

Corey pulled out his cash. Most of it was in twenties, and he had sold the thing to the guy for only ten bucks. "How about I give you twenty and you give me that sword and some food? Whaddya got stored up?"

"Thing is . . ." Jim mumbled, "I haven't got food. I've been buyin' from this person next door."

"Riiight. You mean to tell me you haven't got an emergency stash? Surely you aren't that dumb."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Jimmy said, refusing to make eye contact now and twiddling his thumbs.

"You're lying, Dunnevan."

"Alright, fine! Yeah, I've got a stash. Got a good potato casserole in the freezer. But that ain't cheap!"

"I offer you twenty for the sword and the casserole." [i]May not be the best stuff in the world, but it'll be food.[/i] "You can buy some much better stuff with that money."

Jim seemed to be stalling. Eventually, with a sigh, he answered, "I'll give you the stuff, but you get out of my life after this."

"Deal."

"Now where's the money?"

"I have to see the sword and the food first, and it has to be on the floor between us, and then I'll hand you the money. I have reasons right now not to trust anyone."

Jim seemed reluctant, but he went into the apartment and gathered what Corey had asked for, set it on the floor in the doorway, and Corey handed him the twenty. Not another word was said as Corey gathered up the stuff and returned to his truck. He climbed in the back seat, shoved the rather large, frozen casserole in the dash so the sun would bake it, and began searching on his laptop again for his next sword's location.