A Comedy of Horrors

When the day's end is nigh, and the fast buck's the only ticket out of Stone-cold-soberville, then the good matron might just become a mother to the motherless drunk, and little does she know ...

All city life’s a stage, and all the drunks and sober citizens mere players. A man out upon his last binge must needs dispense with the platitudes of plain begging, and manage the precious moment to his best advantage, by showmanship, by self-effacement and brazen wit. Citizens full of street wisdom would spot the comedy in such a man’s desperation, and, seeking their own solace from the shadows, they would draw the bum out, and make him work for his money. A matron, again, would stand the law itself upon its head for her sense of moral outrage, and unlock the forces of nature without knowing, allowing the shadows of the streets to claim their own. And night falls again, just a pause in the comedy of human misunderstanding.