GARGOYLES, chapter 1

                                       



Chapter I 

                   Scott Lang emerges from the Broad Street subway station.  He hurries down the side streets on his way to work in one of the many office buildings located down in the Wall Street section of New York City.  It is a little before 6:00 a.m., and still dark on this Friday morning due in part to the cloud cover and part to the late rising sun.  After all, it is late December in New York City.  It is cold out, even for this time of year and with the winds that normally blow through the “Concrete Canyons” it feels like late January or February.  The light drizzle that has been falling since yesterday morning does not help any, as an umbrella is of no use due in part to these swirling winds.  Being wet as well as cold is something Scott never gets used too.
                   As Scott reaches the corner, he curses to himself, as he pulls his coat a little tighter and presses his hat down on to his head.  “Damn wind and rain.  I should move down south!  Florida is looking real good right now.  Arizona wouldn’t be bad either!  Nothing here to hold me!  No wife or kids.”  Not even a job with a future.  At this point he is already drenched, but he is still trying to keep warm.  He turns to his left when he reaches Pearl Street.  Pearl Street is a small, 1 block long strip that is deserted at almost any hour but especially this early in the morning and in this miserable weather.  As he hurries down the street, Scott is thinking just how much he really hates his job.  Partly because he has to be in so early and partly because he feels there is no future for him on this job.  Scott wouldn’t mind the early hour if he thought it would get him some place.  He thinks about all the years wasted in college getting his degree in economics.  “A lot of good it is doing me now”, he mutters to himself,” I didn’t need to spend all that time and all that money for this crappy job!”  Being cold and damp doesn’t help his mood any as he rushes along.  “I better not be late again or George will have my head.” 
                   Half way down the block he hears what sounds like wings beating over his head.  Startled, he stops to look up.  For a second he thinks that he sees someone or something moving on the rooftop just 4 or 5 floors up.  ‘But that can’t be, because this building as well as the others on this block have all been empty for many years.  Maybe it’s an old ripped flag flapping in this wind or maybe some canvas that came loose, up on the roof.  It is very windy today.’  As he is still looking up, scanning the area directly above and to the left of him he gets hit in the face by some overly large droplets of rain.  Thinking that the rain is increasing in strength he curses one more time under his breath and pulls his overcoat even tighter around himself and then continues on his way to work. “That was weird, I wonder what someone was doing up there in this weather.  I wonder if they are finally going to put something in that building.  It has been empty for a very long time.  I hope it will be something interesting, and not just another office building with a bar and a bank.  We already have plenty of those!”
                   As he enters the lobby of 55 Water Street, he forgets completely about the episode out on Pearl Street.  He shakes the excess water off his hat and coat as he crosses the lobby to catch the elevator.  As he enters the elevator bank, he sees the door of one of the elevators open and rushes to catch it.  When he gets into the elevator he sees his friend Dom, waiting to get up to their office up on the 48th floor. 
                   “Good morning Scott.  How are you doing on this perfectly miserable Friday?”
                   “Miserable is right.  I guess I’m OK………., how about you?”
                   “Not to bad, after all it is the beginning of the weekend, and I got some mighty big plans for it.  I hope the weather clears up a little though.    How about you, any plans Scott?  Hey, how did you get all that red paint on your hat and coat?  It’s even on your face.  You look like you have a major case of…… chicken pocks!”
                   “What are you talking about?” asks Scott, as he tries to look over his coat.
                   “Take your hat off and look at it.  It’s on your left shoulder too.”
                   Scott removes his hat and sees large red blotches all over the top.  “Damn, where did this come from?”  He then sees red paint all over his left shoulder too.  When they reach their floor Scott heads for the men’s room.  “I’ll see you inside Dom; I’m going to try to wash this off before it dries.  This was an expensive hat and coat.  I cannot afford a new one” 
                   In the rest room he removes his hat and coat and sees that the red paint is all over the left shoulder.  After some rubbing with moist paper towels he decides that he will drop it off at the cleaners tonight on the way home.  “I better not try to hard to get it off, I might make it worse.  I hope the cleaners can get this off.  I paid a lot of money for this coat!  The first time I splurge on something and this has to happen, talk about lousy luck.”  He then also notices some on his face.  As he washes it off, he tries to backtrack on his trip in.  Trying to figure out where it may have come from.  Then he remembers the flapping noise on Pearl Street.  He starts to wonder if some workers might have left paint cans on the building while working on it and that maybe the wind blew them over.  And just his luck, as he was passing by he gets splattered.  That must have been the sound that I heard. 
“Damn workers”, he laments as he heads for his office.  “And late again”, he mumbles as he passes through the entryway, “I hate this job!”
                   “Late again, huh Scott?”
                   “Yeah, sorry George.  I had a little problem with the subway.” 
                   “OK, but be on time from now on.  You know we don’t stand for lateness around here.  This is starting to become a habit.  We don’t want to do anything we both will regret, do we?”
                   “Sure, you’re right George, sorry.  It will not happen again, I promise you.”
                   Scott sits down behind his desk and starts processing one of the many piles of stock certificates that were left for him.  He watches George, his boss as he walks away, ‘What a Prick!  This is going to be a long day’, he thinks to himself.  ‘A very long and crappy day.’










Chapter 1B    (That Evening)



                   As Scott hops off the bus, he turns right, and enters a store front on the corner.  ‘Snowy White Cleaners’, the neon signs screams, as Scott enters. 
                   “Hi Penny, how are you doing?”
                   “Great Scott, how about you?”
                   “OK, except that I got some paint on my new hat and coat.  Do you think you guys can get it out?”
                   “How did you do that?”
                   “I have no idea, it happened sometime between the time I left my house this morning and the time I got to my office.  Do you think you can get it clean?  I would hate to think that I ruined this new coat.  I only just bought it last week.  It cost me a small fortune.”
                   “Let me see them.”  Penny took the hat and coat and started to look it over.  “Wait here a minute I need to speak to my people in the back.”
                   After a couple of minutes Penny returns.  “No problem Scott, leave it to us.  We’ll get it cleaned for you.  How about if we have it for you next Tuesday?  OK?”
                   “Any chance of getting tomorrow?  I need it for work on Monday.  It’s the only overcoat I have.”
                   “Uh…, okay, but not till after 4:00 tomorrow.  It’s going to take some work to get them both cleaned. OK?  But don’t forget we close promptly at 5:00!” She warned.
                   “That’s great!  Thanks Penny, I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon.” 
Scott leaves the store and hurries home.  He was much happier now knowing that tomorrow he would have his hat and coat back, clean.
                   ‘Hats and coats are to expensive today,’ thought Scott, as he rushed home, ‘I do hope they can get them clean.’