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@msbellows@c.im
Post #4128292
2026-07-26 00:49 UTC
As he wanders around downtown Kansas City near the bus station, trying to remain anonymous and wondering what to do next, #IHopeJohnRoberts has trouble finding a motel or hotel that will accept him without showing ID or leaving a credit card and therefore creating a record that would lead to him being discovered and his adventure cut short, and when he finally does find one that will take cash without ID, the room smells funny and once he's inside and unpacking he realizes that in every hidden place, behind the curtains, on the shower rail, in the closet, under the bed, even tucked into the Gideon bible at John 3:16 like a bookmark for God's sake, the proprietor has hidden those little pine tree-shaped automotive air fresheners, which end up making the room reek like a forest had a baby with mothballs, and because he has no choice he stays there anyway but as he falls asleep tonight he wonders how long ago someone died in that room and how long it had taken before they were discovered and whether the owners had replaced the carpet and mattress or just cleaned them.
Replies (1)
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#IHopeJohnRoberts's ridiculously low-rent motel room in K.C. is right next to a large Black Baptist church that holds its first Sunday service at 6 a.m., and also that his room has no air conditioning so he slept with his window open, and the gorgeous but very loud and very awake choir got him up bright and early so he thought what the hell, threw on clothes, stepped over the crushed dead rat on the threshold of his room without noticing it, and went and sat in the back of the church, where people gave him puzzled smiles at his whiteness and stranger-ness and casual clothes, but still seemed nice, and all through the service he just quietly thought about things, left $20 in the distribution, and then quietly slipped out at the end.
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