His heavy eyes opened to golden rays of light; the smoldering sunrise radiated though the layers of grated platforms above. A tilting of the head and light pierced his pupils; a tilt the other way and he saw its shadow in its shade. The first section of the fire escape had been a refuge, a hiding place in the darkness of the night, but in the light all safeguard was gone.

His left arm and the right-side of his face carried the grating’s diamond shaped imprints as he slowly sat up and lowered himself down. He knew she would be waiting; where he told her he would be waiting for her – on the corner of Main and First Avenue.

Jack took the five-cent piece from his pocket; leaving the two dimes. Heads? I confront her face to face. Tails? I keep running. The nickel flipped end over end through the crisp morning air. The goons were gone; he had no reason to turn tail and run, meeting Penny was the levelheaded thing to do.

The coin fell in-between a fissure in the asphalt, on the thin edge of indecisiveness.