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William and Jack

William lived in the poor part of town. The houses were peeling from sunburns. The yards were choking on spiky weeds. Shutters hung off the windows drunkenly. Blacks and whites sat out on their front porches, alike, hiding from the vacuum of heat that was their un-air-conditioned living rooms.

This was where William lived and Jack never knew it. William had called Jack here to give him something. “It’s time,” he said over the phone. Jack knew this day would come, but he didn’t realize the magnitude once William climbed into the disintegrating above-ground pool.

“Before we became the rust belt, we used this pool all the time in the summer. We were the hit of the neighborhood,” William said. Jack just nodded.

William got on his hands and knees, crawled to the edge of the pool and began to tug at the blue lining. He pulled it up, showcasing a beat-up box. He handed the box to Jack and said, “There are tens of thousands of dollars in here. It’s time to begin. Leave now before someone sees you with this.”

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