Doors

Franklin slammed the door behind him before I could catch up. Seriously? I knocked on his door. And then knocked again before it swung open. "Look. I don't want any trouble." He said with a stern look in hushed tones, playing tough even though his voice cracked mid-sentence.

I scratch my head. "I think this is a misunderstanding."

His stern look softened and he glanced at what I presume was Igor's room. "Come in. Then we'll talk."

I walked in and he shut the door behind me. Leaning against it as if it brought protection to us both.

"Did your mom send you?" He asked. "Is this about the internet, cause if it is, I really like the place and I don't want to leave? So I can stop selling access if you want."

"Uhh... no." I was flummoxed. "Access?" I pondered, now seeing the rather large computer setup on one side of the room.

"Yeah, I'll just do me and you guys and everyone else can get their own." He walked over to his desk and I watched the screens come to life.

"No, that's not what this was about at all. I was just noticing all this weird stuff in the building and I was just curious. Also, are we paying you for internet?"

He squinted at me for a staggeringly long time I guess before deciding that I was an idiot before blurting out, "You really didn't know? Man, you must be the least observant person in the whole building. Yeah, I supply all the internet. Do you think your mom would name a network 'Section-9' after the top secret agency in Ghost in the Shell? I don't think she would quite understand the irony." He chuckled to himself and spun around in his gaming chair.

"Oh," I muse. "I thought it was named that because of a housing designation. Like it was government provided or something."

I stared blankly at Franklin as he started to chuckle. A few nervous laughs grew into an uncontrollable spasm as he fell into his chair. "That is rich," he said between breaths. "Whatever this is, it isn't quite government. And you know what, I don't care. I like the deal. Cheapest rent in the city. No utilities. Just don't ask questions."

"Did... did my mom tell you that." I asked.

"Well, she implied that the terms of my stay were real loose, and the fines for breaking the lease were high... but Igor is the real enforcer. Also, if your mom or Igor asks, we never talked."

"But why? Why do this at all?" I couldn't put it together, but something shady was certainly going on. Something stuck in my mind. "Why did you say this wasn't 'quite government'?"

" Come with me," he said. "You have to see it to appreciate it."

I followed him as we walked outside and across the street. "Look at our building. What do you see?"

I glanced at it, trying to find something odd. "I see a relatively standard two story apartment building... some pylons that look a bit phallic."

"Outside of the vaguely sexual stuff, what else?"

"Windows. A crappy paint job." I was searching for anything of merit but coming up blank.

"Fine. Look at the other buildings. What do they have that we don't?"

The other buildings looked relatively similar. Their construction might have been a bit more modern, since ours must have been built at least a hundred years ago, but even some of the older buildings had similar trappings... and then I saw it. I glanced back to our buildings and it was so obvious. Every building on the block had a mess of utility wires leading to it, jumping from building to building. I glanced back and forth, but didn't see any connections. "...but it must have something...?" I pondered, how did we get electricity?

"That's right my man. We are off the grid."

"But how?" I asked, as we walked back into his apartment.

"Your guess is a good as mine," he shrugged. "Anyways, this is all confidential, right?"

"Right." I said, then I remembered the whole reason I was here and pulled the panties out of my pocket. "Oh, I uhh... think you dropped these... never took you for a player."

His eyes went wide for a brief moment and he rolled it off. He chuckled along with me as he grabbed the pair and quickly tossed them in his closet. "You know me," he said before plopping down on his chair again, glancing at the time in the corner of his screen. "Well, I got a stream to put on..." I could tell this was his way of telling me I should go, he got up and ushered me to the door.

"Oh, yeah... I'll make my exit." I replied as he led me out. "What do you play though?"

He just grinned like Jim Halpert and patted me on the chest vaguely patronizing and said, "You're very observant Jasper, I'm sure you'll figure it out." It was only as I glanced down at his finger nails that I put two and two together, but by then he had shut the door in my face again. Franklin didn't stream video games.

"Well," I muttered, "Franklin is a mystery for another day." Door two here I come.

Before I could I knock on the door, Igor opened it and asked, "What do you want?"