Disclaimer: I'm into math, alright? RENT ≠ mine.
Finally, Gilbert Allen, the manager of the Life Café thought, peace and quiet. What is perfection, if not satisfied, happy customers and total calm and...BANG! The slam of the door interrupted his musings. Oh no. It was them again. Why, God, why? Why me?
A few hours later, he watched them go. The gay black man appeared to be drunk, but then again, reflected Mr. Allen, when weren't they? The short Hispanic girl was giggling as she supported him. She really was tiny, and while the man wasn't particularly large, he looked like he could crush her easily. Mr. Allen vaguely wondered for a moment why the man's boyfriend, or was it girlfriend, was not helping him, but waved the thought away. Those artists had strange habits; who was he to question them?
It wasn't as if he'd achieve anything by questioning that lot anyway. He knew that from long experience. How often had he questioned them about...oh, what is it...ah, money, yes, that little trifle, that thing he kept in a fairly empty jar on top of the refrigerator in his apartment, that thing that you had to give to get things (like wine and beer). That group had never quite learned that association: you get food and alcoholic beverages, you give money. It has to go both ways. It had to be balanced. BALANCED, FOR GOD'S SAKE, BALANCED!
Cause and effect did seem to be lost on that crowd. Not only did the whole buy things/pay for things not register, the effect of not paying for things seemed to confuse them. It wasn't like Mr. Allen had cash to burn; why, he questioned (though he remembered that wasn't good strategy, but in his head, he could get away with it), would I be serving them if I did? And people paid for food, including restaurant owners, though not including artists. Without food, restaurants are not quite as useful as they are with. Without money, there could be no food. And with those artists keeping the books unbalanced, there was no money.
Mr. Allen sighed. There was only one possible effect of those causes, was there not?
A/N: I know it's short, but it's a prologue. Updates will probably be sporadic; sorry to whoever's reading this (if anyone's reading this, that is). So...yeah. Please review. Oh, and if you caught the little, slightly abridged reference to the movie The Wedding Singer...good for you. I love that movie.