May 8
I had the day off, but Guy had to work. Hal Collier filled in for me. I spent the springtime morning reading, checking my personal email, and chatting on the phone with a few friends. Then I had lunch at Benny’s Sub House with another friend, salads and iced teas, and enjoyed some guy-talk for an hour.
Following lunch, I had an hour meeting on Smay Street, which was a short cab ride from Benny’s. I told the cabbie to drop me off at 768 Smay, paid the woman, and studied a building called the J.P. Bovane Warehouse. Painted shabby yellow, the brick building stood four stories high. Its wide exterior sported gang-related graffiti and massive garage doors. Windows skirted its sides, some broken.
I entered the place through a small door and walked into a space that housed nine parade fl
