Small Worlds Collide

 “You can leave that with me.” Brannon said. Pointing to the tablet gripped tightly in her left hand. “Valuable items like that have a tendency to disappear here when you sleep.”

D’Arla surveyed the open room of the shelter. 24 single beds. Fortunately for her the weather was nice and demand was low. On the other side of the hall, which held a desk positioned to give Brannon line-of-site into both rooms, were the 24 beds designated “men’s quarters”. 

Sudden loud voices next door brought home the lack of privacy and drew Brannon’s attention. Without a word he turned and strode toward the argument. 

D’Arla left the shelter and walked eight blocks to Starbucks. Knowing she had 3 hours till doors locked at the shelter gave her time to post. After locking the bathroom door, she took $5 from the "padding" in her bra.  “Brannon can’t know about this. Starbucks before begging a bed.” she thought as she entered the que. 

“Is this a wi-fi hotspot?” She asked nonchalantly, trying to minimize her desperation. 

“Of course. All Starbucks offer free wi-fi for paying customers.” The reply a question as much as a statement. 

 “Of course....24 ounce drip and a raspberry scone... thank you.”A few minutes later “Drip and a Scone for D’Arla!?” rang out. She collected her “dinner” and made her way to a small corner table just out of site of the street.

 With her tablet turned on and connected she decided to hit Dmania with a meme on her troll account before giving the remaining time to her @-DearMarla daily blog. 

 

“Seriously? $135 a week for this shithole?” Steve shook his head. His self loathing reached a new high. “Or low” he thought, as he inspected his new abode closer. His choices were slim, and no rent due until the end of the month would keep him from Brannon’s  shelter downtown. Access to the main house wireless was the clincher.

 “17 days would work.” He considered the timeline with his usual manic optimism. “8 days to blog posts worth at least $500.00, then 7 days till they all payout, 1 day to convert to fiat.  I can do that!” He picked up his pack and headed to the door.
Relief when google loaded turned to near rage when he opened his Steem wallet. “Fuckin’ stupid!” He cursed, shame mixing with his anger. 

He minimized and brought up discord and typed hello to @-Sanity. “Weird” he mused, thinking how his friend and now landlord was in the main house only 70 ft away.

 Having changed his private key he could still continue blogging as @Modzart, starting with responding to numerous comments lamenting his loss. He scanned through them looking specifically for @-DearMarla. 

@-Windsor upvoted the comment 10% for validity then hit reply. 

“I certainly agree spirituality matters. The changes I mention in this post prove that!”  Noticing a red 1 over the discord icon he brought up private messaging and read:

@-Ghamer     Went well. Got $4800 value before he realized. “Account recovery” stepped in so that one is done, other than $135 in a month... minus electricity...lol. Lots of lines in the water though, should hook another one soon. Hopefully whale sized.

@-Windsor    Excellent. Leave a message if I’m not on later. Good looking brunette will be back in thirty minutes. Was just getting her interest when I had to stop a fight. 

@-Ghamer   I gotta do some legit stuff, so watch for (at)sanity. Night Brannon.