It’s Fun To Stay At The U-Haul
(U-Haul. Sacramento. The other location near the one on El Camino.)
Clerk: Before you came to get boxes here… you went to the El Camino location, right?
Me: Yeah.
Clerk: People always do that.
Me: Yeah.
Clerk: Nobody can see us.
Me: Yeah.
Clerk: We’re invisible. This street is too small.
Me: I agree.
Clerk: People are always like, “Oh, I already went to the El Camino location.”
Me: I certainly did.
Clerk: We do stuff here. Storage, for example. That’s one big thing.
Me: Makes sense.
Clerk: We have trucks, you know. They have more trucks, OK. But we do have trucks.
Me: Ohhhhhhh, we’re the El Camino location, our fleet is soooooooooo big.
Clerk: Right?
Me: Let me say something right now. Do they really take care of those trucks? Do they really know every single vehicle in their fleet?
Clerk: I doubt it. How could they?
Me: You’re a bit hard to find at this location. But I can see everything’s in good shape. I can’t tell you how important that is right now.
Clerk: Why?
Me: Because… I’m going to let you in on a secret. I’m from headquarters. Something big is about to go down, and when it does, this location is going to be crucial. If anything, and I mean anything, goes wrong here…well, I don’t even want to think about it.
Clerk: What’s the big thing?
Me: I can’t tell you that. Not at this point. But let me just say two words: homeland security. And three more words: secret spy location. Wait, how many words is that?
Clerk: Five.
Me: You bet it is. Have you thought about that? Has anyone been around lately, talking about Phase 2?
Clerk: No, I haven’t heard anything.
Me: Of course not. But I’m telling you. When the El Camino location is compromised — and it will be — this place will be all that’s left holding the line. They’ll deny everything, of course.
Clerk: They’d like that, over at El Camino!
Me: They won’t like it one bit. They won’t like it…at all.
Clerk: Are you paying cash or credit?
Me: Credit. [Beat.] For now.