In the Pines

This story was originally published in Day One, a weekly literary journal dedicated to short fiction and poetry from emerging writers.

After he loses his apartment, a down-on-his-luck young man decides to camp out between a construction zone and a theater on New York's East Fourth Street. In some ways, the timing's fortunate—he can build himself a pine cabin from all the discarded Christmas trees—but January is a hard month to get by without proper shelter.

The man busks to earn his living, playing nineties rock by day for the women at a nearby salon and entertaining the theater crowd by night with Dylan and Hendrix. He even catches the ear of a nearby guitar-shop owner, who invites him to lay down some tracks in his recording studio. Everything is just fine—until Torres, a cop with big boots and big fists, starts demanding permits.

As the young man learns about community and desperation, he fights for his right to live on the disused corner of sidewalk he calls home.