"colfax state of mind"

Last time we went down the rabbit hole, Tony the stripper had to give up professional dancing due to an injured foot. With medical bills piling up and no money coming in, Tony now finds himself completely broke and unable to feed his four dogs, seven cats, six gerbils, two rabbits, and parakeet.

Tony spends the whole night sitting on the floor of his bedroom building leprechaun traps out of popsicle sticks and praying for a miracle. His animals gather around him in a circle, pawing the wooden contraptions and staring at him with hungry eyes.

"Leprechaun traps," Tony tells his cats, "Are meant for catching leprechauns. And if you catch a leprechaun, he must give you his pot of gold." Tony smiles weakly. He hasn't eaten in four days.

As he pulls himself up from the floor, steadying himself on the couch, he looks at his animals. Mr. Peeps the cat licks bits of imaginary food from his white whiskers. Ezekiel the dog chews on the edge of the carpet. Leroy the parakeet sits in his cage and stares blankly at himself in the mirror. The gerbils burrow deeply in their dirty wood shavings, too hungry to move.

"I'll be right back," says Tony, plastic sack of leprechaun traps swinging from his arm. He limps out the door onto the street.

Colfax is nearly empty except for a few stragglers loitering in front of The Adult Palace XXX Video Emporium. The strip club where Tony used to work is just down the street, and he can see the blinking lights of the "All Nude, All Night" sign glowing in the distance.

Ducking into a alley, Tony lingers between the dumpsters and piles of trash. The air stinks of urine, old meat, and french fries. A three-legged rat darts out from underneath a discarded cereal box and disappears into a storm drain.

Tony closes his eyes and imagines he's in a forest far away. Pink cotton-candy trees cover the sky with their delicate branches, chocolate flowers melt quietly in the grass, and talking birds flit in and out of the sunshine singing, "Over the rainbow." Tony can almost taste the sweetness in the wind, and he thinks to himself, "Those damn leprechauns. They must be somewhere."