01.

For those of you who have followed Manhattan Lovers, I thank you and implore your patience as I take a break to share a story that will appear in a series of posts that I wrote while in college about people I experienced some amazing times with. I feel that now is an appropriate time to share this story in memory of a friend who recently passed. With this story I honor him and the life I was fortunate to share with him and the life that unfortunately he was unable to continue. My heart goes out to him.

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Kenneth's hand fumbled in the darkness and met cold textured drywall until his fingers grasped a small plastic switch and with a flick of his wrist, he was forced to adjust his eyes to the light. In his refection, Kenneth confronted a tired, run down version of himself staring blankly in the mirror. It was just past six in the morning and Kenneth was getting ready to go back to the job he got off from less than seven hours ago. Upon completing his morning routine, Kenneth inspected his smoothly shaved skin to make sure he didn't miss a spot; he checked the other side admiring his work, considering that he hadn't shaved his armpits in awhile, he did a pretty good job. He put both arms down and rubbed his silky hairless armpits together sending a shutter down his body that made it's final stop in the crotch of his pants. A smug look passed over Kenneth's face at this unexpected morning stimulation. Maybe I should shave more often. Kenneth slipped on his red polyester shirt and straightened his navy blue and yellow checkered collar. Kenneth pushed his wire rimmed glasses up on the bridge of his nose, looked at himself one last time in the mirror and with the flick of a switch, he made his way down the hallway, pass the closed door of his parent's room and on his way to work.