Mr Loverman

Barry is walking to meet Morris for lunch when the sight of the local mini-mart triggers a traumatic memory. In the 1970s, Barry witnessed a crash right across the road from the mini-mart. He rushed to help the person in the car, but when he peered into the window, he saw that the driver had been shot in the head. He recognized the man as Delroy Simmons, a Jamaican electrician whom he employed on occasion. Delroy’s wife had caught him cheating on her with another man, and his wife’s brother, a gangster, shot Delroy.

Barry also walks past his first three rental properties. He recalls seeing them for the first time on a walk with Morris and recognizing “slummified Victorian houses” with “[v]andalized windows, wrecked roofs, gardens being reclaimed by the forests of Ye Olde England” (119). Barry vowed to Morris that he would buy the houses so that he could make a sizeable profit when the area became gentrified. When Barry approached banks with his business proposals, they all rejected him. He resorted to borrowing money from Carmel’s father at a steep 20% interest rate.

Looking at young people as he walks, Barry wonders how many of them live secret lives like his.