It Was a Very Bad Year

SIXTY-SEVEN

We had parked around the corner, so we were able to walk to the storage facility, which was on the corner of the same block where Clipper’s was. We walked past the bar while keeping to the other side of the street, then crossed over.

HI-POINT STORAGE the sign over the door said. I didn’t know what it meant, but it didn’t matter. You had to name your business something, right?

‘We’re gonna need your lock-picking skills again,’ I said.

‘Depends on the kind it is,’ Jerry said. ‘Places like this, people use all kinds of locks. If it’s a combination lock we’re fucked.’

‘Well, let’s find out.’

‘How do we get up there?’ Jerry asked.

‘That’ll be the easy part,’ I said. ‘You and me, we’re lookin’ for a unit that isn’t on the first floor, but not too high up.’

‘Like somethin’ on the second floor?’ Jerry asked.

‘Exactly.’

We went inside.

Storage units were a new idea in the sixties. That meant they were built into existing buildings, not places specially designed for them. Those days were a long time coming.

This structure looked like it used to be an apartment building. The floors had been sectioned off into units of varying sizes and shapes. We went up the front stairs and through the double front doors.

The young man at the front desk gave us the whole sales pitch about how helpful it is to have a storage unit, how small businesses were able to increase their invoice, and not their overhead. We let him wind down and then told him we needed a unit off the main floor, but not too high up.

‘Worried about fire?’ he asked. ‘We got sprinkler units on each floor, and plenty of fire escapes.’

‘Still. .’ I said.

‘Well, all right, then. We’ve got some available on the second floor,’ he said. ‘What size do you think you’ll need?’

‘What’ve you got?’

‘Well, we’ve got some five by eights, some eight by tens, some ten by fifteens-’

‘Why don’t we start with an eight by ten?’ I suggested.

‘Fine. Do you need a lock? We have combination locks, or just key locks-’

‘A lock and key will be good.’

I had to sign a one year contract and then he handed me a lock and key and said, ‘If you’ll wait a few minutes I can take you up, or you can just go on up yourself and have a look.’

‘My partner and I will be OK on our own. We’ll come back later with some stuff to store.’

‘OK,’ he said. ‘Welcome to Hi-Point. Your unit is number two fifty-one.’

‘Thanks.’

251 shouldn’t be too far from 220, I thought. This was going well.

We took the elevator up one floor, got off and found 251 first, then walked down to 220. Irwin’s unit was apparently one of the smaller five by eights. As we reached it we saw that things had suddenly stopped being easy.

‘Damn!’ I said.

We looked at each other, then at the door that had a combination lock.

‘Look on the bright side, Mr G.,’ Jerry said.

‘What’s that?’

‘The lock is still there,’ Jerry said. ‘Maybe that means his stuff is still in there. Maybe he’ll be back for it.’

‘Well, we’ve got — what, thirty-five hours?’ I said. ‘I guess we could wait for him here, but then he might not show.’

‘So? We can get in there.’

‘How do we do that?’

‘At night,’ Jerry said.

‘This place closes at five p.m.’

‘Maybe I can’t pick that lock,’ he said, indicating the combo lock on the door, ‘but did you notice the locks on this building? Easy.’

‘OK, so we get into the building,’ I said. ‘How do we get into this unit?’

‘The old-fashioned way,’ he said.