Fiction
Date Published: 01-04-2024
Publisher: Pageturner Press and Media
Julius T. Downer has lost his job at a prestigious Wall Street firm, his
lovely girlfriend who has run off with his best friend, and his shoebox of
an apartment where he and his girlfriend have been locked up in
Pandemic-stricken New York City during COVID. Without much money left, he
has little choice but to dump it all and relocate to Albany, New York, where
he lives hand-to-mouth at a Motel 6.
Demoralized, Downer knows he must get on his feet. He ventures to the most
cosmopolitan street in Albany, which is Lark Street, hoping to find another
girlfriend similar to the one who just abandoned him and also hoping to have
a little fun before he searches for another job. Instead, he finds an
antagonistic and unwelcoming crowd who snub him at every turn. The only ones
who welcome him in are those he terms as "freaks." These are the
homeless, the drunks, the addicts, and the sex workers on Lark Street.
But his downward slide is mitigated by an outsider artist who takes up
residence in one of the few coffee shops that are established there. With
the help of this outsider artist and his group of "freakish"
friends, Julius T. Downer finds that he has a special supernatural ability
when it comes to viewing art.
And Downer enters Albany already hating artists and everything about them.
But after finding that he has this new ability bestowed upon him by this
outsider artist, he finds that his new relationship to art and the art world
around him can help many people who are suffering and struggling through
their own lives. Downer finds a new path to follow with the understanding
that he is just a "freak" himself.
