It ain't the worst part of town, but it ain't the best either. A few drunks, a few hookers, nothin' I can't handle if I'm a mind to. And the girls are usually pretty willing to make sure I turn a blind eye, if ya know what I mean. "Ooo, what a beauty," they'll say to me. "C'mon, Beauty: let's party. I like a pretty boy like you anytime....." No, I ain't on the take. I'm just a guy tryin' to do his job, just like everyone else out there. Sometimes, ya feel like ya just wanna cut a few corners, and if no one's lookin' and no one cares, I don't see the big deal of it. So I'm out on the beat this particular night, and let me tell you: man, it was cold. Colder than the proverbial witch's boob and then some. Every so often one of the guys would roll by in a squad car, lookin' all warm and toasty and givin' me the big ol' "Hey, Beauty! How's it goin'?" grin that you just wanna paste from one end of the block to the other. Still, I knew what I was gettin' into when I signed up for this, and I wasn't about to complain. So I pass this alley, and here's this ol' rummy, passed out, still clutchin' that bottle of Four Roses even though there wasn't enough left in it for a decent swallow. And... I dunno, I guess it was the cold and the fact that I knew I had a warm place to go home to after my shift... but I couldn't leave him there. So I start headin' for him, and as I do, he sits up, looks at the bottle with a resigned little sigh, and starts to take that last swig. "Hey!" I yell, just as he's got the bottle to his lips. "What're you doin' out here? It's freezin' ass cold, bud." He just looks at me and shrugs his shoulders. "No money. No place ta go." There's a million guys like this, y'know? Sometimes they bring it on themselves, sometimes it just happens to them. But whichever it was, this guy was a real mess, the kind of guy who, if he were only a bit more sober, would be a mean drunk. There's a growl in his voice, not a good one. Still, he wasn't gonna live the night, and that little bit of Four Roses wasn't gonna help any at all. Hell, it just might be enough to kill him. So I reach into my pocket and hand him a twenty. "Here. Go over to the Hotel 241. You know the place?" He nods. "Tell Eddy he owes me one and this is the repayment. Now get your ass outa the cold, okay?" He nods... then smiles... then... well, it's the damndest thing. He starts to... I dunno... glow, like. And he starts changin'... from this old drunk in a bunch of ratty clothing to this... kid, all cleaned up and well dressed. He looks at the bottle again with its little bit of Four Roses left, laughs, and throws the sucker clean down the alley into the shadows. He gives me this big hug and says "Thank you!" -- then... disappears. It was the damndest thing, y'know? So I'm tryin' to tell the guys at the station about this, and they just laugh. "Hey, Beauty!" one of them said, "You better watch out when you go on patrol tonight. Might meet a real scardey Beast....."