When I moved to the Kansas City area to take a job with a company called Ascend Integrated Media I rented an apartment in Independence near the interstate. People told me later that I could have found a much nicer area to live in for the rent I was paying. But you never know about stuff like that when you're coming from a long way away.

I remember once being woken up by the sound of gunfire. I went down to the lobby to check out what was going on, and I figured the place would be packed with curious folks like me. But there was only Ellis there, reading the Star that they'd just dropped off for him. This was around four in the morning. Ellis always got up to get the paper, and spent a few hours reading it before heading off to whatever kind of job he had lined up at the time. I'd run into him when I was heading off to work early, which happened when we had a big project to work on.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that Ellis was sitting back and reading his paper as if everything was fine. Our lobby had a little area with a couple of old sofas and a coffee table and a plant they strung lights over during the holidays, and that was where he'd settle in. "Didn't you hear that?" I said to Ellis from the elevators.

"What was I supposed to hear?" he asked me. Ellis was only a bit older than me, as far as I could tell, but enjoyed talking to me as if I were a child.

I sat down on the sofa across from Ellis. He put his paper down on the coffee table.

"There were gunshots, " I said. "Right across the street practically."

"You're probably imagining things, " he told me.

"I know what it sounds like when someone shoots a gun, " I said.

"But you were asleep when you heard this, " Ellis said.

"It was real, " I told him. "One shot woke me up. Then there were others. I was wide awake by then.

"I wasn't paying any attention, " Ellis told me.

"I can't believe it, " I said. "It was right outside."

"You don't like this neighbourhood, " Ellis said. "You've told me so yourself."

"I've never said that, " I said.

"You've made it clear enough, " Ellis said.

"What does that have to do with this anyway?" I asked.

"It's late, " Ellis said. "And you're down here ranting and raving. But everything is fine."

"I know what I heard, " I told him. "I should call the police."

Ellis leaned back and folded his arms over his chest. "You know, Ross was down here talking about you the other day, " he told me.

"What does that have to do with anything?" I said.

"He told me that you were having some loud argument over the phone, " he said. "He could hear you when he was coming and going from his place. There were a few times. A few arguments, I mean."

"It's none of his business, " I said. "Or yours."

"But there are problems, " Ellis said. "You've been here what, maybe a year?"

"Coming up on a year, " I said.

"And you're not happy, " Ellis said. "And nobody even knows anything about you. This is what I meant to say. Ross was telling me all this about you. And then I said, 'Well, who is he fighting with?' And then Ross replied, 'Who knows? Who knows anything about that guy?' Or he said something like that."

"What do I have to tell Ross about my life?" I said. "I barely see him."

"That's the point, " Ellis said.

"This is an apartment building, not a fraternity house, " I said.

"But you're having problems, obviously, " Ellis said.

"My problem right now is that shots were fired outside and nobody seems to care, " I said.

Ellis considered the issue quietly for a moment. "Maybe I heard something, " he then said. "I can't remember. You know, maybe something registered in my mind, but I was concentrating on my reading."

"It's just they might be someone outside that needs help, " I said. "We should do something."

"Go look outside then, " Ellis said.

"It's probably not be safe, " I told him.

"Maybe not, " Ellis said. "But it will be light out soon."

"I'm not going to put myself at risk, " I said.

"Nobody would blame you, " Ellis told me.

I pulled a section of the newspaper closer to me. "Why do you get this, anyway?" I said. "They're going to go out of business soon, from what I hear."

"It's the routine I like, " Ellis said. "I work two jobs and neither of them is steady. Probably I'll be working somewhere else soon. But when I have the opportunity, I come down here and read my morning paper. I have that, at least."

"It's people like you that keep it going, I guess, " I said. "Once you're all gone, they'll have no more readers. Or at least they'll be getting it online. If the company can make money doing that somehow."

"They keep raising the price on me, " Ellis said. "I'll probably stop subscribing soon anyway."

I stayed up and went to work and told Fields about what had happened. "You have to get out of Independence, " he told me.

"I'm fine for now, " I said.

"I'm serious, " Fields said. "Listen to me. The whole place is falling apart. I know a guy in real estate who's telling me that everyone's getting out of there. Prices are in freefall."

"I rent, " I told him.

"That's not my point, " he said. "You have to get out of there. For your own peace of mind."

Fields worked in the cubicle beside mine, and he still took the lead on the projects we worked on together. Back then we were developing a website for a local financial services company. They'd had an easy ride for a while, but now of course they were having trouble attracting new clients. Fields had thick blonde hair that rested on the top of his head like a dormant animal, and he often swung his legs back and forth when he was focusing on something. But we got along well enough.

Anyway, Fields was over at my desk that morning so we could finish up the text that was going to appear on the front page of this company's new site. "I still don't like how it starts, " I told him. "'In these uncertain times.' It doesn't sound right."

Fields looked at the line on my screen. "'In these uncertain times, you need to put your financial future in the hands of people you trust, '" he read. "The whole thing sounds ridiculous to me now."

"I think I wrote it, " I said. "I'll take the blame."

"Who are these people, any why do we trust them?" Fields said.

"That's what we get into right after, " I said.

"But already we're raising the spectre of doubt, " Fields said. "We're scaring them, and then we're saying, 'Well, you know, give us a shot, maybe.' I don't trust them and I don't even know them."

"Maybe we should do away with the line altogether, " I said. "It was my idea. I wanted to set some context."

"What do you mean by that?" Fields asked.

"People are nervous, " I said. "Times are tough. The usual stuff. I wanted to set the scene."

"This isn't a screenplay, " Fields told me. "Why did I let you put that in there?"

"You read it over once a while back and said we'd look at it later, " I told him. "I don't think you gave it serious thought."

"I'm not saying it's a bad idea necessarily, " Fields said. "It's a mean world out there. We can protect you. Give us your money. That's the pitch, right?"

"Something along those lines, " I said.

"You're scared, right?" Fields said. "Shootouts outside your building. People in a panic wherever you go."

"I don't even know if it was gunshots, " I said.

"You're not well, though, " Fields said. "You're worried. Everyone's worried."

"That was the idea, " I said. "We let people know that there are problems out there. The company gets it. They're not out of touch."

"Right, right, " Fields said. "Well, let's drop the line for now and revisit it later on. It's too much to think about right now. We need to get this front page finished today."

It turned out that I had been right about the gunfire. There were stories about it on the news that evening. Someone was wounded slightly and managed to walk to the nearest hospital, which was nearly an hour away. But it was only a slight injury. Motives were unknown, but the police were investigating.

I didn't see Ellis again until about a week after that. "I gave up on the subscription, like you told me to, " he said.

"I didn't tell you to do anything, " I said.

"Well, I'm down to one job at the moment, so it's for the best, " he said.

"You'll find something else, " I told him.

"You don't have to tell me that, " he said. "I have something lined up already. I just have to wait a few weeks."

"Why are you down there, then, if you don't have your paper?" I asked him.

"I'm just watching everyone coming and going, " he said.

"I didn't tell you to cancel the paper, " I repeated.

"The world's not going to come to an end, " he said. "You don't have to worry so much."

"I was right about the gunshots, though, " I said.

"Apparently, " Ellis said. "But it was nothing. Nobody killed. And you were sitting right across from me as if the whole mess was your responsibility."

"It startled me, " I said. "It was the middle of the night. I wasn't thinking right."

"Of course, " Ellis said. "Everything else all right?"

"What has Ross been telling you?" I asked.

Ellis laughed at that. "He only talked about you the one time, " he said. "And you're all paranoid now."

I put my briefcase on the floor and sat down on the steps that led down to the front door. The couch Ellis was sitting on was only few feet away. "I have a son, " I said. "He lives in Oregon with his Mom."

"You don't have to get into this, " Ellis said.

"He hasn't seen me in five years, " I said. "I don't know him at all. Not really. I get pictures from time to time, when my ex is in a good mood. I don't even recognize him now. You can't tell from photographs, you know. If I passed him on the street, I might miss him."

"Why don't you go up there once in a while?" Ellis said.

"It's for the best this way, " I said. "You know, he doesn't want to see me. He might see me to be nice. He's a nice kid, from what she tells me. But I get upset about the way she left. That's what bothers me. She took off on me when I wasn't doing well."

"Maybe from her perspective it was the right thing to do, " Ellis said.

"Maybe, " I said. "But I was going through a rough time. I had this job that was killing me. I was coming home at midnight and then we'd fight about something ridiculous and I'd have a few drinks and be gone early the next morning. It wasn't all my fault. I just think that if we'd worked things out, then things would never have turned out this badly."

"So that's what you're fighting about, " Ellis said.

"A few times, yes, " I said. "I guess Ross heard us."

"Forget about Ross, " Ellis said. "He talks too much. Everyone knows it."

"I thought I was the one nobody liked, " I said.

"We don't know anything about you to say either way, " Ellis said. "That's the problem."

"I'm not sure if I'm going to stay here anyway, " I said. "I hear everyone was fleeing Independence."

"People have been saying that for years, " Ellis told me. "But there are some of us still around. We seem to be all right with the place. You should give it a chance."