A .45 to Pay the Rent (Unabridged‪)‬

A Short Story from Tales of Ordinary Madness


"Aren't there any happy people?"
"There are many people who pretend that they are happy."
"Why?"
"Because they are ashamed and frightened and don't have the guts to admit it."

Bukowski's vignette, based on conversations between a drug dealer and his young daughter, follows unquestionable childhood logic about family, love, and making ends meet on the other side of the law.

OBIE winner Will Patton (Remember the Titans, The Good Wife, Armageddon) recreates Bukowski in his visceral prime, along with every eye-popping character in his life, each adversary, lover, and stranger in a lost city.