SAVIOR!
A blurry photo of the dead killer occupied the bottom half. His photo! They'd found something usable on his roll.
And below that, the banner: EXCLUSIVE EYEWITNESS REPORT INSIDE! (see pg. 3)
"Yes!" he shouted and pumped his fist.
He snatched up an issue and opened it to page three and there he was: his first-person account boxed with his picture. Oh, no! They'd used the geeky photo from his HR file! But he forgot about that as soon as he started reading.
Butterflies fluttered up from his stomach and into his chest. This was his first Ferris wheel ride, his first look at the Magic Kingdom, his first kiss all rolled into one. He felt as if his head were about to float away.
"That is one dahlah," said an accented voice.
"Hmmm?"
Sandy looked up and saw the swarthy newsstand owner holding out his hand.
"You must buy to read. One dahlah."
"Oh, yeah." He fished singles out of his pocket. "I'll take four."
He'd have access to virtually unlimited free copies at work but that wasn't the same. The ones in his hand came from a newsstand, from the street, and somehow that made them more real.
"Oh yeah, and I'll take a copy of that subway map too."
He checked out the front pages of the competition. The Post headline was okay—"SUBWAY SLAUGHTER!"—but he liked the News headline better: "NIGHTMARE ON THE NINE!" As expected, the Times was more sedate with "SIX DEAD IN SUBWAY MASSACRE." But both ran photos from above ground, mostly of the survivors as they emerged from the subway station. He looked at The Light again with his photo and its banner about his story. His story. A laugh bubbled up inside and he let it loose. When the newsstand owner gave him a strange look Sandy pulled open one of his copies and pointed to his picture.
"That's me, my man! Me!"
"Yes," the man said. "Very nice."
Sandy got the feeling the guy thought he might be scaring away his customers and wanted him to move on. So Sandy moved on, feeling lighter than air. Nobody could bring him down this morning. Nobody.