Summary

In “Bartow Station,” when the narrator starts working for UPS, his coworker Jimmy assures him he will have to “run fast” on the job to escape “anything looking pissed-off” (181). He ridicules the narrator for his outfit, too. The narrator is wearing his old shoes in “memory of [his] cousin Troy” (181).

The narrator adjusts to his job. He becomes familiar with Zoelle, the girl who works at “a flower shop on Wyckoff” (182). One day, she gives him a rose and invites him to see “the murals in Bushwick” with her (183).

On their date, Zoelle tells the narrator about school, her parents, and her dream of living in New York (184). The narrator studies the murals. To break his silence, Zoelle asks what his porn name would be. Hers would be May Flowers. She then tries getting him to pose near a mural of...