I went over, reached into my pocket and took out a fifty.

"Kid, how long you going to be here?"

He looks at the fifty, and looked at me with confusion. "At least an hour."

"Good." I took the phone and the rest of my cash and stuck them in the little brown bag. I ripped the fifty in half and handed one half to the kid along with the brown bag.

"I need a shower. Watch my stuff, I’ll be back in twenty minutes". Didn't say anything about the other half of the fifty, didn't need to.

A big smile. "Yes, sir. No problem, sir."

I took the bag with my new clothes, found the showers, purloined a towel and opened an empty locker. Stripped, threw everything in the locker including the remaining fifty half. Took a hot shower, toweled off and put on the threads. Threw the old clothes in the trash. Felt like a new man.

Strolling back out front, the kid saw me and reached under the counter to retrieve my bag. As he passed it to me I palmed off the other half of the bill.

"Thanks mister"

"Have a good one", and I was out the door. Clean and fresh as a daisy. Hailed a cab and raced down 5th Avenue to The Antique Showplace on West 25th Street. The Showplace is a convenient collection of dozens of antique dealers located under one roof.

I walked in and quickly consulted the legend on the wall to the right. Found the dealer that specialized in vintage dolls and walked up the stairs. Found the doll lady and entered her shop.

It turns out that her name was Leticia, an elderly and very pleasant African-American lady. Her shop was stuffed from front to back, top to bottom with every variety of collectable doll imaginable. I had come to the right place. I introduced myself and placed the little brown bag on her counter.

"Well, Mr. Picker, how may I help you this beautiful spring day?"