At the Post

Clocker Locke steps into the Blue Ribbon on 49th Street, his flamboyant past replaced by a muted gray suit and a plain wristwatch. He meets Doc Hawkins, a recovering alcoholic turned tabloid doctor, amid a noisy crowd of quirky regulars who trade barroom banter for whispered secrets. The conversation quickly turns to Zelda, Clocker’s former strip‑tease partner, now confined to a sterile room and diagnosed with a hopeless‑sounding catatonic dementia.

As the drinks flow, Clocker reveals his belief that the strange “turf science” of race‑handicapping might offer a way to reach her—perhaps even to alter the very fabric of a human mind. The eclectic table, from Handy Sam the armless flea‑circus marvel to Arnold Wilson Wyle, a former video‑star, listens as the stakes of the night shift from idle gossip to a desperate quest for a cure. The story balances gritty city life with a hint of speculative intrigue, promising a tense, darkly comic exploration of what it means to be “scratched” from the human race.