The Madman on 4th Street

"Excuse me, can you tell me where 4th Street is?" I asked a passing man.

“No, I don’t know,” he answered coldly.

"Miss, excuse me, do you happen to know where 4th Street is?"

“Take your hands off me, you freak,” she said and slapped me in the face.

I didn't expect that. "Okay, girls are different," I thought and went on. Suddenly, a few meters away, I saw an old man sitting on a bench.

"Good afternoon, sir. Do you happen to know where 4th Street is?"

"Eh?" said the old man, grinning. "Who are you anyway? Not from around here. Get out of here!" he shouted and brandished his stick.

I decided to quickly get away from the dangerous madman. "What’s wrong with them?" I thought. At that moment, my gaze fell on a crooked gray sign on the opposite side of the road: 4th Street.

"Bingo!" I shouted and jumped. "Ouch, shouldn't have done that," I said, and walked towards the street at a slow pace. The leg was still aching.

It turned out that 4th Street wasn't a street at all. It was a workshop. I knocked on the door and decided to enter. After passing down a corridor, I found myself in a room littered with a huge number of tools and equipment. As soon as I entered, the man standing by the window turned around.

"Good day!" I said.

“Good,” the man replied.

"Great. Someone is in a good mood."

"Do you happen to know about technology and spare parts?" I asked.

The man pointed his hand to the huge amount of equipment in the room. “As you can see, yes,” he said, smiling. "How can I help?"

"My ship… uh, car… broke down about a month ago. I… how to explain this… accidentally fell from the sky," I said, hitting my forehead with my hand. "I'll probably just go."

“Hahaha, what are you doing?” he said, becoming more informal. "It's fine. I believe you. You know, rarely does anyone come here. Sometimes years go by with no one but me. So you could tell me you're a god and I'd be ready to believe it."

I finally exhaled. "Then I will tell you the whole truth. I am a traveler and I fly in space. I don't know if you know this, but space is what is above the sky. My home is quite far away, and I accidentally crashed into a huge rock in space. Instead of getting home, I fell on your planet. My ship—the car I fly—has crashed and I need to fix it."

"As I understand it, you have some kind of very fast flying car. I read about something like that a long time ago. What do you need to fix it?"

"I need any tools: screwdrivers, nuts, wrenches, a lot of different metals, and welding equipment. Batteries will also be needed."

"Oh, you want a lot. Of course, I don't mind. Everything in this room isn't needed by anyone, and probably never will be. But I'm afraid I don't have everything you need. Especially that much metal and batteries, I definitely won't be able to find. But the nuts and wrenches, you can take them out by the truckload."

"Thanks," I said. "And where else can I look for all this?"

"Nowhere, really, hahaha,” he said with a laugh. "But, there is one option."

"Which is?" Hope rekindled in me.

"There is an old, abandoned factory right next to the snow towers where the giants roam. There is a lot of junk there. I've been there a couple of times, but it's very dangerous. If the giants go crazy again and start destroying everything, we'll be crushed under the rubble of one of the towers."

"I want to go anyway! This is my only chance!" I said.

The man thought about it. I realized that I was being tactless. "Just tell me how to get there and I'll go myself. I don't want to put you in danger."

"No, it's okay,” the man said. "I think there is still time. Let's go."

"Time for what?" I asked.

"Oh, don't pay any attention to me. Let me repay you when we return."

"Okay, let's go," the man said and smiled. "And by the way, you don't have to be so formal. My name is Simon, just Simon."

"I am very glad to meet you, Simon. My name is Avetik."

We shook hands. I was embarrassed to ask questions, but I thought that I shouldn’t be shy and should just say everything directly.

"When can we go?"

"Better now, of course,” he said and looked at my leg. “But be prepared that we have to go on foot."

"I'm ready,” I said, and stomped my foot. The healthy one, that is.

"Wait for me, I'll change and get a couple of things. You can sit here for a while," said Simon and went into another room.