lost in NoVA. observe con man at gas station trying to get money from the 
cashier. maybe a legitimate situation, but he's still a con. it's easy to 
tell by his moves. i get directions from the cashier. the guy comes back 
in, offers directions. i accept: multiple versions often help me to 
remember. differ in that they say wait until you're just about under the 
bridge to turn. that helped. then he asks for 10 bucks once i've left the 
store.  should have seen that coming.

a con man in my understanding is someone who attempts to monetize everyday 
situations by manipulating peoples' trust. he first asked "do you live 
around here?" in an attempt to gain my trust by proximity. 

i am sometimes worried that i fall under this category when i mention my 
band to people. but it's something i'm legitimately involved and invested 
in in a non-economic way. it's a way i relate to people that sometimes 
involves money (as does purchasing and maintaining the equipment costs 
money) but the ultimate goal is not to make money. 

...

lost again. fox on the road home past the second speed bump. its eyes 
reflect the head lights and i pull over. follow it into the chutes of old 
bamboo. very dense growth for a mile or so. after which it opens up into 
an alcove. filled with dead. the fox is there, eyes flashing. 

it's very dark but to my right i see the morning biker in her helmet. her 
wolves aren't there. "the've gone collecting" she says. on my left is the 
con man, eyes flashing. for once he doesn't say anything. he's breathing 
but otherwise completely still. what light there is is tinted somewhere 
between moon and street light. 

themorning biker explains to me that there are only twelve animals left in 
our area. completely closed off by the beltway. all the environmentalists 
work for NIH who has paid them extra to keep quiet. the twelve animals are 
regenerated here in the alcove. the wolves find their corpses on the roads 
at night when the streets are quiet and return them here. 

twelve is the maximum amount of life the area can sustain. humans 
should not be considered life the con man says, anything that can't 
sustain itself is not life. by the way can i bum ten bucks off of you.

a parasite is alive, he says, grinning. 

//final character is a lonely bio engineer who created this setup when 
everything went south.