OFF THE BENCH

A man lives on a park bench in the financial district. He used to work in one of the buildings. Now he dispenses advice to people who find him through rumor and graffiti.

His name is Al. He doesn't charge. He does have standards.

Institutions are the permanent antagonist. The people he helps are ordinary — trying to keep food on the table, not trying to get rich. Al operates in the gray area between what's legal and what's fair, which is a larger gray area than most people realize.

Off the Bench is a short fiction series. New episodes every six to eight weeks.

Cover of Off the Bench: Pre-Existing Condition by Acclaimed James. Man laying on park bench visible from the waist down. Bench back has a partial message. City scene in the background.

Samantha Voss came to law school to learn how systems work. She didn't expect to spend her final semester fighting one — first over her own frozen student loan, then over her mother's denied insurance claim, hidden for months out of love and pride. The paperwork leads nowhere. A professor's offhand tip leads to a park bench. Al doesn't practice law. He doesn't need to. The second episode of Off the Bench.

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Cover of Off the Bench: Liquid Assets by Acclaimed James. Man laying on park bench visible from the waist down. Bench back has a partial message. City scene in the background.

Frank Carullo built a restaurant with too much menu and not enough margin. A second mortgage was supposed to buy him time. Instead it bought him a bank calling in a loan he can't cover and a deadline he can't meet. A rumor overheard in a bar sends him looking for a guy on a park bench who supposedly knows how to make problems like this disappear. Al doesn't run a bank. He doesn't need to. The first episode of Off the Bench.

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