Dustin didn’t have much to do with his time right now while he took a mental health leave from work. At the end of the day, there was only so much that one could do with neither school nor work to keep them busy, and he couldn’t think enough to tinker up a little project for himself or even play a musical note or two within the apartment, unable to recall the notes to his own cello. If he put a template in front of him, maybe. Instead, he found himself biding his time by taking a stroll through the park when everything got either too quiet or too loud in the apartment, attempting to keep himself both grounded and adjusted to what was going on around him. Settling down at a park bench next to another man, he pulled his phone out of his pocket as he rested his bottle of water beside him, looking out to the little pond briefly where the ducks were happily swimming about and feeding on bits and bobs of bread that had been tossed to them over the course of the day. It was serene, if not a little too warm for Dustin’s tastes, he thought, as he scrolled through his news feed, finding himself shooting occasional glances at the man beside him. At first, he thought maybe the older male had struck his paranoia- after all, this medication hadn’t fully kicked itself into gear yet. However, upon further brief inspection, he realized it was out of intrigue. No, this guy wasn’t suspicious- Dustin just recognized him from somewhere. His fuzzy, hazy mind tried to leaf through who the face could possibly remind him of, any of which were either people he had met in the shop before, on his travels, or people he didn’t really expect to run into in a small town. Jesus, why he couldn’t he think it up? Pursing his lips as he tried to leaf through his own memory bank, he turned toward him and addressed him politely, “Um, sir, I’m sorry to bother you but--” The man’s face was familiar, and belatedly, it struck him exactly who it was, though a name escaped him at that very moment, raising his eyebrows. “Aren’t you that guy who did all the... you know, escape artist stuff? National television and everything?”
