Release
Marty’s first act after leaving prison is to return to Gaucho’s, remembered through Marina, a woman who used to “load” his order with extras. The restaurant has become “some series of tubes.” Marty’s nostalgia, attraction and resentment all collapse into a joke about automation.
Men’s Central
He immediately understands the constraint on his freedom: violence would send him “back inside,” specifically to Men’s Central. The story is tiny, but its world is not. Prison, restaurant automation, class resentment, sexual memory and a dated Lost Eros future arrive in a handful of lines.
Do not confuse
Marty the Mistaken is distinct from Marty Gemelli, the 24-year-old Market Party employee in the COMPUTER CHEATS.