Status Updates From Il naufrago

Well, it didn't end with the Christmas holidays over and the staff coming in to find a dead hobo on the stairs and a crazy man running around the store with a shotgun like I was sort of expecting. The actual ending's about as out-of-left-field, though.

Some weirdness here with Mr. Lecky's facial hair. He's only showing 'the neglected first stubble of sprouting hair on cheeks and chin' despite his noted habit of having - in more civilised times - shaved every day for years.

Is this a clue that the great offscreen catastrophe (if, indeed, there ever was one) only struck a few days ago? Or has he been neatly shaving his way through the post-apocalyptic future?

'His shoes, lifting with a scrape from step to step, seemed to Mr. Lecky to echo inordinately. It was a double sound, not unlike someone following him. The insistent, the insane realness of this impression was hard to bear, and yet Mr. Lecky had no faith in it. Since he had not, courage, or the feeble assertion of courage, forbade him to perform the two natural acts - turning to see or hurrying.'

'The doors hung closed and motionless. Through their panes of glass, face-high, nothing watched him; but, just as the next noise he made might be covering some sound, the instant after he looked away some countenance might rise to the empty square of glass.'

'Chapter Three: The Fortification of the Lavatory'