Duckman
“I find it hilarious how the Disney store is right across from the ladies’ lingerie store. I have to wonder if that was done accidentally or if there was some nefarious purpose to it. Get ’em while they’re young, I suppose? Anyway, here we are.” There they were. At the game store. They stepped inside and started scanning the shelves. “What are we looking for tonight?” Pete asked. “Whatever catches your fancy,” Lorne replied. “And what’s the budget, exactly?” “The budget is blind. Doesn’t matter. Pick what you want, Pete. Don’t look at the price tag.” Just then the store clerk finished with the other customer in the store and addressed Pete and Lorne. “Can I help you guys with anything today?” “Not right now, thanks,” Lorne said brightly. “All right. Let me know if you need anything.” And he went back behind the counter. Pete separated himself from Lorne to examine a display of a certain series of games, six different ones laid in a flimsy cardboard stand. He picked one up and started reading the back. After Pete had spent a few minutes of examining each one, Lorne passed by him and said quietly, “You want those?” “They look fun. And they’re all multiplayer.” “We’ll get those.” “No, Lorne, you don’t have to get all of—” Lorne shushed him. Pete could see the devilish trickster in his impish eyes, in his roguish grin. He knew that face. He knew Lorne was up to something. “Just play along, okay?” Both glanced at the clerk, who was doing some kind of cataloging in the drawers behind the counter. He hadn’t heard them. Pete felt an incredible amount of trepidation. And yet, at the same time, a bit of the high, a bit of the adrenaline he knew Lorne was also feeling. And so he said nothing. Just watched, just waited. Lorne hadn’t even done anything yet, but out of nervousness Pete started to sway and bounce on the balls of his feet. Something he had done since childhood. “I think I’m gonna check the used games,” Lorne said out loud. “Hey, guy, you don’t sell old Super Nintendo or N64 games, do you?” The clerk glanced briefly back at them. “All the cartridges we have are for the handhelds. Oldest discs we sell are for the original Playstation. Not too many of those, but they’re gonna be in that bin over there.” He nodded in the direction Lorne was already heading and went back to his cataloging. “Thanks,” Lorne said, and started in that direction. As he did so he ever-so-slightly bumped into Pete, who was in midbounce. Pete stumbled backwards and fell over, knocking the cardboard display down. Games spilled out and the clerk rushed over. Lorne carefully sidestepped out of the way and out of the view of the clerk. “Sorry, sorry!” said Pete. “Hey, no problem. You okay?” asked the employee, whose nametag said “Nick.” “Yeah, just fine. I’m a bit clumsy. Sorry,” Pete said again, and started to help pick up the fallen games from the floor.
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