Max Vasquez, 3/16/09 12:03 PM

I hope the comic dude is in a good mood today. I skid to a stop outside the small shop and hop off my bike. I wave at Johnny through the door and flash my cheesiest smile. He gives me a half smirk and nod. Not too bad for him. Hopefully he still isn’t mad that I kicked his ass at Halo last night. The thought makes me chuckle while I chain my bike to the rack.

A bell chimes as I walk through the shop door. A stand with some new comic’s on display catches my attention for a moment… mostly marvel stuff. I shrug and continue my trek towards the counter.

“Hey Max, I think some of your books came in, I’ll check your box in a sec,” Johnny says barely looking up from his computer. Probably playing some game.

“Ok dude, cool. Any plans for the break?”

“Naw I’m just gunna be working here every day, Skvanskie dumped every shift on me so he could take his fat ass to the beach or something.” He rolls his eyes and smirks then swears as he turns back to the screen, “Ah shit! Fuckin’ Rogues!”

I chuckle and walk around the side of the counter so I can get a better look at the screen. I watch amused as he maneuvers his pixilated character with a skill and knowledge one can only gain through many wasted hours behind the screen. He takes out the rogue, and then another loosing only about half of his health.

“Not bad for a squishy frost mage,” I comment.

“Eh, you’re just jealous, is your account still live?” he raises an eyebrow in my direction, but quickly looses interest and turns back to his game.

I answer anyways, “Nah I had to cancel it, don’t have the fundage or the time, my grades were starting to slip.” It’s true I did end up spending a little too much time in the damn thing; I don’t know how he manages to keep up his studies and play as much as he does.

“Well I’ll grab you your books as soon as I port. Should just be a couple more minutes, got two more furs to skin.” He goes back to mindlessly clicking the mouse and hitting several buttons on the keyboard. I watch for a moment to see if the Rogues come back, but when they don’t I start to walk around the store.

There are two other guys in here, one is young, probably a high schooler, looking at some of the rare cards in the display case, I’ve seen him a few times before. The second guy though I’ve never seen. He is short and wiry, his arms and legs bone thin. His face is long and skinny with a mop of greesy hair on his head. He is dressed mostly in black like one of those “goth” kids. Strange American’s and their clothing styles. His most distinctive feature, however, is his nose. He has the biggest nose I’ve ever seen. He looks almost like a rat, a human rat.

He is standing by the DC rack, holding a trade in his hands, but he isn’t looking at it. He is looking at Johnny, and he must have some kind of cold because he keeps sniffing the air.

He takes in a large sniff then turns towards me as I come up beside him. I smile broadly at him and wave, but he simply scowls and looks down at the book in his hand. So many rude people in this country, it almost makes me miss Mexico. Almost.

I make my way back to the counter and nudge Johnny then lean in close to whisper.

“What’s with that dude?” I ask motioning towards the rat-faced man, who has once again started looking in our direction.

Johnny looks up from his game for a second then quickly turns back, “Sniffles? I don’t know he came in shortly after I opened and has been standing there looking at that book and sniffing I keep catching him staring at me… I offered him a tissue but he didn’t say anything. I’m close to kicking him out actually…” He clicks a button to teleport his character out and stands up from his seat to look over the monitor at the sniffing man. He is staring at us again.

“Hey sniffles! You need help or something?” delivered with Johnny’s usual sense of tact. I can’t help but snicker a little. Sniffles on the other hand scowls and puts the book back on the shelf then starts towards the door.

“Weird.” I say, watching the strange little man. Johnny disappears for a moment behind the counter then pops back up with a box he slaps down in front of me, Max is scrawled across the front of it in sharpie, along with a crude cartoon figure of myself.

The bell on the door jingles and another man steps through just as sniffles reaches the door. The new comer holds the door open so that the exiting man can pass through. Sniffles pauses in the frame and smells the air then looks over his shoulder at this new man. The new guy looks at him confused and after a moment sniffles finally looks away and walks out the door and out of view of the store.

The new guy shrugs and lets the door shut and starts to make his way through the store. I notice Johnny eyeing the new comer up and down. He looks way too preppy to be in a place like this. He is wearing a black collared shirt, un-tucked with a pair of khaki slacks. His hair is on the longer side, but is neatly combed and parted. His black goatee is trimmed and shaved almost to perfection and seems to give his naturally round face a little bit of length. His eyes, which seem to have a slight slant to them are a deep shade of blue. I start to wonder if he is lost.

Johnny is pretty suspicious of new people. I try and be friendly myself, I figure it helps balance things out. I’ll go see if I can help him. I hear Johnny mutter something under his breath when he realizes my intention as I move towards the well-dressed stranger.

I walk up to the new guy as he eyes a rack of paperback trades, “Hey I’m Max, the grumpy guy behind the counter is Johnny. Ya need help finding something? I don’t work here but it’s almost a second home.”

He seems a bit surprised at my strait forwardness, most people around here are, but he finally puts on a smile I can only describe as charming and says, “Thanks Max, I’m Christian, and maybe you guys can help me, I’m looking for something that might be a little rare…”