The scene now showed the pier off to a distance. It was bright, brighter than the sunset behind the pier. It was nearly gone, but still faintly bright out in the distance over the ocean. Meanwhile, behind the bears, the city was dark and the street lights were on. Panda looked glad to be out of the streets while Grizz and Ice were mesmerized by the aluminous glow of the pier.
Grizz looked at Panda and said "Hey, Pan-Pan, check it out! Look at that pier. It's beautiful, and the guy back there said these flyers will let us ride all the rides we desire. Why aren't you happy?"
Panda looked at Grizz and said "I don't know. I guess I'm just more hungry than I am excited is all. Maybe dumpster diving isn't such a bad idea now."
"Panda, when was the last time you even had fun? You're being kind of negative and, no offense, but it really is not helping anybody. I know it's tough now, but you need to stay strong. You don't think I'm hungry, or he is? I'll tell you what, I'll see if we can trade our ride passes for food passes, somehow" as he looked away and faced the ground opposite of Panda.
"Ok Grizz. Sorry."
"Don't be sorry, just be happy. Now come on, that place probably won't stay open much longer."
The bears all started walking on the cement steps towards the pier, not much more than perhaps a couple hundred feet away from the deck. But Ice all of a sudden stopped while Panda and Grizz continued on w/o him. He could have sworn he heard something in the distance to his left. He looked over, pass the pier and out towards the ocean. Even though it was dark, he could tell something was wrong. He took a few steps in the direction he heard the noise until suddenly; he saw a rumble of light in the sky. He knew it was thunder, and where there was thunder, there lied danger. He figured it couldn't be that far from the pier and thought to warn Grizz and Panda, who he looked over towards as they were continuing on.
Grizz turned back and shouted "Bro, come on!"
Ice looked back at the thunderous sky as the rumble was heard again, but Panda and Grizz couldn't hear it over the sound of the rides. He started walking towards the others, still facing the ocean, but decided to not point out the weather. He realized that Grizz and Panda were going to be happy to be here, he did not want to ruin it for them. Besides, the danger was not present; they had some time before it would reach them, at least, that what Ice thought.
When Ice caught up to Grizz, he said "Dude, why did you stop?"
Panda told Grizz "He's not going to tell you, why try?"
Grizz gave Panda a stern look, but knew he was right and voided the question he asked. The bears took a few more steps forward before meeting the ticket counter guy. He was stationed in front of a table, no booth or glass, just him with a cash box and some tickets and flyers.
He looked down at the bears as they approached and asked "Hello there. How many tickets would you like?"
Grizz took a couple steps forward and spoke on behalf of the others "We want whatever these flyers will get us."
"Ok. Let me take a look at them." Grizz handed the flyers to the man at the table and he replied "These flyers will get you guys 5 tickets each and, depending on the rides you choose, should let you ride 2 or 3 of them."
Grizz replied "Ok, great. But, um, is there any way we could get food tickets for those?
"Sorry little dude, but that's not how it works. You can see if one of the customers or patrons will exchanged your tickets for food, but uh, fair word of warning" said the man as he lowered himself closer down to Grizz's height. "Those tickets have a value of about $2 per 5 pack, so don't let anybody try to scam you guys."
Grizz smiled and said "Thank you very much" as he was handed 15 tickets, broken up into 3 sets of 5. Grizz gave two to Ice and Panda and they continued into the pier.
The man said "Enjoy the rides!", but suddenly received a message on his walkie from his boss, who yelled over the walkie "Yo, Jackie, come in, you there man?"
"Hey Sir, I'm here. What's up?"
"I'm gonna need you to stop taking tickets from people. Weather-Watch-Watch says there's gonna be a storm coming in and, depending on if it arrives here or not, we may have to close the pier."
"Ok then boss, will do." The ticket counter guy said as he pulled out a closed sign from under the cash box, tied it around the table, and took the tickets and flyers and packed them into the cash box. He then grabbed the box and walked away from his booth, leaving just the table and the sign alone.
