"Sam!" Amber called out as she got out of her car. Sam was outside The Work Bench organizing a display.
"Hey." Sam stopped what he was doing and wiped his hands on his apron.
"I need your help, I have another vessel but I didn't get any information about the soul." Amber pulled out the pinwheel from her oversized purse and handed it to Sam.
Sam analyzed it, "A pinwheel?" He snickered.
Amber rolled her eyes and snatched it away from him, "Yeah. It's a pinwheel, but I don't have a problem with it!" Amber emphasized her words and looked around whilst saying them. Sam furrowed his brow and smiled, "Ok…" He looked around. "You're acting a little bit weird today."
"Yeah, whatever." Amber sighed
"You know, I got a vessel too. I can talk to The Devil about it… see what's going on." Sam smiled and then resumed what he was doing. Amber nodded and shoved the vessel back into her purse as she went inside to start her shift.
Ted came marching toward Amber as she stepped through the inside doors. "Amber, you're late." He folded his arms and frowned.
"Yeah I know Ted, sorry." She pushed past him and made her way to her register (barely acknowledging the fact that he was angry). Comparing Ted with The Devil as her boss, there was no competition. Ted wasn't exactly… scary. "Hey! You better watch it. One more time I find that you're late, you'll be working overtime!" Ted pointed his finger in the air, in superiority. Amber put her apron on over her Metallica top and didn't bother looking up at Ted. "Yeah, ok Ted. Whatever." She continued to set up her station. Ted slowly lowered his hand and dropped it by his side. "O-K… then…" He turned back around and power walked to his office.
"Hey Amber!" Andi waved from behind, at her register. Amber smiled and waved back.
Sam finally finished setting up the display… it was a life-size cardboard figure of Ted, smiling and holding his arm out towards The Work Bench entrance with a speech balloon aside his face reading, "Welcome to The Work Bench! Memorial Day sale going on now!"
In addition, beside the cardboard Ted, sat a brand new stainless steel grill, lid open, with a paper flap hanging from the lid reading, "Memorial Day Sale! Marked down from 699.00 to 399.00! Sale ends 5/27/08!"
Inside the grill, centered on the grate, lay a small piece of paper and in all red capital letters read, "BUY ME!"
Sam wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead and sighed. "Nice work, Sammy boy." The Devil appeared behind him and placed his hand on Sam's shoulder.
Sam jumped, "Oh man. You gotta stop doing that." He almost fell back onto the cardboard Ted. The Devil smiled, "You know, I would've expected a blow up doll, but hey, whatever floats your boat." He motioned his arm, pointing at the display and laughed. Sam scoffed and stepped away from all that he just set up. "What do you want?"
The Devil stuffed his hands into his pants pockets, "Oh, I just thought I'd help out a little with your soul trouble. But I can see that you're busy, so I'll just come back later." He laughed once again, full of himself.
"Speaking of souls," Sam started, ignoring Satan's comment, "Amber needs some help too. She didn't get any jump starts about the soul she's supposed to catch."
The Devil smiled, "You don't need to worry about that."
"Ok, whatever." Sam rolled his eyes.
"Good, now this soul is a dirty one. Skizzo the Clown." The Devil chuckled, "He was a pedophile, but very famous around these parts for his funny business." Satan laughed heartily at his own joke, "Yeah, ok, get to the point." Sam hurried him.
The Devil immediately frowned, "He was known to give his chosen victims a pinwheel, usually at the parties he attended, the birthday boy or girl would receive one, for later entertainment."
"Wait. A pinwheel? Amber's vessel is a pinwheel… how come the vessels have some sort of relation to the souls now, when they never did before?" Sam asked with suspicion.
"Oh, no reason, really. I just think it adds a little bit more edge to the shock value when the soul sees what he's being sent back to Hell with." The Devil cackled, slipping his hand inside his suit jacket and pulling out a yellow folder.
Sam tried to snatch the folder away, but failed.
"What's your hurry, Sammy? I thought we were having some good quality time together." The Devil's smile returned vigorously as Sam continued to grab at the folder but once again failing to take it away from him.
"What's the magic word?" The Devil taunted, his eyes squinting smaller as his smile grew wider.
"C'mon!" Sam huffed in annoyance like a child that didn't get what he wanted.
"Nope, try again!" The Devil snickered.
Sam finally sighed, "Please?" He pleaded, giving a pleasant yet pathetic expression on his face.
"Oh, ho, ho! Not the puppy eyes again. Ok, here." The Devil handed Sam the folder.
"Thanks a lot." Sam said sarcastically, thumbing through it.
"You should be thankful. I don't just give things away, you know. Ah, but what the hell, you deserve it." Satan, patted Sam on the back, and as Sam turned around, he was gone.
He sighed and shook his head, returning to the file.
"Skizzo the Clown AKA Ken Morris." Sam mumbled, "Prosecuted for Indecencies with a Child and Homicide" Sam wrinkled his nose at the idea, what a freaking pervert!
"He got the needle." Sam again, mumbled to himself as he skimmed through Skizzo's file.
