Lap 01
My Life as a Bartender
My name is Andy Lemming and I am just your average 25 year old guy. I live in the bustling city of Port Town with my aunt. Why my aunt? Well, see when I was 9 years old, my parents were killed in front of me by some maniac with a scythe. Ever since then, I've lived with my Aunt DJ. Her real name was Deborah-Jo but she hated when people called her that. She is my late father's sister and pretty much the best backup parent a kid could have asked for after what happened. She took me in with open arms but my little sister, named Jody, was taken in by my late mother's sister. She was just an infant at the time and I remember yelling at Aunt DJ about why I could no longer live with my sister. She gave me some bogus excuse that it was for our protection. Jody's last name was legally changed to Summers too. My last name didn't change as Aunt DJ's last name was also Lemming. But that's not important right now. I know that sounds cool and awesome but trust me, it's not. I have nightmares about it from time to time. What also didn't help is that my old childhood hero, Captain Falcon, failed to show up to save my parents. I remember begging for him to show up in his blue machine, jump out and kick the crap out of the scythe wielding guy. But no. Instead, I took Jody outside and watched as my house exploded. Then the sirens came, I was given to Aunt DJ and that's about it. Right now, I worked at a local pub called "Falcon House" as a bartender. Place was open from 8am to 9pm and I usually worked from about 3pm-9pm. I even made good money with tips. It was my aunt's restaurant so, you know, I got the job as soon as I asked for it. I did so reluctantly after I had finished a bartending program I took in college. Why do you ask? The "Falcon House" was dedicated to Captain Falcon. Our name tags had his helmet on them. Even some of the food on the menu was Captain Falcon themed. It even sold gum, notepads, cups and other products in the small little gift shop. But i'm not bitter. Nope. The lousy son of a bitch had saved my life but refused to save my parents had a cafe dedicated to him? I wondered why those shady Dark Million dudes didn't bust in and burn the place down. According to Aunt DJ, those guys hated Captain Falcon. According to her, he had uncovered a lot of insider information about the place and released it to the public and GSF. Dark Million then spent the last 15 years in a PR nightmare that I won't go into because corporate talk is boring. Still didn't stop my new hatred for Captain Falcon. Aunt DJ never understood that hatred. She often told me how much I loved the guy when I was a kid.
"You used to wear that scarf he gave you EVERYWHERE. Your mother had to like peel it off of you so she could wash it" Aunt DJ told me one day when I was like...15ish? 16 maybe?
"Neat, still doesn't explain why Captain Falcon didn't save her," I had snapped back and went back to listening to my music. Aunt DJ gave me the look that meant "he'll understand one day." Understand what? That my former hero failed to save my parents, caused me to be separated from Jody and caused me to stress eat my way through school? The good news is that Captain Falcon had stopped making the news soon after my parents' deaths. Good. Maybe the Galactic Space Federation would actually start DOING IT'S JOB and shut down Dark Million. But no. Course not. 5 credits The GSF was full of scumbag cops. Despite all that supposed info Captain Falcon gave the GSF, they never took Dark Million down. Typical. I do recall calling my mom whenever I saw Captain Falcon during one of his F-Zero Races. Man those were awesome but extremely dangerous. He often raced against those Dark Million dudes. Never understood why they let those guys compete to be honest.
Before I go on more about my super exciting bartending job, I think I should give a little backstory on my parents and myself. They were named Douglas and Jacqueline Lemming. My dad looked very much like how I do now. About 6 feet tall, short dark brown hair, athletic build, large biceps and strong legs. My mother was arguably the most beautiful woman to have ever existed. She was shorter than my dad at around 5 foot 7 inches tall, skinny but with meat on her bones with long auburn hair normally tied into a ponytail. She had a kind smile and the cookies she made were absolutely incredible. I remember coming home from school after a bad day and my mom had baked some cookies after seeing how miserable I had been. They had me when they were young. My dad was 36 and my mom was 34 when they died. Pretty much right after Jody was born. My dad worked as a computer/forensics guy for the GSF branch in Port Town. He normally worked long hours and I didn't get to see him often during weekdays but he was still a cool dad. My mom meanwhile worked from home doing data entry for a different company. We were pretty well off in terms of money. We had a pretty nice home in one of the suburbs of Port Town about 15-20 minutes from the city. Like right at the foot of the mountains. I attended school at the local public school and encountered a multitude of different species from other planets due to Earth's intergalactic contacts they had made over the past hundred years. Have I mentioned that I live in the 26th century? One year, there was a sentient monkey named Billy in one of my classes. He was a cool dude if I recall correctly. Liked banana smoothies. Anyway, now that I'm speaking of my old school, let me tell you why I used to love Captain Falcon so much.
See, it had started as just a normal day. My teacher, Miss Lily, was copying the day's work on the e-board with her stylus pen. I was in about...what 1st grade I think? Let's see...I was 5ish so yeah. 1st grade. Right at the beginning of the school year. I was busy talking with my best friend, Elroy Hughes (don't call him Elroy. He hates that name. Call him Roy) about what my mom packed me for lunch that day and if he wanted to trade.
"Yeah!" Roy said after I had told him about my peanut butter and fluff sandwich. "I got pizza! We can go halfsies!"
"Cool," I said. Damn, I loved pizza. Even back then. Probably why I was such a chubby kid growing up. Miss me with that pineapple though. DON'T YOU PUT THAT EVIL ON MY PIZZA! Anyway, Miss Lily had just called the class to order and had started to take the attendance. She had just called my name when chaos ensued. It wasn't even my fault this time. A black van flew into the side of the building at blazing speed. The windows of the classroom erupted and glass flew everywhere. We all screamed and ducked under our desks which conveniently had active camouflage. When someone hid under it, it shielded them from view and looked like there was nothing under it. 2 men dressed in black and wearing masks entered through one of the smashed windows.
"Nice driving you clown" one of them said. He had a low gruff voice.
"Oh well excuuuuse me Princess! You try to pilot this thing with the GSF on your ass!" his partner said. His voice was higher.
"Where are we anyway?" low voice said, starting to walk through the class room. His shoes crunched glass as he walked. I noticed that each of them carried laser rifles. The larger one also had what looked like a shotgun on his back as well. Yes. A LASER. Shotgun.
"Looks like a classroom" high voice responded and walked over to Miss Lily's desk and picked up her tablet. I was surprised my classmates had remained this calm. Usually, Miss Lily had a hard time keeping a room of 5 year olds under control.
"Wow, how observant. What's the plan Javic?" low voice said, examining the artwork on the walls. He was looking at my drawing of a giant bird.
"Shut up a second," Javic said, still examining the tablet. My heart began to race and not because I was gonna have pizza for lunch. Why were these men here? I looked around at my classmates hiding under their desks. We could all see each other but the 2 men could not see us. Oh no...Javic was standing right behind Miss Lily's desk. If he looked down, he'd see her. I needed to do something. Roy noticed me start to move and started vigorously shaking his head. I reluctantly stopped and continued to watch.
"Where are the kids? Don't they got class today Javic? Could hold them hostage" low voice said, and checked the blaster pack of his weapon. He seemed to be satisfied and slapped it back into place.
"Good idea but man, you are dense Kody." Javic said. "They're hiding, aren't they missy" Javic, the high voiced guy, reached under Miss Lily's desk and pulled her up by the throat. Miss Lily began to choke and gasp in protest.
"Well well, what do we have here?" Kody said, walking over to Javic and Miss Lily. "How are you today beautiful?" Dude. Gross. Don't hit on a woman in front of like 20 kids. Miss Lily began to swing her arms at Kody and Javic.
"Ooh, I like 'em FIREY!" Javic said and used his other hand to run his finger across Miss Lily's cheek. Miss Lily attempted to bite his finger.
"Tsk, tsk. Naughty naughty. We may have to kill one of your students because of that," Javic continued, waving his finger in front of Miss Lily's face.
"NO!" Miss Lily managed to yell and flailed even harder. Kody had to walk over to help Javic secure her. He had moved himself between Miss Lily and the rest of us. Then I did something very brave and also stupid. I got out from under my desk and quickly opened it looking for something sharp. I saw my pair of scissors and grabbed them and went back to hiding. Kody and Javic were too busy to notice me but as I closed my desk, it decided to make a small slamming noise. I wasn't careful. What do you expect for a 5 year old boy scared out of his mind?
"The heck was that?" Javic said, still caressing Miss Lily's face. Kody turned
"Yeah, I heard it too. I think we have our first volunteer," he said looking up and down the rows and drawing his pistol. How many guns did this guy have? My classmates were looking at me in sheer horror.
"It sounded like it came from that desk in the back. Second from the right" Javic said, pointing right at me. "Go look." Kody started to walk towards me. As he got closer, I proceeded to do something even dumber than before. As he got within a step of my desk, I jabbed my scissors deep into his shin. Kody fell over, threw his gun away and started screaming in pain and I jumped up from under my desk holding my now bloody pair of scissors.
"Let Miss Lily go" I said in a shaky voice, brandishing my scissors at Javic. Javic laughed.
"My my, what a brave little boy you are. Coming to the aid of your teacher. Do you have a crush on her?" he said wickedly and pulled out his own weapon. His was more impressive. It was a large knife. Looked like a bowie knife but made of pure electricity. Probably could melt my scissors to goo within 5 seconds. He pressed the knife against Miss Lily's face. She screamed as it steamed and sizzled and left a sizable gash in her cheek. Upside, it wasn't bleeding but downside, I was even more angry and impulsive than before.
"STOP IT!" I yelled and started to move forward only to be lifted off my feet by Kody who looked really angry at me. He grabbed the scissors from me and crushed them in his hand.
"Not nice kid. Didn't your mommy tell you not to attack people with scissors?" he growled in my face.
"Did your mom tell you not to be such a stupid butthead?!" I yelled back. What? I was 5. To a 5 year old, "butthead" was the ultimate insult. I tried to escape from Kody's grip but he must bench press an F-Zero Machine in his spare time. Javic laughed at me.
"Butthead! Outstanding! This kid's got spunk. I like that." he said. Miss Lily was looking at me with absolute horror. Javic continued to address me
"Once I am done having fun with this young lady, you can take her place, little 'hero'" he said before laughing maliciously. He went to press the knife to Miss Lily's other cheek. Before he could do so, I heard a laser gunshot from behind me. The bolt hit Javic's knife hand and he dropped it as well as Miss Lily. Javic grabbed his hand and screamed with pain. He looked up in my direction and I saw his eyes under his mask widen with absolute terror. I felt Kody turn to look behind him and I heard him say
"What the" before something hit his face with a loud SMASH. Kody dropped me on the ground. I turned around to see who had smashed the big dude in the head and saw my hero for the next 4 years of my life. He was tall, dressed in dark blue pants with 2 metal guards that resembled birds on his shins over his black and white boots. They were held up by a red belt with a large white circle in the center. The laser gun he had just used was holstered on his right side. He also wore a blue long sleeve jacket with an upturned collar. I could see a yellow scarf around his neck as well. There were 3 red stripes going across the jacket at his chest level as well as a yellow arrow pointing off to the right. A golden metal pauldron (I didn't call it that when I was 5 mind you. I said "shoulder thingy") was on his right shoulder and his red elbow guards and red and white gloves seemed to glow with fire. He also wore a red helmet with an orange bird emblazoned on it. The visor was pure black so I couldn't see his eyes. There was also a little headset attached to the right side of the helmet. He was looking at me with a very angry look on his face before he turned his gaze to Javic. Miss Lily had run toward me and the guy in blue. He must be a police man or something. The guy in blue turned to Miss Lily and said
"Watch him, I'll be having a chat with that scumbag," His voice was deep and commanding. "Don't worry about this guy. Out cold," The guy in blue nudged Kody with his boot then he cracked his knuckles and walked right past me over to Miss Lily's desk where Javic was attempting to draw his gun. The guy in blue batted Javic's hand aside, punched him in the face once and squeezed his injured hand before he growled something that I couldn't hear. Miss Lily had grabbed me and held me close. I was beyond embarrassed. I saw Roy stifle a laugh. Most of the girls went "oooooh!"
"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! THEY HAD GUNS ANDY! GUNS!" Miss Lily yelled at me. I flinched and saw the guy in blue holding Javic up against the wall with one hand. I couldn't hear what he was saying but Miss Lily was busy yelling at me for me to hear what they were saying anyway.
"I...didn't want him to hurt you anymore," I said sheepishly. I did have a little soft spot for Miss Lily. She hugged me again and I thought I saw the guy in blue look in my direction and smile before he went back to "talking" to Javic. And by "talking" I mean taking him outside and beating the dude senseless.
"Who's the guy in blue?" I asked Miss Lily as my classmates came out from under their desks. Roy went over and kicked Kody in his butt. He laughed after he did.
"That's Captain Falcon. You must have heard of him haven't you?" she told me, looking around at my classmates. They had heard of him of course but have never seen him. Same with me. I thought he was a guy that dressed up in a bird costume and punched bad guys. I was half right essentially.
"Oh yeah! He's so cool! Did you see him when he kicked that big guy?" one of them said.
"He appeared out of nowhere! Like a ninja or something!" another one said. Soon enough, the entire class was talking about how awesome Captain Falcon was. Eventually, Captain Falcon reentered the room to collect Kody's body. Despite Kody being a rather large man, Captain Falcon was able to lift his weight. Then he looked at me.
"Get your bag Andy." his voice didn't sound so deep and scary anymore. It was friendly even though it was altered by the headset mic attached on his helmet. "I'm gonna take you to your mom. He's excused for the day Miss...uh, Lily. Those men were highly wanted criminals. Been tracking them for weeks. I don't want them escaping and coming after little Andy here before I've had time to speak with him. Lucky I was in the area to be honest. The GSF is on their way too. They're sending officers to watch the school." Captain Falcon said and dragged Kody's unconscious body from the room. I looked at Miss Lily. I saw that she had a look of either confusion or realization on her face but I didn't really care. NO SCHOOL! I grabbed my backpack and followed Captain Falcon outside while Roy proceeded to look insanely jealous.
When I found where Captain Falcon was, he was busy tying the 2 goons to a telephone pole with rope. There was a sign attached to Javic's chest that read "Javic and Kody Villeman. Both alive."
"So, they're bad guys?" I said to Captain Falcon who had just noticed me standing there watching.
"Pretty much. I capture bad guys. It's my job" he said kneeling down to get eye to eye with me.
"Cool!" I said. "My dad says he stops bad guys too. He works with the GSF. Have you met him before?" Captain Falcon smiled at me for a second but then became stern.
"Andy, what were you doing attacking that man? That was foolish. You need to leave the bad guy hunting to me. He and his brother are very bad people. They have done very bad things. They hurt people, beat them up and steal from them. They wanted to kill you if I had to guess." he said staring at me intently. I faltered. I couldn't tell if his eyes were angry too.
"They were hurting Miss Lily!" I said loudly. "I didn't want her to get hurt!" Captain Falcon seemed to wrestle with something internally but he eventually stood up and put his hand on my shoulder.
"It's fine. Come on, let's get you to your mother. She must be worried about you. As usual, press is here. Right on schedule," Captain Falcon motioned to the news vans that had just arrived from the street and from the air. "I would prefer to not talk to them. Let's go." He led me to the coolest machine I have ever seen. It was shaped like an old fighter jet from the 21st century but painted blue. It had no wheels like most of the vehicles I saw in the 26th century. The "wings" weren't pointing out to the sides but rather straight up. Painted on the wings was the same design as the one on Captain Falcon's jacket with the numbers "111" underneath. The glass in front looked green and I could see through and saw all the buttons and screens.
"Cool! Is this your car?" Captain Falcon smiled at me and popped the glass canopy. It made a hissing noise. He pushed a button and the machine roared to life and lifted off the ground a few feet.
"I wouldn't call it a 'car.' That makes it sound like it's from the 21st century. Nah, this is called the 'Blue Falcon.' My friend Mason Summers created the G-diffuser system-"
"Wait, you know my Uncle Mason?" I asked abruptly.
"Uncle?" Captain Falcon asked. He looked surprised.
"Yeah! He's my aunt Kathy's boyfriend. I've called him uncle since I was born" I told him. Captain Falcon had climbed into the pilot chair and motioned for me to get in.
"I'm sure he appreciates that, now let's go Andy. Your mom's waiting" he said. I got in and sat in front of him with my backpack stowed behind the seat. Captain Falcon closed the glass and we zoomed away from my school. And when I said zoomed, I meant zoomed. We were going at LEAST 200 kph. I saw the city zip by the window as Captain Falcon effortlessly controlled the Blue Falcon. He seemed to slip through the tightest gaps, turn the sharpest corners and had even driven up the side of a building to avoid a traffic jam. Eventually we pulled up to my house in the suburbs of Port Town. I didn't know how Captain Falcon knew where my house was but he was a professional bad guy catcher so he must have had his ways. My mom came running outside to meet us. I jumped out of the Blue Falcon, grabbed my backpack and ran to her. She hugged me so tight and I felt her shake with anxiety.
"Andy. You're ok. I thought...I thought…" she said. I noticed that she had been crying.
"I'm alright mommy. Captain Falcon saved me. I rode in the Blue Falcon! It was awesome! We went so fast!" I said holding onto my mother. I felt her tense at this moment. She let go of me and stared at Captain Falcon. I couldn't see her face but she sounded angry.
"How fast exactly?" she said to him. Captain Falcon was leaning against the back of the Blue Falcon with his arms crossed.
"Well, not max speed. Half. If that. I know this thing like the back of my hand," he told her. I saw my mom's shoulders relax. Then I saw her smile at Captain Falcon.
"Well, thank you for bringing Andy home." Mom said and put her hand on my shoulder. Captain Falcon nodded.
"No problem ma'am." he said before turning his visor onto me. "Now Andy, your mom seems like a nice lady. I don't want you to upset her by playing the hero against the bad guys. Do me a favor and look after her OK?" I frowned. Captain Falcon smiled again.
"Come on Andy, you know I'm right." he said reassuringly.
"Can I be like you one day?" I blurted out unexpectedly. Mom jumped a bit and looked at me again with her "why would you worry your poor mother" look. Captain Falcon walked over to me, knelt in front of me again and undid his scarf.
"I know you want to fight the bad guys but that's my job. I'll protect you and your parents from them. I promise. Right now, I want you to be a good boy to your mom. You do that for me and I'll teach you when you're older. Deal?" he asked and handed me his scarf. I took it from him and put it around my neck.
"Deal!" I said.
From the following 4 years, I ate, slept and breathed Captain Falcon. I watched all his interviews on TV. I watched all the new F-Zero races that aired while rooting for Captain Falcon to win. I even wore that scarf he gave me pretty much all the time. Aunt DJ had many pictures of me wearing it. There was one of me on my dad's shoulders eating ice cream while wearing the scarf and there was another of me next to my mom in the hospital where she was holding my new baby sister. My opinion on him changed when I was 9 and he broke his promise about always protecting me and my parents. And I now worked at a diner that worshiped the guy. Outstanding. Why didn't I just quit? Well, to tell you the truth, I didn't have a clue what I wanted to do with my life. I went to college yes, got a general business degree but working behind a desk for the rest of my life sounded pretty lame to be honest. Hence why I decided to make some cash as a bartender. I had a few other talents too. Mainly martial arts. I wanted to take up the classes so I could beat up the guy that killed my mom but that anger slowly began to melt away as I studied the skill over the years. I even became a 3rd degree black belt. The training even helped me lose all the weight I had gained when I was a kid. Now, I wasn't morbidly obese but I certainly wasn't teen pop star Jack Levin material back then. I was a few dozen pounds overweight with no muscle and only flab. Didn't get me a lot of dates to be honest. I had one girlfriend who had indeed liked me for a few months...until she cheated on my twice, married to the dude she cheated on me with and had 2 kids with him. Bogus right? In college, I had decided to lose weight and begin to gain muscle. This transformation had worked and I went from a 250lb guy in his 20s to a 180lb guy in his 20s able to bench press about 150lbs. The transformation had not gone unnoticed while I was in Port Town University. Many of the girls (and some of the fellas, but I am for ladies only. Sorry.) started to take notice of me and looked behind their shoulders as I passed them. I only had eyes for one girl in high school and college after my original girlfriend dumped me. Her name was Samantha Narasu. I always saw her walking alone on campus. She was half American and half Japanese and had shorter blonde hair which she normally kept in a ponytail, wore glasses and a light blue jacket. I also often saw her in the computer lab or forensics lab but I was too scared to approach her let alone talk to her. Yeah yeah, I know I KNOW. Classic wuss move. I think she wanted to be part of the GSF as a forensics person or computer tech like my dad was. I always wanted her to fold me into her arms and- Wait, hang on. Gotta get back to the present don't I? I know you're all SO excited to hear my day to day routine.
I normally slept till noon everyday. This Friday in the year 2575 was no different. I woke up at precisely 12pm, got out of bed, showered, hit the gym and got some breakfast/lunch before my evening shift at Falcon House. Like I said, my Aunt DJ owned the place and she had given me a job as a bartender as I figured out what I wanted to do with my life. She didn't seem to mind. A few times, she seemed to want me to stay there with her forever. I didn't blame her. She had raised me after all. Her and her wife, my other Aunt Josslyn. Yes. You heard that correctly. Don't judge. Aunt Josslyn also worked at Falcon House. She was head of security and looked the part but underneath her bulky frame and menacing spiky haircut was a very kind lady who had consoled her distraught wife and nephew about Douglas Lemming's death. My dad had been Aunt DJ's little brother after all. I know her and my dad were close. I often saw her at my various sports games cheering for me alongside my parents. I had put on my work uniform, just a black button down shirt and some blue pants and walked in the back of the restaurant where I heard Aunt DJ talking to someone. Must be a new waiter or waitress. I had been drinking a protein shake/energy drink called "FZGX Maximum Strength Energy!" and nearly choked on it as Aunt DJ opened the door of her office to see who had just walked in and there sat Samanatha Narasu. Aunt DJ had heard me coughing, ran over and smacked my back a few times before smiling at me.
"Here he is! He went to the same high school and college as you dear. Maybe you saw him walking around with his buddy Roy?" she said sweetly. Aunt DJ was a middle aged woman in her 40s with dark blond hair she normally had in an old school undercut. She also matched me in terms of height. I wiped the excess shake from my mouth and stared at Samanatha. She was just as pretty as I remembered and she was wearing the uniform of the Falcon House. My heart began to pound. Was she going to work with me now? Am I actually going to ask her out? Tune in tonight at 7 during "Andy Fails to Express His Feelings!" Samantha smiled at me.
"Yes, I do remember Andy. Both he and Roy used to make me laugh with their antics in class. He looks vastly different than I remember though. Have you lost weight Andy? You look great," she said pleasantly while my Aunt DJ looked at me with a smug look on her face. I wanted to say something cool and funny but all that came out was
"Y-yeah. You look great too," I mean, at least it wasn't "HOLY MOTHER OF GOD WILL YOU MARRY ME YOU BEAUTIFUL WOMAN?!" Samantha stood up and held out her hand towards me.
"I think I should formally introduce myself, I'm Samantha but call me Sam. I just took the open wait staff position," said and shook my hand. God damn her skin was soft. I eventually gained my composure when I saw Aunt DJ nod encouragingly.
"I'm the bartender. DJ's my aunt as she probably told you. What brings you here?" I said, surprising myself by not sounding like a babbling idiot.
"Oh I'm just here to earn some extra cash as I continue to study cyber forensics and security. DJ also tells me that you are quite the drink mixer. She says you created half the drink menu by yourself. The Fire Field is the most popular. What's in that?" she asked me. Again I swallowed my fear and answered
"Oh you know, some regular vodka, a fruit flavored vodka and some liquor and I usually light it on fire" I said. Sam's eyes widened as I told her.
"You light the glass on fire?" she asked, amazed.
"Yes. Small fire. Only burns for a few seconds. Still gets great crowd reactions. One time I even held the fire in my hands without any booze on it while I was making one for my Aunt Josslyn. Didn't even hurt." I said and immediately regretted doing so. One because I didn't want Sam to think I was an arsonist and two, I never told anyone that before. It freaked me out. I had been making a Fire Field for Aunt Josslyn for her birthday, imagined how I was going to light the fire and it suddenly appeared in my hand. I had managed to play it off as part of the show. It's pretty easy when half of your audience is a bit tipsy and watching F-Zero races on TV. Aunt DJ had narrowed her eyes at me as I told Sam my fire summoning escapade. I even saw a slight smile form before her face returned to normal.
"Well Andy, just don't light me on fire ok? I'll be seeing you later during the dinner shift, yes?" Sam asked. I still couldn't believe that she was even talking to me and that I was actually able to form complete sentences while in her presence.
"Yeah, I usually work nights. Gotta take inventory before we open" I said finishing off my drink. Aunt DJ and Sam walked out of the back room. Aunt DJ turned back towards me and smiled again. Oh she knew. I know she did. I'm not exactly what you call subtle.
Regardless, I approached the bar and started taking inventory of what I had to work with for tonight. Plenty of everything to be honest. Rum, vodka, gin, all 10 flavors of Beastman's Exotic wine. You think of it, I had it. As I was checking the soda gun, a teenage girl's voice spoke.
"Hi Andy!" she said. The girl startled me so much that I sprayed a bit of cola on the counter. I looked over to see a teenage girl with long brown hair sitting at the bar. She was about 15 years old and wearing a pink and white jumpsuit with red high top sneakers and blue gloves. A pin reading "GSF Cadet" was attached to her chest. I smiled. I knew exactly who this was. It was my little sister, Jody Summer. She looked exactly like my mom if my mom had been a teenager. Same hairstyle too.
"Hey Jody. How was sch- er uh, work." I asked her. I knew it was her dream to be part of the GSF like dad was and had joined the Cadet Academy the moment she was old enough. She never knew mom and dad as she was a baby when they died and she went to live with Aunt Judy and Uncle Mason Summers. I didn't see her for the first few years of her life as Aunt DJ was adamant about keeping me away from her until she was absolutely certain that dude with the scythe had died in the explosion. I met her again once I started college when she was 8 years old. Unlike most girls with older brothers, she thought I was pretty cool...but for a reason I didn't like. See, apparently Uncle Mason had told her all about Captain Falcon when she was younger and had apparently inherited my old fascination with the guy. She sometimes pestered me to tell her the time I met Captain Falcon but I often changed the subject immediately.
"Fine," Jody said, watching me wipe off the counter. "Can you make me a 'White Cat'?" I smiled again. It was one of the most popular non-alcoholic beverages I had concocted. It was named after Jody's nickname Uncle Mason gave her when she was little.
"Sure thing sis," I said and started making it for her. I even took an ice cube and used a laser cutter to cut it into the shape of a cat. I pushed the glass field with white liquid toward her.
"There you go. One White Cat on the house" I said and threw the towel over my shoulder. "Why are you here? Don't you have homework or something?" Jody took a sip of her drink, smacked her lips and looked at me. Uh oh. I know that look. I had a feeling I knew what was coming.
"Can you please tell me about Captain Falcon? I'm doing a paper on him for the GSF. They want to know the public's opinion on him even if it's been 15 years since he disappeared. I've talked to a few older officers who told me all the great things he did but I want to hear your story" she said.
"How's that boy you told me about? John something? Takeda? No, Tanaka?" I said trying to change the subject. Unfortunately, Jody was not 8 years old anymore and didn't have the attention span of a white cat.
"Andy come on. Aunt DJ, Josslyn and Kathy told me you were obsessed with him when you were a kid. Can you tell me why?" she pleaded. I looked all around the dining room where pictures of Captain Falcon were hung along the wall. He was posing with children, adults, aliens and even Aunt DJ and Josslyn. Why did I still work here if I hated this guy for what he failed to do? Oh yeah...Sam now worked here.
"There's nothing to tell really. Other than he's the reason we have no parents," I growled. Jody again was not deterred. She must have inherited Mom's resolve and stubbornness. She sat there on her stool, staring at me with a pen and notepad in her hand. "Ok. You win." I said and began to tell her the story of how I first met Captain Falcon, what he looked like, how he acted, how he sounded, you know, the whole shabang.
"I stopped worshipping him after mom and dad died. I wanted him to show up and save them but he didn't. I'll never forget that night," I said after 20 minutes of rambling. The first customers of the night had filed in and the host-bot was greeting them and showing them their seats. Jody finished taking her notes and looked up at me. A tear was in her eye
"You carried me outside? And watched someone kill mom and dad?" she said and wiped her eyes. I gently grabbed her shoulder and nodded.
"Mom told me to save you. So I did," I said, starting to wipe off some glasses. Jody got off her stool, came around the bar and hugged me.
"You're the best big brother ever," she said. I patted her on the back. I saw Aunt Josslyn look over at us and smile warmly.
"Thanks White Cat. Now I gotta work ok?" I said. Jody released me, pecked my cheek and left the diner. I cursed myself silently for telling her about that horrible night.
"You did that? You saved her when she was a baby?" a familiar voice said from behind me. I turned and saw Sam standing there with a drink order ready to give me. I faltered.
"Well I mean...she's my sister. What was I gonna do, leave her to die?" I stammered. Sam handed me the drink order.
"For someone who says he hates Captain Falcon, you sure don't act like you do. Working in this diner that is a shrine to him, saving people...looking handsome" Sam said smiling at me. Good Lord she was gorgeous.
"He didn't save everyone" I grumbled.
"No one can Andy. Not even Captain Falcon," she said to me and walked towards a new table as I started making drinks and watching TV during my down time. The night had proceeded like normal with the added benefit of my old college crush making the goo goo eyes at me from time to time. I even saw Aunt DJ and Aunt Josslyn talking in low voices and shooting glances in my direction. No idea why. It was probably just Aunt DJ telling Aunt Josslyn all about my crush on the new waitress as Aunt DJ kept smiling while she talked. I announced "last call" at around 9pm, finished serving the stragglers, counted my tips and headed home for the night absolutely giddy after Sam had wished me a good night.
Little did I know, this would be the last "normal" night for the rest of my life.
