This went there and that went there. He placed mushrooms on the shelf. She made this more enjoyable but there were still moments where it just felt like a job. Right now it did. She was busy wrapping pieces of watermelon in the back and he was alone in the front of the store. It was Friday so tomorrow they'd be doing karaoke. He couldn't wait for that. He wanted to hear how she sang. He decided to sing softly now. "Black then white are all I see in my infancy. Red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me. Lets me see."
Another voice joined in. "As below, so above and beyond, I imagine."
Arnold looked and saw her. She had pushed the cart to the front with a few things. Including the watermelon packs. He picked a few them up and put them in their place on the right side of the refrigerated display. She started to put some brussel sprouts on the left side. She whistled, she was whistling the rest of the song. "Excited for tomorrow?"
He grabbed some apples. "Yeah, for sure. I can also show you what I've been writing and ya know what?"
Helga knew what was coming. "Yeah?"
"You can show me your stuff too."
"Fine. I'll bring my notebook."
"If you're really not comfortable with showing me what you've written, that's fine too."
"No, I should show someone."
"I'm looking forward to it."
"Yeah, yeah."
They worked together for a while. It was easy. Helga now knew where everything was. Arnold no longer had to show where some obscure thing went. It was now just seamless work. Almost mindless. Arnold was bored. Though the conversation broke up the day a bit. He is at least happy to spend the time with Helga, but he'd rather be doing something else with her. She was wearing a black t-shirt with the same skull that had been on the pink sweatshirt, but it was white on the black shirt. "Is that like a brand, Helga?"
"What's up?"
"Is that t-shirt part of a brand? Like the sweatshirt you were wearing?"
"Well, no actually. I had them printed myself. I drew the skull in my notebook one day and thought it looked cool. So I decided to see how much it would be to make a shirt. It wasn't too bad so I had a few things printed on a whim."
"Cool."
"Yep." They went to the back and started to make some snack packs. Arnold cut up the veggies and stuck in the ranch while Helga practiced her wrapping which was admittedly already pretty good but you could always get better. Helga asked. "Do you know a place where we can do karaoke?"
Arnold nodded. "I went to a club once with Riley. It had back rooms you could do karaoke in. It was a fun time."
"I wonder if people only did karaoke in those rooms."
"Oh. I never thought about it like that."
"I'm sure it'll be fine. But you better believe we'll be singing where people fucked."
"Gross, Helga."
"Just the truth. I know it's hard to hear." She grinned.
Arnold handed her the last pack. She pulled out some wrap and wrapped it around the pack. She got it tight around the veggies and ranch. She put the back against the heated part of the machine. She put it on the cart and they pushed it out front. It was almost closing time. Arnold looked for the janitor but couldn't see him. He put the snack packs on the shelf in the middle of the aisle. He picked out a tomato which didn't look so good. Andrew walked up to them. "I'm sorry to ask this but the janitor apparently just quit. I need you to mop the store."
Arnold felt a weight suddenly drop upon his shoulders. "He quit?"
"He just left the store and then gave me a call. He's not coming back again. I mean I could mop the store but I'm busy with ordering the dairy for next week and that needs to be done before the store closes."
Arnold sighed. "I'll-
Helga interrupted. "I'll do it, Andrew."
"OK, good, thank you Helga. I'll throw in an extra twenty on your paycheck."
"Cool." Helga walked towards the back.
Arnold wanted to thank or at least say something but words couldn't come out of her mouth before she was gone. He watched her leave then focused back on work. Soon work was over with. He was out of the store and waiting next to her car. She took another ten before she was done mopping. She walked outside and pressed a button on her key. The car unlocked. Arnold got in the passenger's seat, Helga got in and turned on the car. They drove in silence for a while. Arnold needed to say something. "Thank you for mopping the store."
"I know how much you hate it. Thought I could take the hit."
"Yeah, when he said that I felt awful. Like was I really going to have to do the janitor's job again."
"If it has to be mopped again I'm not taking the bullet every time. We can take turns."
"That's fair." She drove him home. He stepped out of the car. He thanked her one last time and went inside. He looked into the living room. One of the boarder's was there. It was the thin woman. She was looking through the board games. Arnold walked in. "Ya looking for something?"
"I was looking to see if you have Monopoly. It doesn't seem like you do. Shame."
"I've never played monopoly."
"It's fun but it can be competitive. I wanted to play with Stella and Miles."
"Well, maybe we can pick it up. There's a game store nearby. I can play too."
"Alright. I have thirty dollars in my purse." She opened up her little red purse and handed him the thirty dollars.
He took it and went upstairs to get his bicycle and backpack. He hauled it all downstairs and down the stoop. He got on and pedaled down the block towards the game store. He got there pretty fast. He could've walked but this was more convenient. He left the bike outside the store. The name Crispin's Game Store. Inside there were used video games, Magic the Gathering cards, Pokemon cards, board games, and last but not least roleplaying books. He looked through those first. There was a different copy of the same player's handbook, it was blue. There was also a black copy of the dungeon master's guide, there was a game called Paranoia, one read CORE RULEBOOK on the spine, he pulled it out it was a Buffy the Vampire Slayer roleplaying game. Arnold chuckled inwardly and put it back. There was also an original boxed set of Dungeons and Dragons. He looked at that for a while. It was pretty expensive. He was saving money up so there was no way he was picking it up. He put it back. He looked through the board games. He found a copy of monopoly and walked up to the counter with it. He didn't expect who he saw but he saw Eugene. Eugene was looking through some new stuff that just arrived. "A moment, sir." He separated what needed to go where. It was an organizational trick. He turned to Arnold. "Holy crap, Arnold. It's been a minute."
"Hey, Eugene, how's it going?"
"It's going good. I just got this job. I thought it'd be cool to work in a game store."
"Well, has it been?"
"Yeah."
"I wanted to pick this up." Arnold put the copy of monopoly on the counter.
"Sure." He scanned it. "That'll be twenty seven dollars."
"OK." Arnold pulled out the money she had handed him.
Eugene got the change Arnold needed. "You know we should start doing D&D again."
"Sounds like fun. I have work most days."
"But you have weekends don't you?"
"Yeah, I guess. Maybe I could try to scam Helga into playing with us."
"You've been hanging out with her?"
"About every weekend. We work together at a grocery store."
"Oh, that's cool."
"Well I'll see ya, Eugene."
"See ya, Arnold." Arnold left the store, he put the boardgame in his backpack and got on his bike. He pedaled back to the Sunset Arms. He went inside and put his bike against the wall in the main hall. He was too lazy to bring it all the way back upstairs. He put the copy of the monopoly on the dinner table. The boarder, Miles and Stella were already waiting.
"I got it."
"Thanks for picking it up, honey." Stella gave him a kiss on the cheek.
Arnold blushed but sat down at the table. "How long till dinner is done?"
Grandpa spoke. "Two hours. I gotta pick up some ingredients from different stores and I'll be right back."
"Is that enough time for a game?"
Neither Miles or Stella knew. The boarder answered. "That's not enough time but we could resume our play in the living room after dinner."
"Ok." Arnold opened the box. "What's your name?"
The boarder realized she had never really introduced herself to him. "My name's Angela." Angela took out the board and placed it on the table. She started to teach them how to play. Miles was quick on learning and after an hour of play. He had a bit of property. He started to build houses on his properties. By the end of the second hour he was basically ruling the game. He had two monopolies with hotels. Everyone was just waiting to die. Eventually he won after they happened to land on the minefield that was the blues. Arnold looked a little miffed. "I don't know if I like this game. I think I prefer Life."
"Life is a game where everybody feels like they win, this game has a real winner." Angela gathered up all the cash and the little pieces. She put them in their places. They ate dinner. It was a casserole. It tasted a little funny but Arnold liked it. He went up to his room and started to listen to some jazz while he wrote. He was at twenty two pages. Eventually he started to feel sleepy. He shut off the jazz, brushed his teeth down stairs and then laid down. For a while he tried to fight sleep for no real reason until he realized he couldn't anymore and his eyes closed for the night.
