Robbing the Memory Bank
(June 2015)
6: Around the Mall
"Thanks for meeting me," Pacifica told Mabel. They were in the mall food court, on a Wednesday afternoon. All around them, teens were meeting, laughing, scuffling playfully, and eating everything from nachos to soy hot dogs.
"No prob, Paz!" Mabel said. "So . . . did you get your biz with your dad worked out?"
"Sort of," Pacifica said. "Here's the gist: I don't have to change schools. I can finish up at Gravity Falls High. In return, I won't tell Mom about how dad had my mind wiped or whatever. She doesn't know. Unless she did know, and Dad had her memory erased, too! I feel all paranoid!"
"Yeah, it can get to you," Mabel agreed. "It does Dipper. Of course, he was always paranoid. But that's justified. At our school, people actually do conspire against him."
"Yeah," Pacifica said, "so, well, we kind of have things settled, but Dad and I—we're not in a good place, you know? I mean, he's been doing so much better. Cleaned up the factory, even donates time to serving on the boards of about five local charities. Started a scholarship program over at the community college and all. But the more money he makes, the more ground he loses. He's getting all "We're Northwests!" again. And now he's all about rebuilding the Northwest name, patching up our reputation. As if we had one!"
"He's gotta be him," Mabel pointed out. "You gotta be you."
"Well—it's not like we have a choice," Pacifica said. She sipped her soda and then smiled. "Unless you broke out that weird carpet thing again!"
Mabel guffawed. "I don't think so. You went all cray-cray with it the first time. Better let well enough alone."
Pacifica checked the time on her phone. "It's past three-thirty. Is Teek picking you up?"
"Not today," Mabel said. "He and his folks are off visiting somewhere overnight because they've got family they have to visit or some deal. It's cool. I mean, I love the guy, but, you know, it's good to spend a little time apart so that you can smooch when you get back together." Mabel had ordered cheesy fries, and she picked one up, swirled it in melted mozzarella, and then trailed strings of cheese up as she prepared to devour it. "You want to do something, you and me, I mean?" she asked.
"I don't know. Maybe. After having it out with Dad, I ought to feel better, but—I suppose I've moped for so long that I can't get out of the habit."
"Talked to Adam?" Mabel asked.
Pacifica shook her head. "I'm ashamed to."
"Aw, come on!" Mabel said. "You guys have been split up, for, like, a week!"
"Nine days," Pacifica corrected.
"Even better! Everybody knows that the best smooches are make-up smooches!" She reached over and patted Pacifica's hand. "Don't you want to talk to him?"
"I do," Pacifica admitted. "But—well, he said some mean things to me, and I was pretty rotten to him. I'm afraid it would be awkward." When Mabel took her hand away, Pacifica wiped strings of cheese from her fingers with a napkin. "OK, I'll think about texting him. You really wouldn't mind doing something with me?"
"Nope!" Mabel said. "Never! Let's find some trouble and get into it!"
"I'd rather not."
"Well—what do you want to do?" Mabel asked.
"Let's go window-shop a little," Pacifica suggested. "Something will come to us."
They trashed their napkins and cups and paper cartons and strolled over to FLOSSEE BANG.
That was an upscale boutique of stylish (and pricey) clothes. They tried on outfits and accessories for a while. Mabel particularly liked one dress, an iridescent greenish-blue with half-circular fan-like attachments that made her shoulders look like they were sprouting wings—or more likely, peacock tails, because they had that color and sheen. Pacifica's favorite was simpler, a pale green sun dress with a printed pattern of seashells and tropical fish.
The price tag on Mabel's fave was twelve hundred dollars. Pacifica's was, for a change, more economical: merely nine hundred and ninety-nine. As they came out of the dressing rooms after having put on their street clothes again, Mabel said, "I'm surprised they didn't throw us out of the store."
"They know me here," Pacifica said. "I'll buy something, so they won't be upset."
She got a charm bracelet, only three hundred dollars. Mabel bought a charm, a silver star. Only thirty-five bucks. "This is for you," she said, giving the small box to Pacifica. "A starter for your bracelet. To Llama from Shooting Star! Hey, where some boys at? I'm in a flirty mood!"
"Teek might find out," Pacifica warned.
"Eh, we don't have anything on paper!" Mabel said. "We trust each other, and he knows I'd never hook up, anyhow. But it's fun to flirt!"
"I'd say the comic-book store if you're looking for just a bunch of guys," Pacifica told her. "But they're all geeks there."
"Even better!" Mabel pronounced. "Geeks won't push it and become a nuisance, and they're always so grateful!"
"I don't see that as fun," Pacifica said.
"Aw, come on, Paz! Let's go break us some geek hearts!"
"I guess," Pacifica said. "It's not like I can think of anything better to do."
The comic-book store was not far from Hoo-Ha Owl's Pizzamatronic Jamboree—which had been completely refurbished since back when Soos was seeing Giffany. Then it had been completely demolished. They could smell the pizza and hear the animatronic animal band playing pre-recorded music as they passed the place. "There it is," Pacifica said.
The comic-book place, Stapled in the Center, was long and narrow and full of shelves and blue-white fluorescent light. The customers, all teens and all guys, browsed and avoided eye contact. In the back of the store, four of them were playing some bizarre-o card game—the kind, Mabel thought, that Dipper would enjoy if he had friends to play it with. She heard one of the guys say, "I'm gonna play the Serpent of Destruction."
Another one, with thick glasses and a big nose and a spatter of acne across his cheeks, said in a squeaky voice, "I was so waiting for that! Hah! I play the Crushing Boot on your serpent's head! Stomp!" He captured the other guy's card. Or something. Mabel wasn't sure what the game was, except it wasn't much like Grunkle Stan's favorite, cutthroat poker.
Of course, his brand of poker wasn't much like anyone else's, either. Most normal poker games weren't played with two decks, one on the table, one split up and secreted throughout the dealer's clothing.
Whatever.
"Let's go," Pacifica said. "Nobody's even looking at us."
"Yeah, they are," Mabel said. "When I tell you, glance over to the left, quick. Ready—now!"
Pacifica looked around in time to see three guys gasp and duck down behind the shelves they had been peering over. Mabel whispered, "The elusive and easily frightened geek in his native habitat. It's a mystery to scientists how these rare creatures ever manage to reproduce."
However, even she had to admit the pickings were dismal. They went back toward the front of the store—and a good-looking guy, tall and maybe sixteen, said, "Can I help you ladies find something?" He had medium-long black hair, a good complexion, and dark blue eyes. And a straight nose, good teeth, and a mouth that Mabel thought looked interesting, full lips and dimples at the corners. He was wearing a blue shirt with rolled-up sleeves, gray pants, and an unbuttoned gray suit vest.
"We're just browsing," Pacifica said, turning away.
"Wait a minute, hang on," Mabel said, then asked the guy, "Do you have a romance section—or is it just you?"
The guy chuckled. "Well—romance? That's a hard one. We don't get many pretty girls in here."
"Pretty girls!" Mabel playfully shoved him. "Shut up!"
Staggering a little, the guy said, "But the magazines that girls usually like are over against the far wall there. Front section."
Ah, Mabel thought, in the deserted corner. "Come and show us?" she asked. "Oh, I'm Mabel! And this is my bfftm, Pacifica. And you are—?"
"My name's Jude," the guy said. "Hi."
As they walked across the store, Pacifica asked, "So do you work here, or-?"
"Not full-time. Just helping out today. All right, these are all in the Markie line here—"
"All six shelves?" Mabel asked.
"Well, yeah, it's sort of a publishing industry. Now, there's the classic Markie and His Pals, the AU Markie lines—in these, he's married to Bitty, in those to Veronique, and in the ones here, he's dead—and, let's see, the Bugheads, the Veroniques, the Bittys, of course the Bitty and Veroniques, the Riversides—they go with the TV continuity, not the comics—the Markie and His Pals Kids, and, so on and so on."
"Huh," Mabel said. "I thought that was just those old cartoons from TV."
"No, it's one of the most successful sets of titles," Jude said. "If you want something a little more adventurous, there's Spider-Guy and Ann Marie, by a woman writer-artist team. More humorous than the mainline Spider-Guys. And, um, this series called Faithful is a three-girl supernatural investigation team. It's written by Josh Whitton, you know, the guy behind the old Muffy the Vampire Staker and Angelic, the TV shows, speaking of which, over there are continuations of the two series. Lots of girls like them. And this one—
"So many comics!" Mabel exclaimed. "OK, so I'm a gal who likes being artistic and having adventures and being romanced. What would I like most?"
"I think you might like to try manga," Jude told her.
"Yeah! I'm always up for eating!" Mabel exclaimed.
Pacifica rolled her eyes. "Not 'mangia,'" she said, giving the word a soft g. "Manga!" This time she pronounced the g like the one in goat. "It's like, Japanese cartoons. It's an art form. Even I know that!"
"This one," Jude said, picking up a magazine, "is called Summer House. It's about a teen girl, Yuki, who goes with her family to a lakeside house for a whole summer-long vacation. She has to sort out how she feels about her boyfriend, who's mad because she's gone away from Tokyo for three months, and then she runs into three guys at the lake, and each one's sort of interested in her. It's by Kimura Akana—a girl artist-writer—and won awards. No, you start on the last page and go backward. And you start with the right panel on each page and read to the left."
"Like the Brits and their bonkers driving!" Mabel said, scanning through the first couple of pages.
"I don't think there's anything here for me," Pacifica said. "I'm not much into comics or even movies."
"Me, either," Jude told her. "I mean, not really. I kill time with them, but I'm not a fanatic."
"But you work here," Pacifica said.
"Well, just sort of. Just stepping in for a friend of mine who's out sick. I read comics casually, and my friends talk them up, so I know about them, but I'm not really a full-time employee, just a temp. 'Scuse me, I've got to go check these guys out." He hurried over to the register.
"He likes you!" Mabel said.
"I don't even know him," Pacifica told her.
"Like that couldn't be fixed in about five minutes! He's cute, isn't he?"
"Not bad," Pacifica granted. "Tall, and he looks like he might be into swimming or something. He looks like he has good abs and pecs."
"Come on, those guys are leaving." Mabel led Pacifica over to the register. "I'll take the manga," she said. "And I promise not to eat it, ha-ha! How much?"
"That's $9.99," Jude said.
Mabel reached for her money. "Ring it up! By the way, do you go to Gravity Falls High?"
"Me? No," Jude said. "I'm just here for a few weeks, visiting my uncle. I'm from Calgary. I'm a foreigner."
"Up in Canada!" Pacifica said. "I've been there!"
"To the Stampede?" Jude asked, taking Mabel's ten-dollar bill and giving her back a penny before bagging her purchase.
"Yeah," Pacifica said. "And we went to Banff and Lake Louise. It's beautiful up there!"
Smiling, Jude said, "I'm starting to think it's pretty beautiful down here, too."
"When do you get off work?" Mabel asked.
Jude glanced at a clock on the wall. "Five. About half an hour from now."
"Mabel!" Pacifica said.
"C'mon, Jude's Canadian! We ought to build up good US-Canadian relations so they won't invade us and make us all eat French fries with mayonnaise!" Mabel turned to Jude. "You got plans for dinner?"
He smiled. "Nope. I thought I'd grab a burger here in the Mall."
"No! Let's eat together! There are lots of restaurants in town. Do you like Mexican? Fish? Grease? You name it, we've got it!"
"I could go for a pizza," Jude admitted.
"OK, you talked us into it! Not Hoo-Ha's, though. There's a good place called Deliziosa about four blocks from here. But we'll pay our share, OK?"
Jude shrugged. "How about I buy the pizza, you girls buy the drinks?"
"Deal!" Mabel pronounced. "And while we eat, you can tell us all about Canada! Hey—speak in Canadian for us!"
Sighing, Jude said, "You're two really nice girls, eh?"
Mabel chortled. "You said it, tiger! Pacifica, why are you turning red?"
"It's hot in here," Pacifica said.
"Nah," Mabel told her. "It's just him!"