Music Lover's Alert: "If You Were Gay" from Avenue Q

Chapter 36 Little Dick

Serenity and Mokuba brought Janet over to the Wheeler house for a playdate with Hermos one fine Saturday morning. Janet was now toddling like Hermos, and the two of them had a lot to discuss. Hermos's room was not quite as full of toys as Janet's was, but his toys were homemade and unique in Janet's eyes.

While Janet and Hermos were rolling some brightly painted tin cans back and forth, Joey called out from the living room, "Hey sis! Dat store dad used to take us to before we moved to Domino is on TV!"

Serenity excused herself from the playing children, leaving Mai and Mokuba to supervise them. As soon as Serenity left, Mai scrutinized Mokuba with her sharp violet eyes and said. "So what exactly is a single stud like you doing taking on domestic duties on a day like today?"

The raven-haired man played it as cool as possible, but under her falcon-like gaze, he worried that she could tell that he was not exactly single anymore. "I don't know. I guess most of the girls in Domino aren't my type."

Mai noticed that he hot young Kaiba brother was acting very strangely, but she could not put her finger on exactly what it was. "Mokuba, are you gay?"

"What? No!"

Janet looked up at the adults and asked sadly, "Uncle Mokuba not gay?"

"Not today, Janet. I'm just happy today," he explained with the best smile he could muster.

Janet smiled back and said, "Uncle Mokuba happy," and then went back to playing with the tin can.

Mai leaned forward and spoke more softly. "You know, it's OK if you're gay. I could even hook you up with a friend of mine if you want."

"Really, Mai. I'm not gay, and I don't think that any of your friends would appreciate being hooked up with me. It's just not a good idea," he said in the same soft tone.

"Oh! I get it. You have a," she gestured with her fingers to indicate something small, and then pointed at his groin. "They make pills for that, you know."

Mokuba blushed and wondered why she would think that. However, it would be easier to let her believe it to be true than to give her the opportunity to make another guess at why he was not seeking new female companions. "Thanks, Mai. I'll keep that in mind," he said awkwardly.

"Don't mention it, hun," she said with a wink.

Mokuba was silent for a long time, letting the innocent voices of the children fill the void. He did not know why things had to be the way they were, but he knew that saying too much could open the door to trouble.

Meanwhile, Joey and Serenity were watching Cheryl Gardner interview a Flo*rMart truck driver and supervisor. Behind her, a huge banner read, "Creating poverty since 1962." The banner hung down from a black cylinder about three meters long that sat right below the Flo*rMart neon sign. It covered the store entrance so that customers had to walk around it to get inside. However, police had taped off the entire area for examination and a crowd of impatient customers was forming outside the store. Some people got back in their cars and drove away while others parked their butts on the curb and watched the police work.

Tea's older sister flashed her pearly whites at the camera and spoke into her Global Communications microphone. Much like her sister, she had chin-length brown hair and azure eyes. She also enjoyed repeating herself a lot, but that was part of her job. After an unnecessarily long introduction, she said, "These men say that Noelite terrorists held them at gunpoint and hijacked a Flo*rMart truck to carry out their devilish plans. Gentlemen, can you tell us what your attackers looked like?"

Too embarrassed to admit that they had woken up in their office with a huge, almost empty bottle of sake, the Flo*rMart employees invented a story to please the camera crew and their relatives who might be watching at home. "There were five of them and they were all complete thugs," the supervisor began.

"They drove up on motorcycles and they all had spiked hair and lots of piercings and black leather jackets," the driver elaborated, "There were three bikes, and the two guys on the back of the bikes - they had the guns."

"The guy on the bike without a rider - he did all the talking," the supervisor interjected.

"He had a Mohawk and a nose ring and a tattoo of a snake around his arm," the driver embellished.

"He told us to either turn over the keys to the truck or get shot, so we did."

"But not without a fight. I wrestled one of the guys with the guns. That's how I got these bruises. See? Here and here and here," the driver pointed to a few purple spots on his arms that had formed during his convulsions.

"And I got twice as many," the supervisor bragged, pointing to his own bruised arms."

Cheryl Gardner spoke again. "Thank you so much, gentlemen. You have done the government a great service today. By your descriptions, we should be able to catch and apprehend these terrorists. I'm Cheryl Gardner with Global Communications News. We'll have more exciting updates for you after these messages."

A commercial with a body builder wearing Kalvin Clein underwear started to play, and Joey muted the television set. "Weird, huh?" he commented.

"Yeah, Something doesn't fit," Serenity said.

"Yeah. Why would someone terrorize Flo*rMart?" Joey wondered.

"My thoughts exactly. Remember the thing with Pattel and how Noel sent a video to explain why they did it?" Serenity said.

"Yeah, kinda."

"Why didn't they send a video this time?"

Joey scrunched up his brow in an attempt to think, but his reasoning skills failed him. "I dunno. You lost me, sis. Maybe there wasn't one."

"Or maybe… switch the channel, Joey," Serenity said thoughtfully.

"Why? I like this channel."

"Joey, if there was a video and it explained the real reason why Noel pulled that trick on Flo*rMart, Global Communications might have decided not to show it."

"That's ridiculous. Global Communications brings us fair and balanced news. Besides, if we switch to a different channel, we might miss something. Hey! It's back on!" Joey unmuted the television and Cheryl Gardner started talking again.

Serenity sighed and went back to play with the children. The world seemed so much more complicated today than it had been when she was sixteen. She had left Domino to spend a week helping Seto and Mokuba build Duel Academy, but when she came back the whole world was different. Serenity had not been present to witness the turmoil that took place during the time the corporations took control of all governments around the world. She had not even heard horror stories of what had happened after the fact. Everyone left alive either supported the government, was afraid to say anything bad about the government, or, in Joey's case, inclined to leave all the big decisions in the hands of smarter people.

Serenity's mind wandered to the blonde who had spoken for Noel the first time they appeared in public. She certainly had a lot she wanted to say about the government. Had she been arrested and locked away? No, that would have been on the news for sure. Either way, the description the Flo*rMart employees gave of the five Noelite "thugs" did not match up with Serenity's memory of Penguin. Penguin had too much of a snobby attitude to work with low-class men who spiked their hair and pierced their faces. She was more like a sorority girl who could probably afford to hire professionals. Perhaps the thugs were a decoy? Whatever the case was, the Noelites secretly intrigued Serenity.