over the past few years, i've been writing scenes featuring a handful of characters...tonight, i finally came up with a plot to tie all the scenes together...hopefully, the excitement i'm feeling for this project will continue...

as i work to tie the scenes together, i thought i would post them here on IMWAN for your reading pleasure or your disgust...whichever you feel!



oh, yeah...almost forgot...

everything posted here by me is Copyright 2006, Dan Helpingstine...please don't steal it!

Jake's eyes bored their way into the side of my face. I didn't care how long he stared, I wasn't going to answer his question. "Tell me, Jake," I countered, "where do you want to eat?" Jake and I had been friends for as long as I could remember. God only knows what drew he and I toward each other. Every time we hung out together, I was required to determine what activities we would pursue. At least I was required to throw out a million suggestions for him to shoot down until he came up with his own ideas.

"I don't know, where do you want to eat?" he asked, repeating his earlier question.

"What about McDonald's?" I ventured.

"Nah, I don't feel like a burger."

"Ok, Pizza Hut."

"I puked last time I had Pizza Hut."

"Thanks for that image," my ideas and patience were quickly being depleted. "Olive Garden?"

"Too fancy."

"Red Lobster"

"I'm allergic to shellfish."

"Fred's Monkey Brains Barn?" My patience was gone and I suspected Jake was on automatic with his restaurant denial.

"Nah, they don't even serve real monkey brains." Ok, so he wasn't on automatic...

I hate Wednesday.

I used to love Wednesday. New comic book day. The day the new comics are released for sale at comic shops all over the country.

When I was just a collector, new comic day meant an exciting trip to the comic shop with Jake or Tim. I know it sounds odd to most people that I looked forward to buying a stack of over priced pamphlets. Most people don’t understand the thrill of flipping through those brightly colored pages for the first time, the smell of the newsprint wafting gently on the breeze created by the fanning leaves, the temptation to read the whole thing right there in the store. I loved following the adventures of Spider-Man, Captain America, and the Avengers; thrilling to the exploits of the Justice League; laughing out loud at the same stupid puns in every Archie comic. I loved comic books.

Loved.

Oh, I still enjoy comics, don’t misunderstand me. Its just that after an unexpected windfall, comics stopped being an ejoyable hobby and became my livelihood. A great-aunt passed away, leaving me a substantial inheritance for some reason. After some amazingly lucky investments, I managed to make enough money to open and maintain a comic shop of my own. At first, the shop was a dream come true, but soon it became just another job. Discussing the events of the latest cross-over with my buddies changed into discourses like this:

“Um, pardon me, Eric...”

“Can I help you?”

“Um, yeah, um, I didn’t have Cable #57 in my pull file today.”

“I’m sorry about that, I must have missed it. There are plenty over on the new release rack.”

“Um, yeah, um, its just that that issue should have been in my pull file because Cable’s
nanny from the future made an appearance in X-Men #393 last month, and it was mentioned
in the letter column that the character would be appearing in Cable #57 this month and since
X-Men is on my pull list I assumed that Cable #57 would be in my pull file for the–“

”Wait, are you saying that Cable isn’t on your pull list?”

“Um, well, I assumed since the cross-over was mentioned in the letter column of X-Men
#393 that the continuation of the story in Cable #57 would be in my pull file since it was
mentioned in the letter column.”

“I’m sorry, I have no way of knowing that you wanted the new issue of Cable without it
being on your pull list. There are still plenty of copies on the rack.”

“Um, well, I just thought Cable #57 should be in my pull file because it was continued from
X-Men #393 since it is on my pull list.”

“There are plenty of copies on the new release rack.”

“Um, well...”

You get the picture. Futility doesn’t even begin to describe the feeling of dealing with some customers.