Quoted By:
Yea, you nod, still recovering from the sudden mood whiplash, you’re good for another!
“You sure about dat’, kiddo?”
Yes <span class="mu-i">Ly,</span> just look at your <span class="mu-b">DRINK STATUS!</span>
<span class="mu-b">DRINK STATUS: A LITTLE BUBBLY, BUT COULD BE BUBBLIER</span>
<span class="mu-i">SEE</span>?!
“Yea, alright…”
“I’ll handle this one, son.” Ike informs his ward, Paulie. As you silently watch the mayortender go at it, a thought itches the edge of your brain! Say Paulie, you begin with renewed energy in your voice, where’d he get all of his stock anyways? Feels like he popped outta’ nowhere with all of that merch!
“Heh,” Stripes chuckles with a faint smirk forming on his previously-sullen face, “Can’t remember a time where Paulie <span class="mu-i">wasn’t</span> Haulie.”
“Surprised ya’ can remember <span class="mu-i">that</span> far back, ya’ big dope!” Jokes Haulie-Paulie, prompting Stripes to send a one-finger salute his way! “Well,” he begins as the tense atmosphere slowly dissipates, “Where do I begin…?”
How about with an <span class="mu-i">answer</span> to the damn question?!
“Keep yer’ coveralls on, kid, I’m gettin’ there!” Paulie chides as Ike places a fresh drink on the bar in front of you! “It all started when I was still a kid… pops was a salesman back then–one of those guys who’d sell ya’ anything that wasn’t nailed down, dig?”
Gotcha, you nod, so he was a <span class="mu-i">thief</span>!
“Wha?! Hell no, Stan! Jeez!” Scoffs the skeleton as he continues to polish his glass! “He was a travelin’ salesman–sold all kinds a junk to everyone: companies, stores, door-ta-door… kept a whole bunch a merch in his car when it wouldn’t fit in da’ house. For a while I almost thought the guy was Santa Claus with all the product that came through–it was somethin’ else, lemme tell ya.”
You <span class="mu-i">ARE</span> letting him tell ya! So what happened next?
“Well bein’ a salesman an’ all, things were pretty feast or famine, dig? Sometimes we lived like kings, others we were livin’ offa’ whatever was on sale. An’ expired.”
“Sounds familiar…” Stripes remarks with a sour look on his face.
“We was always bouncin’ around, so that’s why we ended up in a trailer–pretty handy too when dad had to do the long haul across the states. Sometimes he’d be gone for weeks–some nights he’d come home and pass out right in da’ doorway wit’ a drool-covered tie. Through good an’ bad, though, the guy <span class="mu-i">loved</span> that job ta’ death. Loved it!”
“I can imagine!” Ike remarks while Pete nods in assent. “Why, never really had the time to tour the other territories–to think folk would just wander like that for a livin’, well… I can’t rightly believe it!”
Yea… what if you had to <span class="mu-i">pee</span>?
“Then you’d stop, cupcake.”
In a roadside bathroom? NO WAY, JOSE!
>CONTD.
