Late For School

Along some country road, I was waiting for the schoolbus to pick me up and take me to school. The weather was overcast and cool, almost as if it had just quit raining. The bus didn't look like it was going to show up, so I began to move down the road myself... although instead of walking, I sort of crouched over and ran using my legs and my arms, kinda like a gorilla - but much faster. I covered several hundred yards before I came upon a couple of old houses.

The weeds had grown up around these houses, but one of them was still being used by someone as their home. I made my way across his lawn, through the weeds and bushes, and then took a shortcut through the abandoned little home that was next door. I was a little afraid to go all the way inside, because I felt like something was in there to get me - so I just kind of ran/jumped across the front porch, down into the storm cellar, and then back out into the field towards the road.

Mom picked me up, since the bus obviously wasn't coming, but we were headed in the wrong direction. I looked down at the clock in the car and it said 8:40am - and I had to be at school by 9:00am. I knew we weren't going to make it, and we were getting stuck at every red light in town. I guess mom thought I had forgotten something and we had to go back to the house to get it.

Before I made it to school, I ended up getting dropped off at a big barn along the road that heads to Millersport. It was suddenly night time, but I was still concerned with being late for school. Since I didn't have any way to get there now, I decided to head in the barn and go up into the loft. The loft had been converted into an old-time saloon. There were old fixtures everywhere, and lots of old people drinking and chatting. The only lights seemed to be coming from oil lamps hung around the room, so it was very dark. The bartender/host was demonstrating his ghost-capturing machine to me, which was on display to the right of the bar.

You would stick your hand into this small wooden hole, which looked quite a bit like a guillotine, and pull on a lever. He said something about the ghost "leaving the chamber" and travelling along the cable at 9.5 mph. I looked up and saw that the cable was strewn about the room, going through various other wooden contraptions that were hanging from the ceiling. I pulled the lever a few times... dust flew from the device, but no ghosts seemed to be alarmed.

I checked my watch again, and it was now 9:40pm. I was still in somewhat of a hurry because I had to be at school by 10:00pm - but this time I just gave up and accepted that I wasn't going to make it today. I was just hoping that I had enough "points" that I could miss a day without getting into trouble. The bar was closing, so I stumbled over to where I put my shoes... yeah, apparently everyone takes their shoes off in this barn... a couple of old men commented that I was late for school, to which I replied that I knew and didn't care.

Apartment In Lancaster's Ghetto

Apparently Genesee and I were looking for our new apartment that we had just decided to rent. I don't think we had been there before, because we were wandering around downtown Lancaster looking for it. We found this old looking multi-story apartment building on one of the roads (which doesn't really exist in downtown Lancaster, but anyway...) and walked into the empty apartment on the ground floor. We were happy that we found it, and were able to get off the streets - it was late at night, and we were scared that the bad element in the area would "get us" or something...

Once inside we quickly shut and locked the door, then turned back around to peer out of the blinds to see if anyone was watching us move into our new home. The whole area looked deserted, but we still closed all the blinds and made sure all of the doors were locked. The apartment, inside, looked as if it had been frozen in time from the late 1960s. All of the appliances were old fashioned, the walls were drab and faded, no decorations or carpets to be found, and nothing in any of the rooms had any color. It was a completely uninspiring place to have to live.

I made my way to the local thrift store, where I headed straight for the electronics section. I was there to look for things to furnish our new apartment, but I quickly spotted something that said "COLECOVISION" in big block letters. At first I thought I had found a nice looking old game system for $9.96, but when I looked closer - it turned out to be a very old laptop computer. I was able to power it on, seeing that it had a whopping 10megs of memory. I quickly closed it up and placed it in a big tupperware container. I was pleased at the deal I was going to get, and I knew that it was worth a great deal more than what they were trying to sell it for. (Of course, a ColecoVision laptop computer doesn't exist either... heh)

Security Check

I was working as a security guard in some store in an inner-city area, and I was responsible for keeping watch on the parking lot. It was dark, raining, and generally crappy out, and none of the other guards were willing to go an patrol the lot - so I was the only one that went outside to do it. I made my rounds of the lot, checking the cars, making sure nothing was going on... and I found a few items in the lot while I was doing that. I found a handheld radio that our stock workers are supposed to use, and I found a box that had a ring and a single earring inside of it.

I stuck those items in my pocket and headed back towards the store. When I got near the doors, I noticed that there were several sheriff deputies standing around, and I overheard that they were looking for me. I was worried that they'd think I was trying to steal the radio and the jewelry, so I ducked inside of a car that was open. I thought I was hidden, but my boss (Charlie) opened the passenger side and got in to question me. He kept asking me where I had been, why I wasn't working, why I left the parking lot, and why I wouldn't tell him the truth. I got out of the car and ran into the lobby of our store, and then into an old storage room that was off to the side of that room.

I took the items that I had found in the parking lot and put them in a baggie, then stuffed them into a box that was sitting along the wall. As I was getting ready to try to leave and get away, several people with guns came in and pulled me out. They said that I was being arrested for playing XBOX Live with a stolen XBOX. I tried to explain to them that that was impossible, because each XBOX has an account based on its serial number - but all of the cops were redneck hillbillies, and they didn't understand what I was talking about.

Loose Lion

I was working in some random mall when a delivery arrived at the mall's entrance. The people delivering the packages apologized that they were late, but they wanted me to hurry and just sign for the package so they could be on their way.

I signed for a large box, and as soon as I was done with my signature, it opened up and a big lion came running out. The delivery guys (or anyone else, for that matter) weren't paying attention or even trying to stop this lion from getting out - and it ran through the doors and into the mall.

I ran into the mall, trying to catch this lion before it could hurt anyone. Surprisingly, nobody seemed concerned about this big lion walking around in the mall - so at least I didn't have to deal with people screaming and running around. I was able to get the lion into the nearby pet store, and once it was inside I began looking for the switches to drop the gate down in the front of the store. I couldn't find it myself, so I asked one of the cashiers behind the counter to do it - but she just stood there. To make her understand the need for speed in this matter, I picked up a baseball bat and smashed it on the counter in front of her - telling her that she needed to close the gate now.

This seemed to get her attention and she lowered the chain gate in front of the store, safely locking the lion away from the rest of the mall. Well, safely, except for all of the people that were shopping in the pet store at that time I guess.