Addicted

"What'll it be today?"

"The usual."

"Nothing different? You ever going to try something else?"

He shook his head. "The usual."

"How many times have you been here this week?"

"What business is that of yours? You gonna give me my order, or do I need to go somewhere else?


"Yeah, yeah. I'm getting it ready. You still down in those apartments on Elm?"

"Who cares where I live? Keep your nose out of my life."

"Why do you live there with the crack heads? You could live somewhere better. You retired with my dad. I know what kind of pension you guys get."

"Is this an investigation? Did you grab a badge I didn't know about? Ring up my order and shut your mouth."

"Sure. Sure. Just sayin'. I was looking at our numbers the other day. You know who's right at the top of the list? Do you know how much you spend here every week? You could be in those new apartments by the lake, no problem."

"Do I need to ask for the manager?"

"I am the manager."

"Okay. Let me talk with the owner."

"Decompress, old man. I'm getting it ready. Just wondered if you really knew. I think you can't stop. I think you spend everything you have here. You gotta problem, whether you know it or not."

The manager punched some keys on his keyboard, staring at the screen. He looked up, his fake half-smile prominent. "One hundred fifty bucks gets you a whole four minutes."

"That's all I need."

The manager sighed. "Okay. I've got two girls, one age eleven, the other nine. It's set for seventeen years ago. Location is your residence at the time. Correct?"

"Correct."

The manager shook his head again and mumbled, "Your money. Your life."


An assistant escorted him to a room and gave him the normal instructions. "If at any time during the process you feel light headed or sick, just raise your hand and we'll assist you."

He nodded as he sat on the recliner bed and positioned the goggles over his eyes and the headset on his ears. He heard the door shut and then a voice over the speaker.

"You have two minutes to relax. Your four minute session will start after that."

He could feel his blood pressure rising. He took a deep breath and waited.

The scene exploded around him. The bedroom. Purple and orange painted flowers on the wall. A zoo of stuffed animals on the beds and floor. And the bunkbeds. Built with 4x4s and 2x4s. They were like tanks. How many times had he moved those stupid things? Too many.

The girls were already in bed, giggling, talking between the upper and lower bunks.

They saw him. Eyes shot wide. "Do we get a story?"

"Story time."

Squeals of elation erupted.

"Did you say your prayers?"

The girls scrambled to kneeling positions, shut their eyes, and silently mouthed prayers.

"Done!"

"Done!"

He smiled. "Once upon a time there were two girls sleeping in their beds, one in the top bunk and one in the bottom."

Every story started this way, but they never minded.

"Suddenly, there was a tap on the window. Looking outside they saw a..." He looked at Janie.

"Alien!"

"They saw two aliens from..." He looked at Elle.

"Mars!"

He gave them a thumbs up. "They saw two aliens from Mars! They were mean-looking and said, 'Sometimes your Earth blocks our view, so we've come to blow it up'."

The girls pulled up their blankets, feigning fear. "Ooooh."

He continued. "The girls knew they were the Earth's only chance. What could they do? And then the older one had an idea."

Janie beamed.

"Hey Mr. Alien, why don't we have a contest? Let's see who is stronger in an arm wrestling match. You pick your strongest and we'll pick our strongest."

"'That is no contest at all,'" the alien replied. 'We are considerably stronger than any of you humans.'"

"The younger sister knew where this was going. 'If it's no contest, then if you win, you blow up Earth. But if we win, then you go back home, leave our Earth alone, and never come back.'"

"The alien laughed and put his arm on the window-sill. 'Which of you will it be?'"

"The older girl shook her head. 'I said it would be our strongest against your strongest.' She walked over to her dolls and grabbed her Wonder Woman doll. 'This is Princess Diana, the daughter of Zeus. Maybe you've heard of her?'"

"The alien looked stunned. 'But you can't have her for the contest.'"

"'You agreed to our strongest against your strongest.'"

"The alien looked defeated. 'Okay, you little tricksters, you win this time. But I promise tomorrow night at this time, my sister will be here, and your Earth is toast.'"

"He slowed his voice down and changed to a tough-guy sound. 'Bring it on,' said the little sister."

Victory enveloped Elle's face as her fist shot up in triumph.


********************


He was back in the room. It always took a little bit to completely come out of it. He heard a voice on the speaker.

"Time's up. You'll have five minutes to complete your wake up and then you need to vacate the room."

He nodded. The story he'd told played through his mind over and over. It was okay, but could have been better. He thought through the stuffed animals and toys he'd seen. A better story formed in his mind.

He exited the room and stopped at the counter.

"I'll take another four minute round for this evening at 6:00."

"Hey man, that's another hundred and fifty. You really have that to spend?"

He stared at the manager, not hiding the disdain he felt. "You have kids?"

"No."

"Didn't think so. Another four-minute round."



As he exited the building his phone buzzed.

"Hey Janie, what's up?"

"Hey Dad. Levi's game got canceled because of rain this evening. Just wanted to let you know."

"Okay. Let me know when the next one is. Hey Janie, do you remember the stories we used to do before bedtime? The alien stories?"

"Sure. Where they knocked on our window and threatened to destroy Earth and then me and Elle would somehow save Earth with our stuffed animals? I remember."

Even though she couldn't see him, he nodded. "Don't miss a chance to tell the boys a bedtime story. Someday you might miss that... a lot. Also, do you have an extra seventy five dollars I could borrow? Things are tight this month."