Part 8 (1/2)
Denny stared for a moment before throwing the empty packing box to the floor. ”Oh, Lord. Who has it?”
”Remember Tom? He clocked Forrester at Popeye's. Took his clipboard.
Which makes a total of two that are missing...”
”Two? What was Forrester doing with two?!”
”Oh, he only had one. I, uh, almost got shot by Mr. Nelson and, uh...
well, I dropped mine.”
”And you became a Hindu, I see?”
”What?” the Lab Coat Man asked, touching his forehead. ”That was the bullet! Do you realize--?”
”Just kidding...”
”Kidding! I'm almost killed in the line of duty, and all anyone can think to do is make fun of me because at the last second I didn't die!
Am I so dispensable that --”
”All right, calm down. We need to have a meeting about this.”
”Yes, I informed everyone. They'll meet us.”
”Good. We also need to discuss another complication.”
”What's that?”
”Not what -- who. Don't worry, I've fired her. Just a precaution.”
The Lab Coat Man nodded vaguely and stuffed his hands in his pockets.
”Well if you're just going to stand there,” Denny said, ”how about giving me a hand with this mouthwash?”
The Lab Coat Man frowned, but began to arrange the bottles of mouthwash (3 for $2) on the opposite shelf. ”If I had known I was going to be shelving, I would have brought the new kid... Kurt. Why don't you just... move them, you know? Since we've unlocked one of the most important secrets of s.p.a.ce and time, why not just--?”
”Not until after the final phase, I keep telling you! We don't know who's watching! Like that Nelson. What do we know about him?”
”Zeke knows that. Brings him his mail.”
”Zeke?” Denny asked.
”What?” Zeke replied, filling his basket with hemorrhoid cream (2 for $3) fifteen feet up the aisle.
”You askin' about Justin Nelson, Jr.? Oh, he's just nuts. Thought he saw a UFO once, but it was a weather balloon.” The trio converged in the middle of aisle seven. ”He asks strange questions, that's about all.”
”He almost shot me!” the Lab Coat Man exclaimed.
”Would you leave that alone for a minute?” Denny asked. ”We'll have to get him out of the way.”