groovygamers.com

After leaving Sammy's house Sarah makes a quick pass by Dave's place.  As usual he's in his room, reading.  His mom let's Sarah in and yells up the stairs that she's arrived.  He has a soda for her, from the mini fridge, as she comes through the door.

Dave's room is the basement of the house.  It's the only room large enough to hold his comics, action figures, posters, books, and that thing he sleeps one.

"What brings you down into the dungeon Sarah?"  he asks, getting a soda for himself.

Sarah smiles and accepts the soda.  She pops it open and takes a drink before replying.  "Ah.  Thank you." 

She puts the drink down in a secure location away from any items damageable by liquid.  Her luck she'd end up having to work to pay of some comic worth $400 bucks for Dave first.

"I came once more to consult with the all knowing Oracle of Oak Park.  And to chat.  I don't even remember the last time I was down here.  But I'll get my question out of the way first."

She finds a spot to sit and asks Dave, "I want to make some quick money before Christmas and I wondered if you had any good ideas.  I know I could have asked the whole gang but I figured that you would know something right off or fairly quickly and it dawned on me that I've been totally out of touch this year.  I mean I see you at lunch but those are mostly meetings about what horrible thing is happening to who that day."

"Well, it's a little late in the year.  Maybe contract killing, that probably picks up during the holiday's."  he says, clearing off a chair for her to sit down.  "I know that they need someone on the counter at the comic shop.  Megan's brother worked there part time, and he left with the fam, and one of the other guys quit.  You might be able to get some hours down there.  I can get you an application if you want.  It's pretty easy work, but they're gonna want some weekend time."

Sarah takes another drink and says, "Tell me more about the contract killing?  I don't think making minimum wage and dealing with a crowd that finds your collection," she pauses to recall, "What did that guy with the punisher t-shirt call it?"  She snaps her fingers and grins, "Pedestrian!  Seriously though I was hoping for something that combined legality with quick profitability.  Minimum wage and a discount on comics wont quite do it.  I'd like to make three or four hundred in a couple of weeks if it's possible."

"Well, without using your special gifts you might find it tough to make kind of cash."  Dave eases himself down into his chair.  "What kind of stuff do you want to do?  Let's face it you're a minor with no real work experience.  What can you expect.  I'm sure you could make the money as a drug mule or something."

"Oh hey!  I can do that if there's no available people to whack." snarks Sarah.  "I don't mind using any special talents if I can avoid getting caught at it.  Like.. um... well if I could have thought of something I wouldn't be asking you."

She picked at some fuzz on the arm of the chair and sighs.  "So let the idea simmer for a day or two and see if anything strikes you."

She changes the subject with a wave of her drink.  "So how's the VanGo?  You were tinkering with it a while ago.  Just upkeep or did you pop in a GPS or something?"

"The new VanGo has all the cool toys.  The guys hooked me up with a PC that has one of those cellular modem things, and GPS.  The insurance company cut me a check the day after the old one got smashed during that fight at the school.  I don't have as many fond memories in this one yet, but there's still time to make new ones."

Sarah smiles and says, "It also has the advantage of not having all the left over food bits floating around under the seats."  She looks around the basement she spent much time in just last year.  "I wish it wasn't a possibility that some other kids loaded up on the latest Superman might strike in the parking lot again."

She brightens up, "Maybe I could deliver pizzas.  No, they'd want someone with a license.  And they would probably notice that I got back from a run in a fraction of the time it was supposed to take." 

Switching back to the previous topic she says, "I'm glad you've got the new ride set up.  Has it got an ejector seat or a rocket launcher?"

"No ejector seat or rocket launcher."  he says.  "What about Sylvia's mom, the architect.  They use messengers all the time, maybe she could throw some express work your way.  Always people rushing stuff around for the holidays.  And, if you can hit places far away, I might be able to drum up some work doing rush package delivery to grandkids and the like.  Sound good?"

Sarah jumps up grinning.  She cries, "Perfect!  If I'm working for a couple of different places they are much less likely to notice that I'm there and back again in no time.  I can rack up double points.  Especially if I'm working one under the table?"  She points at Dave and says, "You're a genius!  Oh hey, that reminds me.  Are you any closer to settling on your college choices?"

"Not yet.  Maybe I'll get more energetic about come spring.  It's just not something I'm really all fired up about right now."

Sarah says, "Why is that?  It's not like you'll be leaving for college any sooner.  It's just securing your choices.  Like making reservations at a restaurant or buying online tickets for a concert."  

She pauses and considers for a moment.  "Or maybe that's just me.  I can hardly wait for everything to happen until it's here of course and then I'm not ready at all."

I'm just trying to get an idea of what I want to do is all.  No rush really, I have some time."

Sarah nods.  "Okay," she says, "I guess I should have figured you would have it all together."

She hangs around and shoots the breeze for a while.  She says, "You know... I'm always hitting you up for help but you never need anything.  You can always ask you know.  I mean, even if you need something quick from somewhere sometime.  Zip Zap and I'm back."

"No problem.  It's what friends are for."

She polishes off her soda and offers a Dave a thank you burp.  Old habits around old friends die hard.  "So were you serious about connecting me to your um, friends network?"

"Yes."  he says with a slow nod.  "You shall inherit the awesome responsibility of tending to my vast clone army."  Besides, Rob said you should do it.  You'll need the practice for when you grow up and leave home.  So, during the winter break I thought we'd make the rounds, meet people, press the flesh.  Get them used to seeing you and you used to them.  Then go from there."

"Does this gig involve public speaking?" asks Sarah.  "I'm not big on the public speaking thing."

Dave chuckles, "Not really.  Most of these people are a phone call away, and some of them are perched in front of the internet all day.  You don't get up in front of an audience of them usually."

Sarah breaths a sigh of relief.  "I was worried I'd have to streak on the blue face paint and wear a kilt or something to get them going."

She kicks back and makes small talk and plays catch up with Dave for a while until he kicks her out for some project or another.