Back to the Mall

Brendan, or Brenda, as she temporarily agreed to be called, was still sucking and picking at the pulp caught in her braces by the time Amy dropped her off at the mall. Her younger coworker had taken on an obnoxiously motherly tone with her the entire morning.

"Make sure to keep your beanie on tight, you don't want to be found out if you can help it."

"It's not like people would immediately assume I have real bunny ears." she quipped.

"No, but you don't want to attract attention!" Amy insisted. "Call me if anything comes up, I'll be back and forth between the office, and the city registrar, so I'll be about 30 minutes away." She pointed her finger at Brenda. "And don't get a haircut, I'll take care of it when we have more time this evening."

Brenda rolled her eyes and crossed her arms before meeting Amy's gaze. Normally the gesture would be enough to disarm Amy, but this time it only seemed to invigorate her efforts.

"I'm serious, try not to use your card, we don't want it locked for suspicious purchases. You won't be able to unlock it like you are, so just use the cash I gave you."

Brenda threw up her hands, and hopped out of the car. "Alright, I'm going. Call me if you find anything." Brenda threw the canvas messenger bag over her shoulder, and adjusted her bra. She had wanted to go without. It wasn't like she was very big upstairs anyway, but Amy had insisted. Speaking of Amy, she was already in the process of rolling down the window and shouting after her. She was saying something about using the right bathroom, but Brenda put a skip in her step and hurried away.

If it weren't for all the romantic tension she and Amy had shared in the past, she'd feel like a teen again, being dropped off by her mom at the mall. Her head sunk a little bit as she acknowledge the truth. Romantic tension or not, she did feel like a teenager again. At least she looked a little less ridiculous in dark jeans and black canvas slippers with a grey tunic. The shirt rode low on her hips, and high on her sleeves, with a large round neckline, and black stencil work of a thorny rose bush climbing up one side.

Amy had argued that "With your hair, it'll be less conspicuous to wear a complete style than to just go around in ill fitting boys clothes." Brenda wasn't sure if she agreed with that logic, but as much as she didn't want to enjoy her predicament, she had to admit it did look good on her. She had her ears stuffed under the same slouch beanie from the previous night. As she finally passed the threshold of the mall, she tossed her long braids over her shoulder. She pulled her phone out of her bag, realizing it took both of her tiny hands to hold it and navigate the menus at the same time, and pulled up her map. There were a half dozen technology and repair stores in the mall that might be able to help, and another few within walking distance outside the mall

A text message interrupted her focus. "Be back at 5 to pick you up!" Brenda rolled her eye's. They'd already discussed that a dozen times. The text was totally unnecessary. She passed it off as Amy's anxiety. With a deep breath she charged into the mall. She only had a day to get the gun working if she wanted to make it back to work tomorrow. Unfortunately she soon learned that Amy's concern wasn't as unfounded as she thought.

"Sorry sweet heart, you say you need what now?" The mans old wrinkly eyes were shaded by furrowed brows, and an exasperated tone dripped from his raspy voice.

"I need you to look at this gun, and see if you can fix the circuitry inside."

The gruff man took the device irreverently from her grasp. Brenda muttered. "careful" and watched him handling it with a keen eye.

She was surrounded by old VHS players, cathode-ray tube TV's, Ham radios, most of them gutted with wires strewn about, and other relics from the analog past. The man scratched his salt and pepper beard. It was more like stubble that had gone forgotten over the course of a week than an actual beard, and it did nothing to disguise his obese features.

"So, this is some sort of toy?" He turned it in his hands, inspecting it for seams. "What's wrong with it?" He pulled the trigger, then pounded on the revert button again and again. Brenda took in a sharp breath and bit her bottom lip, but nothing happened. "Careful please." She muttered again in a small voice.

"Well, it can't get anymore broke." The brute stated sharply.

Brenda shrunk a little more at hearing her own words from the previous night thrown back at her. "Do you think you can fix it?"

"I don't even know how to open it."

"There's a thing on the bottom."

"I can see that." He stated with that same impatient tone as before. "But that's not a standard fitting."

"What is it?"

"Could be a keyrex." He stated. A bit of fascination finally started to show through his gruff demeanor. "Basically, a custom fitting that doesn't unscrew unless the bit is the right shape. But I don't know why a toy gun would have a security measure like that." He reached back across the counter, and returned the gun to her. "Look sweet heart, I don't have time to mess around with toys. Just apologize to whoever owns this, and buy them a new one on amazon. Cheap plastic shit like this can't be hard to come by, and any repairs are going to cost more than the toy."

Brenda gaped. "I-It's mine actually, and I have the money!" She stammered. "It's one of a kind. I need it repaired."

"Sure. Well, there's an electronics store around that corner." The man pointed. "They may be able to..."

"I just came from there!" Brenda nearly shouted. "And the radio shack, and the cellphone repair store, and the computer guy. I even talked to the car stereo guys."

The man crossed his arms and stood up. Suddenly Brenda shrunk. Even on the other side of the counter, he was a giant of a man, or at least it felt that way to her right now. It hand't helped that she'd been on the brunt end of rejection all day. Some of them had been rather curt, seeing her as nothing more than an annoying highschooler. It was a role she felt herself falling into if only because of the way she was treated.

The man stared at her appraisingly. "Alright, Alright. I don't have time for toys, but I've got a young guy, comes in here every now and then and works on simple stuff. Good kid. Maybe he can help." He prints out some blank receipt paper, and scribbles a number and name on it. "Give him a call, but you shouldn't be bothering businesses with your toy. They don't have time for stuff like this."

"Well they should make time for paying customers, even if they look like highschool girls!" She cried. "Maybe that's why online stores are putting places like this out of business." She smiled smugly.

"You need anything else?" The man huffed, breaking through her day dream. Of course she hadn't said either of those things, only imagined saying them. The smug smile fell from her face as she considered following through with her daydream. Still, she knew that wouldn't go over well... Or maybe she was just cowed? In any event she thanked him quietly and slunk off to the food court.

The foodcourt was still half empty despite being a Sunday afternoon, and before long she found some privacy and sat down with an all American burger combo. She hated the way things squished when she bit into them now, and how the taste lingered in her teeth long after she was finished, but hopefully that'd all be over soon, and the "young guy" who's number she had could help her out.

She considered texting, but decided her urgency deserved a call... Three calls in fact, since he didn't pick up the first two times.

"Hi, what? Who is this?" Came the rushed stammering response on the other side. She calmly explained her situation in a diplomatic voice. It was how she usually spoke with irritated clients, but with her current voice it just came off as sweet. "Uhhh. Sure. I can look at your thing. You said you're at the food court?"

"Yep." was her cheery reply.

"Alright... Well, I can be there in about 10 minutes I guess. Uhhh..." There was a pause. "Are you the same girl..." His voice trailed off. "Nevermind. Be there soon."

He hung up before Brenda had time to respond. She laughed, then looked at the paper. This "Jack Bowles" sure sounded like a hopeless dork, but maybe that was a good thing for what she wanted. She scowled, still unhappy at being passed off to some kid intern, but it was a start.