Improv Resource Center - Forums
The distant northern lights were playing on the dark winter sky like pale green electric eels. It gets dark fast this time of year.
I was waiting for Nina.
Then finally I heard the smooth growl of her tiny scooter cutting through the rush hour traffic with crystalline clarity. She maneuvered her bike through the icy parking lot and parked it up against the wall with great ease.
She took of her red helmet and gave it to me; I placed it under my arm as she fished a cigarette pack up from her deep coat pocket. Frost smoke poured from her mouth like a comic book word balloon when she silently mouthed my name and tugged at my sleeve.
She led me under the cover of the roof as it had started to snow. On her fifth try I took the lighter from her frozen hand and lit her cigarette.
‘I couldn’t find my gloves’ she said in a hoarse voice ‘I can’t feel my fingers.’
She giggled and held her tiny pink hands up.
‘See?’
I nodded.
She finished her cigarette and we went inside.
I work in a video store three days a week in the worst part of town. Okay this isn’t America so it’s not like there is a drive by shooting every fifteen minutes. But believe me when I say it’s a bad neighborhood. A mad man with a real Samurai sword robbed a gas station across the street a month ago.
I've worked here for six weeks.
The store is a decaying wood building, it used to be white but now it’s just dirty. In daylight it looks sort of slanted, I think it’s sinking slowly into the ground. Must be all the videos. The parking lot is a popular hangout for junkies and drunks.
Inside is not much better, but it’s warm. The floor is a jagged patchwork of different hued red carpeting complete with cola stains and flattened chewing gums in bizarre colors they don’t make anymore. The place has a certain moldy smell common in librarys and damp dungeons.
We don’t rent out porn; it’s illegal in my country. But we have the largest Bollywood movie section in town, as many of our customers are Indian and Pakistani immigrants. We also have a huge section of classic 80’s comedies in big blocky boxes with faded covers.
This place seems to be stuck in that bygone era. One of the small backrooms is stacked floor to ceiling with old VCR’s. This place used to rent them out before VCR’s became a common household object. I remember from when I was a child that they were called ‘movieboxes’ and renting a movie and a player was a big treat reserved only for birthdays and Christmas. The first movie I ever rented was Police Academy 3.
Erik, this thirty something guy with a beard who works day shifts on Wednesdays wears the same Lone Wolf and Cub t-shirt every time I see him. Okay, I only see him on Wednesdays before he leaves, so maybe it’s his Wednesday t-shirt. Or maybe he has a whole closet filled with similar Lone Wolf and Cub t-shirts. I don't know. Imagine basing your entire wardrobe on a single comic book. But it’s a cool t-shirt I’ll give him that.
Erik intimidates Nina. She is slightly wary of him because he used to sneak up on her and snap her bra strap and yell 'whopee' or something like that, back when they used to pull shifts together.
I don’t know the other guy who he shared shift with today; they walked out talking excitedly about the upcoming Lord of the Rings movie.
Nina and I are finally alone.
We made coke flavored slush and talked about the upcoming Lord of the Rings movie.
Nothing special happened, I played my new Mountain Goats CD on the stereo. Very few customers, Wednesdays are normally slow.
It was getting late and we were about to call it a night when a pale man with long black hair and a black trench coat came walking in to the store. He looked strung out and hungry, I half expected him to morph into a wolf right in front of us.
Nina stared after him for a second and leaned against me and started whispering softly. Her minty breath tickling my ear.
‘I know him, sort of; my cousin went to school with him. He’s really morbid. I heard this story about how he used to bury his clothes in the ground to get that moldy smell. You know like the smell of decay. That’s pretty sick huh?’
‘What a fucking lunatic.’
‘I think he’s cute.’
She waved at him and he made the metal sign in return.
‘I’m going to smell him when he comes up to pay.’
She walked around the counter and blended into the candy aisle pretending to work. He came up to the till and placed a bottle of chocolate milk on the counter. Nina moved silently behind him, her nostrils flaring to the size of bottle caps.
‘Couldn’t find the freshly squeezed blood of a virgin eh? He, he, he...’ I said and grinned like the biggest dork.
‘Good one’ he said and tugged his goatee, he didn’t laugh.
He paid and left.
As soon as he was out of the door Nina leaned over the counter and punched me in the shoulder.
‘You are so fucking embarrassing, why the hell did you say that?’
‘Ouch! You don’t want to be with a sick guy like him anyways.’
‘Why? We could’ve been soul mates’ she said and fluttered her eyelashes.
‘You’ll end up at the bottom of the swamp with eels swimming in and out of your empty eye sockets.’
‘You’re pretty sick yourself.’
‘So how did he smell?’
‘Like cigarettes.’
I was waiting for Nina.
Then finally I heard the smooth growl of her tiny scooter cutting through the rush hour traffic with crystalline clarity. She maneuvered her bike through the icy parking lot and parked it up against the wall with great ease.
She took of her red helmet and gave it to me; I placed it under my arm as she fished a cigarette pack up from her deep coat pocket. Frost smoke poured from her mouth like a comic book word balloon when she silently mouthed my name and tugged at my sleeve.
She led me under the cover of the roof as it had started to snow. On her fifth try I took the lighter from her frozen hand and lit her cigarette.
‘I couldn’t find my gloves’ she said in a hoarse voice ‘I can’t feel my fingers.’
She giggled and held her tiny pink hands up.
‘See?’
I nodded.
She finished her cigarette and we went inside.
I work in a video store three days a week in the worst part of town. Okay this isn’t America so it’s not like there is a drive by shooting every fifteen minutes. But believe me when I say it’s a bad neighborhood. A mad man with a real Samurai sword robbed a gas station across the street a month ago.
I've worked here for six weeks.
The store is a decaying wood building, it used to be white but now it’s just dirty. In daylight it looks sort of slanted, I think it’s sinking slowly into the ground. Must be all the videos. The parking lot is a popular hangout for junkies and drunks.
Inside is not much better, but it’s warm. The floor is a jagged patchwork of different hued red carpeting complete with cola stains and flattened chewing gums in bizarre colors they don’t make anymore. The place has a certain moldy smell common in librarys and damp dungeons.
We don’t rent out porn; it’s illegal in my country. But we have the largest Bollywood movie section in town, as many of our customers are Indian and Pakistani immigrants. We also have a huge section of classic 80’s comedies in big blocky boxes with faded covers.
This place seems to be stuck in that bygone era. One of the small backrooms is stacked floor to ceiling with old VCR’s. This place used to rent them out before VCR’s became a common household object. I remember from when I was a child that they were called ‘movieboxes’ and renting a movie and a player was a big treat reserved only for birthdays and Christmas. The first movie I ever rented was Police Academy 3.
Erik, this thirty something guy with a beard who works day shifts on Wednesdays wears the same Lone Wolf and Cub t-shirt every time I see him. Okay, I only see him on Wednesdays before he leaves, so maybe it’s his Wednesday t-shirt. Or maybe he has a whole closet filled with similar Lone Wolf and Cub t-shirts. I don't know. Imagine basing your entire wardrobe on a single comic book. But it’s a cool t-shirt I’ll give him that.
Erik intimidates Nina. She is slightly wary of him because he used to sneak up on her and snap her bra strap and yell 'whopee' or something like that, back when they used to pull shifts together.
I don’t know the other guy who he shared shift with today; they walked out talking excitedly about the upcoming Lord of the Rings movie.
Nina and I are finally alone.
We made coke flavored slush and talked about the upcoming Lord of the Rings movie.
Nothing special happened, I played my new Mountain Goats CD on the stereo. Very few customers, Wednesdays are normally slow.
It was getting late and we were about to call it a night when a pale man with long black hair and a black trench coat came walking in to the store. He looked strung out and hungry, I half expected him to morph into a wolf right in front of us.
Nina stared after him for a second and leaned against me and started whispering softly. Her minty breath tickling my ear.
‘I know him, sort of; my cousin went to school with him. He’s really morbid. I heard this story about how he used to bury his clothes in the ground to get that moldy smell. You know like the smell of decay. That’s pretty sick huh?’
‘What a fucking lunatic.’
‘I think he’s cute.’
She waved at him and he made the metal sign in return.
‘I’m going to smell him when he comes up to pay.’
She walked around the counter and blended into the candy aisle pretending to work. He came up to the till and placed a bottle of chocolate milk on the counter. Nina moved silently behind him, her nostrils flaring to the size of bottle caps.
‘Couldn’t find the freshly squeezed blood of a virgin eh? He, he, he...’ I said and grinned like the biggest dork.
‘Good one’ he said and tugged his goatee, he didn’t laugh.
He paid and left.
As soon as he was out of the door Nina leaned over the counter and punched me in the shoulder.
‘You are so fucking embarrassing, why the hell did you say that?’
‘Ouch! You don’t want to be with a sick guy like him anyways.’
‘Why? We could’ve been soul mates’ she said and fluttered her eyelashes.
‘You’ll end up at the bottom of the swamp with eels swimming in and out of your empty eye sockets.’
‘You’re pretty sick yourself.’
‘So how did he smell?’
‘Like cigarettes.’