Tom shot out of the alleyway, slamming into a man walking past. Both of them fell, tumbling like a jumble of Christmas balls.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Tom pleaded as he assisted the man up, picking up the cans of fruit drinks which the man dropped when they fell and at the same time looking at the alleyway hoping to see the strange eyeball, which was as big as anything he'd seen. But nothing showed up from the alleyway.
"It's okay," the man replied, brushing himself up as he picked up the plastic rectangular basket. "What's the rush?"
Tom finally focused on the man he'd collided with and saw that it was one of their neighbors that Dad was drinking with.
"Mr. Wales, um..." Tom wanted to ask him about his dad, but he decided to pause.
"Are you alright?" Mr. Wales asked.
"Yeah, I gotta run. I don't want to waste time before dinner. "
"But it's just the morning."
"I know, I meant lunch!" Tom took off for the stores, wondering if somehow Mr. Wales had saved him from a terrible fate.
~
Five minutes later, Tom stood over the sliding doors of the store, his hands on his knees, panting like every breath was going to be the last. Even though the big eyeball that appeared in the alleyway hadn't chased him, Tom ran as hard as he could, making sure he was safe inside the airy-smelling entryway of the store.
"There's no way I saw that thing," Tom thought. "I could have been imagining things."
Recovering from the shock, Tom looked sideways, noticing the old man behind the counter. It seemed that the man had been looking at him skeptically since he arrived. Tom stood up and waved at the man, lifting his hand to his chest level. " Morning."
The old man nodded but didn't quit looking at Tom for some minutes before focusing back on what he was initially doing. Weird, Tom swallowed the lump in his throat before striding completely into the store. He spotted the wallpaper section and quickly walked towards it.
Wow, Tom's first sight was on a large wallpaper of a famous movie—not actually famous because not everyone watches sci-fi, especially girls. Tom was amazed to behold the wallpaper of moonfall.
"Inter galactic, thrilling, adventurous, and sweet!" Tom whispered to himself as he bolted to touch it.
"Hello, son."
Tom paused, his hand stiff in midair, as he turned towards a man putting on a blue tee shirt with the store's logo drawn on the side of the shirt, and his bulging chest muscles pumped out as he took a step forward. He was holding a checklist in his hand. With all of these, Tom finally knew that the man was a worker in the store, maybe a customer attendant.
" What are you up to today, lad?" He looked up at what Tom was fantasizing about. "That's moonfall, epic and wonderful. You should watch the movie. I promise you you'll like it, not just like it but fall in love with it. "
Tom was static at the moment. There were many things about this man he was yet to discover, but he'd already discovered one, which was that the man was also a sci-fi lover. Tom felt a heavy feeling that clung to his bones like an oily sludge had been removed. Finally, he was able to talk with someone who also loved what he loved.
"That's why I needed the wallpaper," Tom said, beaming with a smile. "Um, uh, sorry, my name is Thomas Noland."
"Nate, call me Nate, Thomas." The muscled guy smiled back, which made Tom feel more comfortable around him. " Well, I can get that for you." Nate pointed at the wallpaper, stretching his hands to bring it down from where it was hung. "Here it is."
Tom was overwhelmed with joy until he set his eyes on the price tag. And he knew he'd get one of the Star Wars, Avengers, or Space Hunters. With a sudden sad appearance, " Why five dollars?"
Nate looked down at the wallpaper, setting his eyes on the price tag before looking up at Tom. "That's the price." He shrugged. "Is it too expensive for you?"
"Yeah, because I'm going to get another couple of them."
"Oh." Nate rubbed his chin. Tom could see that Nate was trying to think of what to do. Why didn't he just sell it right away without bothering if he was happy with the amount or not?
"How about I give it to you for free? You know, first day free trial stuff, huh?"
Tom couldn't believe Nate was going to hand it over to him without paying. "Wow, thanks." He was short of words, glistening that his bad day was actually turning good.
But you have to promise me you'll come here if you need anything aside from wallpaper, ok? "
"Sure, I'll. Count me in as your daily customer. " Tom grinned as he carefully collected the wallpaper from Nate, smiling sheepishly. He imagined what Lorena would say if he told her he got a free item from the store down the street; she'd be envious.
An awkward silence followed. "Well lad, sorry Thomas. I'd better get to work. I guess some other customers are waiting to be attended to. " Nate gave him a wink and started to stride off.
Tom, still fiddling with his new free wallpaper, remembered why he needed it. Maybe Nate could also help since he loves sci-fi and stuff. I bet he may try, but I won't give him all the details.
"Um Nate," Tom called, waving at him in order to indicate to him that he needed his attention.
"Are there any issues?"
"Uh, yh, not really a problem. I just wanted to ask you something. " Tom scratched his hair, hoping he wasn't buying too much from Nate's gratitude.
"Feel free to hit me."
Tom didn't hesitate as he walked closer to Nate. "Um, do you know where I can find answers to everything?" He lowered his voice as if an invisible spy was poking around the stores, "... everything like mysteries and riddles."
Nate's silence made Tom feel like he had asked some stupid question. He understood that anyone in their right senses wouldn't be bugging a salesman with their personal problems, especially some psychological ones.
"Um, it's alright if you d-"
"The internet," Nate replied casually, with a warm smile. "Got to run now." He skidded off.
"The internet?" Tom hummed in his mind. With a bolting feeling, he became excited; that was actually what he was looking for. The internet is the only place the riddle from the strange person, M.S., would be answered. "Why didn't I think of that before?" Tom winced. He rushed up and bought the remaining wallpaper he needed and headed to the counter.
"Moonfall wallpaper? That's actually five dollars," the old man said as he began to calculate the total price of what Tom had bought.
"I actually got it for free." The old man paused and stared at Tom blankly. "I got free from one of your workers, Nate. He'd say..., "
"Your price is eight dollars then." The old man scribbled something down on a piece of paper, which seemed to be a receipt. Tom wondered why the man didn't get to question Nate if he really had gifted him the wallpaper. Anyone could steal from the store, claiming that they were gifted the items they bought. Tom, on the other hand, suspected that the man was deficient due to old age or something similar.
"Um, sir, you could ask Nate if he actually gifted me the wallpaper. I think that'll make you sure. "
The old man sat up. He took what Tom bought and packaged them for him and dropped them on the desk as he exhaled. "Nate is the boss; now run along." With that being said, the man went back to doing his business.
Tom stood transfixed. The boss? Nate is the boss? That's unbelievable. Tom took some time digesting that. The fact that Nate looked so simple made Tom not realise that the young, muscled-looking man was the boss.
"Thanks." Dragging the package off the counter as he headed for the door. Immediately, he stopped as if he had forgotten something. He turned back to the old man with a rush in his face.
"Can I please use the computer?" Tom requested, looking at the expressionless old man, thinking that he may tell him no, that he should go home.
"Yes." The old man said and got back to what he was doing. Bing! Another score for me getting good luck in a day. Without hesitation, Tom went behind the counter and sat down. Switching on the computer, Tom asked the old man about the password since he saw that the computer was locked.
"No password," the old man replied.
Tom got stuck in his thoughts. What did he mean by the password being no password? Wait, oh, the password is no password. Tom jolted his hands on the rows of keys as he typed in the words, thinking how smart the old man was with that word. That was really tricky.
A few seconds later, the window opened for him, connecting him to the internet. Here goes nothing. Tom felt a shiver in his spine. He nervously glanced around, though he had no idea of what he was looking for.
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