4 Chapter 3

The contest to decide which boy got to choose the specific version was held a week before the final purchase of the system. It was a momentous choice in their eyes, so they decided that their contest would have to be as equally grand. They chose to flip a coin fifty-one times—whoever got the most of their side flipped would be the winner. Their chores for the day were exceptionally light—mopping up of the hallways and a dusting of the small library that was housed in the rear of the orphanage.

Calling it a library was a very generous joke on the Azzy's part.

His wit allowed him the ease to crack a joke and get a room laughing. It contained an old, stuffy closet that rested all the books they couldn't just throw away, but couldn't bear to put out. Ones that kids wouldn't read by choice.

Ren liked to read them, though. They all had fascinating things to say about the world he never thought about before. There were a lot of German names he couldn't pronounce, a lot of french ones he had slightly less difficulty with, and even some books translated from Japanese.

Dusting the room was an easy chore and was practically a get out of chores free card for any who was assigned it. Mrs. Barbon was not a reader by the slightest inclination—and because of this she had no reason to enter the library unless she was tossing another book on top of the next stack.

After visually inspecting his work, Ren stepped out of the closet, but not before snagging a book off the top of the stack and looking over the front cover. It was a Murakami novel. This brought a smile to Ren's face as he placed it back—hoping to check it out later.

He met Azzy over by the hallway. Ren wasn't even halfway finished going down for the second coat when Azzy looked up at him, jealousy plain on his face. "Did you even dust?"

"I picked a book up and found new reading material," Ren shrugged. "My act of moving and replacing the book disturbed the vast colonies of dust already present."

"Yeah yeah, talk it up, talk it up. Next time you get the physical labor job and I get the easy out."

"You got to get lucky, Az. Can't favor the fortune if you can't favor the hustle."

"You speak in riddles," Azzy said. "Get that from another book?"

Ren chuckled. "So what if I did? It sounds cool, doesn't it?"

"Enough with your luck talk. Let's just get over there and get the game already."

"Happily," Ren held his hands behind his back and rolled on his heels.

The two boys slinked out the front door like shadows. Ren led slightly ahead as he brushed into the open air—the sun beamed down with a despondent glow. They hung a right down Northpointe Ave and hooked a left at the next intersection. They passed by two older gentlemen on the street, one of whom backed up into Azzy's path not noticing either of the boys coming. Ren hears something from the other man along the lines of "They're thinking next mon-hey watch it!"

The second man's face went wide as he took the final step back and lost his balance trying to pull himself forward. Azzy noticed too late and dug his heels into the pavement, but his momentum carried him into the older man. Azzy was sent toppling over on his rear. He landed with a thud and the older man almost lost his balance fully, but he regained himself after a moment.

"What the…" he started, "what are you kids doing out of school?"

Ren looked up at him, "Don't have school like other kids. Excuse us."

"Hey, I think they're orphies," the first man said.

"Gah, just our luck. Think we should call someone?" The second answered.

"Nah, let 'em be. We're due back anyway."

"What's got you so generous these days, Foster?"

The first man smiled, "Might just be something in the air. Times are a-changing."

The second smiled after the first, and then chuckled. "Ha, I guess so." He turned to Azzy and gave off an unnerving smile. "Hope you have a wonderful day."

As the two men walked off, Ren stared at Azzy and the confused look shared between the boys froze them where they stood.

"That was...really weird," Ren said.

"Weird is the lame way of calling it. They must have been on drugs or something. Business people like that do drugs, right?"

"Dunno, guess we're good?" Ren asked, laughing. "Come on, let's go."