1
He was driven up to Jonie Paraday’s house promptly at 8:00 in the morning. He held in his hands two Nintendo 64 cartridges: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Super Mario 64. His mother no longer needed to walk him to the door, so she simply accepted a kiss on the cheek and told him to have a good day. He stepped out of the vehicle and made his way to the front porch. He pushed the black gate forward and turned around once to wave goodbye to his mother. She waved back, and then drove away.
Once inside, two great dogs greeted him, though much slower than usual. The white fluffy one went by the name of Frosty. The skinny brown one was called Critter. In the kitchen, Jonie had already prepared cinnamon toast, his favorite breakfast. He greeted her as well and began eating.
"It’s a good day for swimming," Jonie said, lighting up a cigarette. She tapped her fingers sporadically on the table.
"Yeah, we’ll probably go swimming," he said, taking another bite of his toast. At that, she stood up and went to the phone. Her motions were quick, but it didn’t seem like she had any plan. He just continued eating, staring at the pictures upon the video game cartridges with great detail.
She hung up the phone. Frosty came limping into the kitchen, making her way to the back porch. Jonie sighed.
"She threw up again last night, right in the backyard," Jonie said. She picked her cigarette back up from the ashtray.
"Is she gonna get any better?"
The doorbell rang. A young girl opened the door and was greeted by Critter.
2
"Okay, my house will be on that giant thing over there," Marie said, moving her character toward a large brick structure surrounded by walkways.
The Nintendo 64 system shone red. The video game cartridge stood out just enough for a passerby to read the title of the game.
"Can’t we just shoot each other this game?" he asked, his character jumping into a large body of water.
"No, this is more fun. Now, you can decorate your house, and then I’ll come visit you."
His character picked up a strange weapon at the bottom of the lake. He smiled. It was his favorite gun in Quake. His character, still underwater, managed to walk into an opening in the wall, and then swam up into a large, empty room.
"Is it decorated yet?"
His character pulled out the strange weapon. It was the Thunderbolt. He scouted the room for different entrances. There were none.
"Yeah, whatever."
"Okay, I’m coming over! Then we can go walk around."
His character knelt in front of the water-enterance, Thunderbolt in hand.
"Sounds like a blast," he said.
Marie’s character jumped into the water. She too walked into the opening in the wall. Her character’s head popped up. His character opened fire. A blast of electricity erupted from the weapon and into the water surrounding Marie’s character, causing him to explode into bloody chunks.
"Oh, whoops, wrong button! I’m sorry," he said. He bit down on the sides of his mouth to keep him from smiling. Marie turned to him, staring at him like he just punched her in the face.
"I thought we were playing House!"
"I did too, but I pressed the wrong button!"
He thought she’d throw her controller down and walk away, but Marie was much more calm than he was. She simply turned back to the television and began to play again.
3
"Jonie, can me and Marie walk to the candy store?" he asked. Jonie pulled a few bills out of her purse and handed them to him.
"Just come right back."
"Yes!" he shouted, jumping up and down. Marie smiled, and they headed out the front door.
It was bright outside. The sun shone through the trees, painting leaves upon the ground. And they weaved in and out of them, talking about video games and school and movies and whatever else was on their minds. They talked about what it would be like if Louie’s was still open for business.
"We wouldn’t have to walk as far," Marie stated, putting her hand on the column in front of Louie’s and swinging around it.
"Yeah, and then we could get those Ring Pops," he added. Marie agreed.
But Louie’s pharmacy had gone quite suddenly, and nothing had taken its place yet. There were rumors a coffee shop would be moving in, but one never surfaced.
4
In the pool, they played and splashed. They made a whirlpool, and had fun trying to swim against the motion.
All the while, Jonie and Randy sat watching in the backyard, the country music station playing loudly. Critter sniffed at the ground by the alley. Frosty remained indoors.
5
Marie sat in the back room, watching television. He decided to play video games in the front room. Jonie and Randy were sitting on the couch watching the news and talking. He asked if he could play a game.
"All you ever do is play games!" Randy said jokingly.
He inserted the Super Mario 64 cartridge into the system and waited for Mario’s head to pop up.
"It’s a me, Mario," it said. He clicked on Mario’s nose and began to stretch it across the screen. He let go and watched it spring back into place. He chuckled. Once the novelty wore off, he started up the actual game.
6
Frosty limped into the front room just as he started the Cool, Cool Mountain level. She carefully brushed against Jonie’s leg, and Jonie patted her on the back. She then moved on to Randy who did the same.
He put the controller down and patted her on the head. She licked his hand. He smiled and began his video game again. He thought to himself, I should bring a camera tomorrow to take a picture, just in case she does die soon.
7
He was driven up to Jonie Paraday’s house promptly at 8:00 the next morning. In his hands he held two video game cartridges. He had forgotten the camera.
Once inside, only Critter greeted him.
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