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little
girl and it’s so fucking Nick at Night. Don’t you
start!”
    “Yes ma’am,” he said, starting up the
V.
     
    “A beverage for madam?” Steve asked
Christine, laying a bottle of soda across his forearm for her like
a maitre d’.
    “Thanks,” she smiled.
    “Raging party, huh?”
    “Very . . . intimate.” This was an apt
description of the guest list and the store itself. Nestled between
an appliance store and a Chinese take-out place on one of the main
drags through town, it was lined floor to ceiling with bookshelves.
The books themselves ranged from science fiction and horror to
books on mysticism and the occult and there was a small case next
to the register with crystals and tarot cards. Towards the back of
the store there was a small sitting area, where Clara had set up a
card table and wheeled out a TV/VCR.
    “This place is cool,” Steve
said, “but there’s always something here that I can’t figure out. A
couple of months ago she had coffin nails, and I so didn’t want to know
what that was about.”
    “I think she said they were for
protection spells or something,” Mark said, wandering over from the
new releases.
    “All I know is that I don’t wanna meet
who she gets ‘em from, y’know?” Steve smirked.
    The three stood there, sodas in hand,
the only noise drifting in from the street. After a few seconds,
Steve cocked a thumb towards the back of the store and said, “Hey,
speaking of, I’m gonna go upstairs and see what’s up with that
cake.” With that, he strolled to the back and vanished behind the
curtain labeled “Employees Only.”
    The two stood there in the near
silence, Mark rocking back and forth on his heels. “This is nice,”
Christine said a couple seconds later.
    “Yeah,” Mark nodded. “I mean, I know
you’ve done way cooler stuff in Boston and wherever, but I’m glad
you like it.”
    “Mark,” she said, stepping closer and
putting a hand on his shoulder before he wore a hole in the carpet.
“That stuff’s not important. You helping me out at school and
being, maybe, the best conversationalist in the past decade is way
more impressive.”
    “Really?” he said, eyes focusing on the
hand on his shoulder. Talking on the phone had been one thing, but
being in front of her put him right back in the hallway, flat on
his ass and staring up in stupid, mute awe.
    “Totally,” she smiled. “I just don’t
want you to be all stressed out and nervous or anything just
because I’m here, okay? There’s nowhere else I’d rather be right
now.”
    He opened his mouth to say something,
but was cut off as Steve brushed back the curtain and Clara came in
with a candle topped cake. Clara began to sing, and Steve and
Christine joined in. Christine linked arms with Mark, who was
flushed with embarrassment, to drag him towards the table in the
back.
    “You didn’t have to go to any trouble,”
he said when they were finished.
    “Trouble?” Clara said, waving her hands
and rolling her eyes. “It’s your birthday and we love you! Of
course we have to make a fuss.”
    “Yeah,” Steve said with a wide grin,
throwing an arm around Mark and squeezing him close and pulling him
away from Christine. “Happy sweet sixteen, baby. Now let’s get at
that cake!”
     
    When they finished the cake and the
Chinese food, Steve and Clara gave Mark their presents. Steve gave
Mark a copy of an imported Kung Fu movie and Clara gave him a large
hardback collection of Lovecraft stories. “Thanks, you guys,” he
said, grinning from ear to ear at the two of them. “You knew I
wanted this, didn’t you?” he asked Clara.
    “Well you’ve only picked it up and put
it down a dozen times, kiddo. How could I not?”
    “I’m sorry I didn’t bring anything,”
Christine said, “But I’m sure Clara can point something out to me
later.”
    “Oh, hey,” Mark said, pushing the book
aside. “Don’t worry about it. I mean, we just met and all, it’s no
big deal.”
    “Yeah,”