Perspectives from the Food Court II:
The Least You Could Do
by Jason "BoneparteOzaki" Bertovich
©1999 by Jason Bertovich and Matthew Atanian
Boy Scouts ½ created by Matthew Atanian
The Least You Could Do
by Jason "BoneparteOzaki" Bertovich
©1999 by Jason Bertovich and Matthew Atanian
Boy Scouts ½ created by Matthew Atanian
Introductory Notes from Matt:
Well, no sooner had I received Jason's first side story, then I got an e-mail from him saying, "Matt, I got an idea for another!" And I didn't have to wait long, as just a bit lower in my mailbox was another e-mail from him, saying, "Matt, here it is!" Well, here it is! (And I haven't even gotten the first one online yet… which, of course, is a moot point to those of you reading this online, as obviously they're both online by now…
Anyways, here it is. In it… well, here's how he put it. "Actually, I'm brewing up a very short follow-up story… It basically takes place on the Sunday morning of Matty's date but in involves our lovable clerk and a conversation with another underused chara(cter)... it's one of your chara(cter)s and I won't tell you who until I write it...ya interested in another side story from me?"
Well, he didn't wait for an answer before writing it, but lucky for him I was interested, and here it is. That character he mentioned of mine is one that I actually was planning to use a bit more in part 12 when I write it, and indeed he included a bit of back story on her that I would have included in part 12. Of course, I'll still use it in 12, as not everyone is fathful enough to read the sidestories, and those who are probably know it already, anyways, as they're probably also the ones who would read the character guide, and it's all in there.
Well, I'll stop boring you with all of this drivel and get on with Jason's story. (If he keeps it up with these, who knows? Could be a whole spin-off in the works! Wouldn't that be something? A spin-off of a fanfic? What'll they think of next?!)
Anyways, here it is. In it… well, here's how he put it. "Actually, I'm brewing up a very short follow-up story… It basically takes place on the Sunday morning of Matty's date but in involves our lovable clerk and a conversation with another underused chara(cter)... it's one of your chara(cter)s and I won't tell you who until I write it...ya interested in another side story from me?"
Well, he didn't wait for an answer before writing it, but lucky for him I was interested, and here it is. That character he mentioned of mine is one that I actually was planning to use a bit more in part 12 when I write it, and indeed he included a bit of back story on her that I would have included in part 12. Of course, I'll still use it in 12, as not everyone is fathful enough to read the sidestories, and those who are probably know it already, anyways, as they're probably also the ones who would read the character guide, and it's all in there.
Well, I'll stop boring you with all of this drivel and get on with Jason's story. (If he keeps it up with these, who knows? Could be a whole spin-off in the works! Wouldn't that be something? A spin-off of a fanfic? What'll they think of next?!)
Jason yawned loudly and draped his arms over the counter of the Holyoke Mall Electronics Boutique. He looked up and saw that he was still alone. That surprised him little. After the early morning Sunday meeting, everyone who wasn't working that day fled for the hills. Obviously, Jason and his boss were the only ones who were supposed to work this day. The manager, a short dark-haired woman, was currently in the back storeroom doing what managers do, which was something Jason had no clue about…
He yawned again. He noticed two of people walk in the store. First was a very large gentleman. His attire was torn and tattered and his face was quite ungroomed. He went straight for the Nintendo games and quickly tore through the neatly organized section, unorganizing it in seconds.
The second was quite different. The girl presently had her back to Jason. She looked over the various business software and quickly glanced over the financial packages, then placing them back where she had found them. Jason smiled at her courtesy, but was really curious about her as he had yet to see her face. Though he wasn't certain, he was pretty sure that the pair were not together.
Jason was about to leave the sanctum of behind the counter to greet the two customers when a delivery man wheeled a box into the store and asked Jason to sign for it. Jason arched an eyebrow.
"Um…what's this?" Jason asked the UPS guy.
"Shipment," the UPS guy answered back.
"I can see that. What I mean is why are you delivering today?" Jason asked. "We never get shipments on Sunday."
"Well we're behind a day, so we had to work extra to catch up," the UPS guy replied and again pushed the clipboard in Jason's chest to emphasize that he wanted Jason to sign it so he can leave.
Jason scribble his name. "So does that mean that the game we were supposed to get yesterday is in here?"
"Nope. That will be in tomorrow's shipment," the UPS guy said as he left.
"Figures." Jason sighed. Well, at least he could put off that hell for another day. Jason slashed the tape that sealed the box with a pair of scissors and smiled. He pulled out several videocassettes and laid them out on the counter.
"Yes! I've been dying for us to get these Evangelion tapes," Jason whispered to himself. Jason checked his wallet and smiled again. He set the videos aside so he could purchase them later. He then saw an empty video game box thrown on the counter and looked up. His eyes reluctantly beheld the large, ungroomed gentleman sneering down on him.
"Hey! Why are these damn boxes empty?" he barked.
"Well, we empty all the boxes to prevent people from simply removing the cartridges and stealing them," Jason explained.
"Whatsamatta…you don't trust me?" He sneered at Jason with the contempt one holds for gum at the bottom of one's shoe.
"Well sir, it's simply a preventive measure," Jason explained. Hoping to avoid a confrontation, he began to remove the rest of the videos from the counter.
"Yeah whatever." He sneered as he pointed to the empty game box, indicating that he wanted it. He then saw the videocassettes and sneered at them contemptuously. "What's this?"
"Um…well that's an Anime tape," Jason answered while retrieving the game the man had indicated.
"Ani-what?" he murmured.
"Animation from Japan," Jason answered.
"Oh…you mean those damn porn cartoons." He grimaced.
"Excuse me?" Jason asked.
"Frick'n Japs. Fucking with our kids' heads. We should've wasted em all in WWII!" he barked as he slapped his money on the counter.
There were several things Jason could tolerate, but racial slurs wasn't one of them. Unfortunately, store protocol stated that one should avoid conflict with customers at all cost. He rang up the purchase and handed the game over. "Here you go sir have a nice day…" Then he added under his breath, "Bakairou…"
Unfortunately, it wasn't quiet enough and the man heard him. He whipped around. "What the hell did you just say?!!?"
Jason was caught. "Well…um…" Jason stammered.
"He called you a bakairou. It means, "Idiot." And judging by your appearance, grammar, and prejudice, I would have to agree 100%."
Jason whipped his head toward the source of the comment. It was the girl.
There she stood. Her skin was a pale cream color, and her large, green eyes were mounted nicely on an attractive, youthful face. Her hair was pale brown and on the short side. Those eyes were more than just attractive. They held a cold, calculating nature. They were very intelligent. Her lips were forming a very tight smirk, proud at her insult to the hulking giant in front of her.
"Why you little bitch!" he shouted and proceeded to throw his open palm in her direction.
Jason immediately leapt over the counter and caught the hand as it bore down on the girl who had yet to even flinch. "I don't think it's proper to strike a young lady," Jason boldly remarked. Heh heh heh…just like the movies.
The giant responded by smashing his fist into Jason's nose. Jason spun around and fell face first onto the carpet. A small pool of blood formed from around his now bloodied nose.
"You're right. I much rather punch you asshole!" the giant shouted as he stood over Jason, preparing to beat the living bejuzus out of him.
However, the giant suddenly went very still. His eyes bulged slightly and he grabbed his crotch in agony. He then fell into a fetal position and began to whimper. In his rage he had failed to see the girl behind him who had planted her foot into his genitals. She stood triumphantly over the whimpering beast. Jason had gotten off the floor and clutched his nose to stop the bleeding. He looked down at the fallen beast.
"Yah, thaths righth! Yoo bedda nod twy dat agan!" Jason shouted with his nose clogged full of blood.
"What happened?!?!" shouted someone. Jason and the girl both turned around to see his manager staring down at the fallen customer. She then looked at Jason's bleeding face and gasped. "And what happened to you?!?"
"Wall, yoo see, thisth guh ponchth muh!" Jason garbled.
"Did you provoke him?" the manager asked now with her arms crossed. She gave him a scrutinizing look.
"Wal, yoo see…um…." Jason stammered. He had caused the whole thing. This was the end of his latest career. He slightly sagged his head.
"I saw the whole thing," the girl interrupted.
"Hmm?" the manager queried.
"This guy made a racial slur. I stated my objection and he took a swing at me and the young man here defended me. The guy decided to punch him instead. That's about sums it up." She shrugged.
"Jason, good job. Why don't you get cleaned up and take the rest of the day off? I think you need to clear your head." The manager smiled.
"Thunk yoo." Jason slurred. Jason ran in the back and washed the blood off his face. He stuck several small wads of paper up his nostrils to stop the bleeding which was now down to a slight trickle.
He stepped back out into the still empty store. Apparently, the giant had crawled away in humiliation. The girl was also gone. The manager motioned for Jason to come over before he left to tend his wounds better.
"Good job!" the manager beamed.
"Huh?" Jason arched an eyebrow.
"That girl just purchased the most expensive financial software from us! She said that if employees were willing to take a beating for them then she was going to buy all her software from us. Now Jason, that is customer service! This will look very good on your next performance review!" she chattered.
Jason nodded dumbly and calmly walked out of the store. He touched his tender nose and winced.
"You owe me lunch." A voice came from behind him. He turned to see the girl was following him and holding bag from his store.
"Excuse me?" Jason asked.
"Lunch. Let's go to the food court." She smirked. She grabbed his hand and he dumbly followed…
The pair sat a small table. She sipped on her drink. She had already eaten a salad, some fries, and some ice cream, all from several different food merchants. She was now sipping a cappachino and looking across the table at Jason.
"Satisfied yet?" Jason smirked.
"Well, lunch was the least you could do." She smirked back.
"I do wanna thank you. You saved my ass from being fired." Jason smiled.
"Think nothing of it. If you hadn't said something to the jerk, I would have. How dare he say that about anyone!?" the girl said, trying to not grimace.
"I take it that you know Japanese?" he asked.
"How could you tell?" she asked.
"Well, how else could you have known what I had said under my breath," Jason explained.
"Actually, I'm one-quarter Japanese, from my grandmother. I don't really know much of the language, though. Just enough to hold my own. My sisters know the language better. How about you?" she replied.
"Me? Well, I know about twenty words and that's it. Greetings, suffixes, and a few choice insults. That about sums up my knowledge of the Japanese language."
"Ah…I see," she nodded.
"Actually, there's something I wanna know." He paused. "I never got your name."
"It's Nicole. Nicole Porter," she answered as she held her hand out.
Jason grasped it and shook it. "Nice to meet you Nicole Nicole Porter." She grimaced at the worst, most overused joke in existance, but he continued, "I'm Jason. Jason Bertovich." Jason then motioned to the bag. "My boss told me that you bought the most expensive financial software we carried. Picking it up for someone?"
"Actually, it's for me," Nicole replied matter-of-factly.
"Oh?" Jason arched an eyebrow.
"I needed something to help me and my two sisters keep track of our expenses," Nicole answered. "I'm the only one that seems able to keep track of everything, though my older sister is the chief breadwinner."
"You mean it's just the three of you?" Jason asked.
She went silent for a moment. "Our parents died a long time ago. There was our grandmother, but she just passed away." She frowned slightly.
"I'm very sorry," Jason said softly. He realized that he choose the wrong topic. "It must be very sad."
"Life's only sad if you let it be. I don't mean to trouble you with my life story." She had regained the smile.
"That's a very positive attitude," he responded, "and it's no trouble."
"Thanks." Nicole smiled.
Someone tapped Nicole on her shoulder. Jason looked up to see who it was. He then jerked back and blinked. There stood an exact copy of Nicole, except for slightly longer hair.
"Hey Nicole, I've been looking for you! We've got to get home and get ready for the guys," the Nicole clone said.
Nicole nodded and turned to look at Jason, who had a deer-in-headlights look on his face. "Oh Jason! Let me introduce you to my sister, Kirstin." The clone smiled and nodded politely.
"I've got to go," Nicole continued. "We're having a sort of get together tonight with some of my sisters friends." She pulled out a scrap of paper and scribbled down something. "Here's my number, maybe we can do lunch again."
She got up and the twins walked away from the table. Nicole whispered something in her sister's ear and began to giggle. Kirstin in turn appeared to look embarrassed, and shoved her twin in the shoulder. Soon the pair were out of view.
Jason sat alone at the table. He looked at the phone number and sighed. "I wonder how old she is?" He said to himself outloud. He thought she might be a bit young, but it still never hurt to look… and even if she was a tad young, a date was fine as long as nothing happened afterwords…
A cough interrupted his train of thought. He looked up to see John, his friend from the Fienes shoe department, standing at the table.
"Hey John!" Jason motioned for him to have a seat.
John looked at Jason and arched an eyebrow. "Jason…what happened to your face?"
Jason clutched the scrap of paper slightly. "Something wonderful."
"Something wonderful has appeared to have broken your nose." John replied.
"I got punched in the face." Jason answered.
"And that's something wonderful?!?" John stammered. "Are you a masochist now?"
"John my friend, pull up a chair and I'll tell you all about it." Jason replied. He then proceeded to tell John all about his shortened work day…
He yawned again. He noticed two of people walk in the store. First was a very large gentleman. His attire was torn and tattered and his face was quite ungroomed. He went straight for the Nintendo games and quickly tore through the neatly organized section, unorganizing it in seconds.
The second was quite different. The girl presently had her back to Jason. She looked over the various business software and quickly glanced over the financial packages, then placing them back where she had found them. Jason smiled at her courtesy, but was really curious about her as he had yet to see her face. Though he wasn't certain, he was pretty sure that the pair were not together.
Jason was about to leave the sanctum of behind the counter to greet the two customers when a delivery man wheeled a box into the store and asked Jason to sign for it. Jason arched an eyebrow.
"Um…what's this?" Jason asked the UPS guy.
"Shipment," the UPS guy answered back.
"I can see that. What I mean is why are you delivering today?" Jason asked. "We never get shipments on Sunday."
"Well we're behind a day, so we had to work extra to catch up," the UPS guy replied and again pushed the clipboard in Jason's chest to emphasize that he wanted Jason to sign it so he can leave.
Jason scribble his name. "So does that mean that the game we were supposed to get yesterday is in here?"
"Nope. That will be in tomorrow's shipment," the UPS guy said as he left.
"Figures." Jason sighed. Well, at least he could put off that hell for another day. Jason slashed the tape that sealed the box with a pair of scissors and smiled. He pulled out several videocassettes and laid them out on the counter.
"Yes! I've been dying for us to get these Evangelion tapes," Jason whispered to himself. Jason checked his wallet and smiled again. He set the videos aside so he could purchase them later. He then saw an empty video game box thrown on the counter and looked up. His eyes reluctantly beheld the large, ungroomed gentleman sneering down on him.
"Hey! Why are these damn boxes empty?" he barked.
"Well, we empty all the boxes to prevent people from simply removing the cartridges and stealing them," Jason explained.
"Whatsamatta…you don't trust me?" He sneered at Jason with the contempt one holds for gum at the bottom of one's shoe.
"Well sir, it's simply a preventive measure," Jason explained. Hoping to avoid a confrontation, he began to remove the rest of the videos from the counter.
"Yeah whatever." He sneered as he pointed to the empty game box, indicating that he wanted it. He then saw the videocassettes and sneered at them contemptuously. "What's this?"
"Um…well that's an Anime tape," Jason answered while retrieving the game the man had indicated.
"Ani-what?" he murmured.
"Animation from Japan," Jason answered.
"Oh…you mean those damn porn cartoons." He grimaced.
"Excuse me?" Jason asked.
"Frick'n Japs. Fucking with our kids' heads. We should've wasted em all in WWII!" he barked as he slapped his money on the counter.
There were several things Jason could tolerate, but racial slurs wasn't one of them. Unfortunately, store protocol stated that one should avoid conflict with customers at all cost. He rang up the purchase and handed the game over. "Here you go sir have a nice day…" Then he added under his breath, "Bakairou…"
Unfortunately, it wasn't quiet enough and the man heard him. He whipped around. "What the hell did you just say?!!?"
Jason was caught. "Well…um…" Jason stammered.
"He called you a bakairou. It means, "Idiot." And judging by your appearance, grammar, and prejudice, I would have to agree 100%."
Jason whipped his head toward the source of the comment. It was the girl.
There she stood. Her skin was a pale cream color, and her large, green eyes were mounted nicely on an attractive, youthful face. Her hair was pale brown and on the short side. Those eyes were more than just attractive. They held a cold, calculating nature. They were very intelligent. Her lips were forming a very tight smirk, proud at her insult to the hulking giant in front of her.
"Why you little bitch!" he shouted and proceeded to throw his open palm in her direction.
Jason immediately leapt over the counter and caught the hand as it bore down on the girl who had yet to even flinch. "I don't think it's proper to strike a young lady," Jason boldly remarked. Heh heh heh…just like the movies.
The giant responded by smashing his fist into Jason's nose. Jason spun around and fell face first onto the carpet. A small pool of blood formed from around his now bloodied nose.
"You're right. I much rather punch you asshole!" the giant shouted as he stood over Jason, preparing to beat the living bejuzus out of him.
However, the giant suddenly went very still. His eyes bulged slightly and he grabbed his crotch in agony. He then fell into a fetal position and began to whimper. In his rage he had failed to see the girl behind him who had planted her foot into his genitals. She stood triumphantly over the whimpering beast. Jason had gotten off the floor and clutched his nose to stop the bleeding. He looked down at the fallen beast.
"Yah, thaths righth! Yoo bedda nod twy dat agan!" Jason shouted with his nose clogged full of blood.
"What happened?!?!" shouted someone. Jason and the girl both turned around to see his manager staring down at the fallen customer. She then looked at Jason's bleeding face and gasped. "And what happened to you?!?"
"Wall, yoo see, thisth guh ponchth muh!" Jason garbled.
"Did you provoke him?" the manager asked now with her arms crossed. She gave him a scrutinizing look.
"Wal, yoo see…um…." Jason stammered. He had caused the whole thing. This was the end of his latest career. He slightly sagged his head.
"I saw the whole thing," the girl interrupted.
"Hmm?" the manager queried.
"This guy made a racial slur. I stated my objection and he took a swing at me and the young man here defended me. The guy decided to punch him instead. That's about sums it up." She shrugged.
"Jason, good job. Why don't you get cleaned up and take the rest of the day off? I think you need to clear your head." The manager smiled.
"Thunk yoo." Jason slurred. Jason ran in the back and washed the blood off his face. He stuck several small wads of paper up his nostrils to stop the bleeding which was now down to a slight trickle.
He stepped back out into the still empty store. Apparently, the giant had crawled away in humiliation. The girl was also gone. The manager motioned for Jason to come over before he left to tend his wounds better.
"Good job!" the manager beamed.
"Huh?" Jason arched an eyebrow.
"That girl just purchased the most expensive financial software from us! She said that if employees were willing to take a beating for them then she was going to buy all her software from us. Now Jason, that is customer service! This will look very good on your next performance review!" she chattered.
Jason nodded dumbly and calmly walked out of the store. He touched his tender nose and winced.
"You owe me lunch." A voice came from behind him. He turned to see the girl was following him and holding bag from his store.
"Excuse me?" Jason asked.
"Lunch. Let's go to the food court." She smirked. She grabbed his hand and he dumbly followed…
The pair sat a small table. She sipped on her drink. She had already eaten a salad, some fries, and some ice cream, all from several different food merchants. She was now sipping a cappachino and looking across the table at Jason.
"Satisfied yet?" Jason smirked.
"Well, lunch was the least you could do." She smirked back.
"I do wanna thank you. You saved my ass from being fired." Jason smiled.
"Think nothing of it. If you hadn't said something to the jerk, I would have. How dare he say that about anyone!?" the girl said, trying to not grimace.
"I take it that you know Japanese?" he asked.
"How could you tell?" she asked.
"Well, how else could you have known what I had said under my breath," Jason explained.
"Actually, I'm one-quarter Japanese, from my grandmother. I don't really know much of the language, though. Just enough to hold my own. My sisters know the language better. How about you?" she replied.
"Me? Well, I know about twenty words and that's it. Greetings, suffixes, and a few choice insults. That about sums up my knowledge of the Japanese language."
"Ah…I see," she nodded.
"Actually, there's something I wanna know." He paused. "I never got your name."
"It's Nicole. Nicole Porter," she answered as she held her hand out.
Jason grasped it and shook it. "Nice to meet you Nicole Nicole Porter." She grimaced at the worst, most overused joke in existance, but he continued, "I'm Jason. Jason Bertovich." Jason then motioned to the bag. "My boss told me that you bought the most expensive financial software we carried. Picking it up for someone?"
"Actually, it's for me," Nicole replied matter-of-factly.
"Oh?" Jason arched an eyebrow.
"I needed something to help me and my two sisters keep track of our expenses," Nicole answered. "I'm the only one that seems able to keep track of everything, though my older sister is the chief breadwinner."
"You mean it's just the three of you?" Jason asked.
She went silent for a moment. "Our parents died a long time ago. There was our grandmother, but she just passed away." She frowned slightly.
"I'm very sorry," Jason said softly. He realized that he choose the wrong topic. "It must be very sad."
"Life's only sad if you let it be. I don't mean to trouble you with my life story." She had regained the smile.
"That's a very positive attitude," he responded, "and it's no trouble."
"Thanks." Nicole smiled.
Someone tapped Nicole on her shoulder. Jason looked up to see who it was. He then jerked back and blinked. There stood an exact copy of Nicole, except for slightly longer hair.
"Hey Nicole, I've been looking for you! We've got to get home and get ready for the guys," the Nicole clone said.
Nicole nodded and turned to look at Jason, who had a deer-in-headlights look on his face. "Oh Jason! Let me introduce you to my sister, Kirstin." The clone smiled and nodded politely.
"I've got to go," Nicole continued. "We're having a sort of get together tonight with some of my sisters friends." She pulled out a scrap of paper and scribbled down something. "Here's my number, maybe we can do lunch again."
She got up and the twins walked away from the table. Nicole whispered something in her sister's ear and began to giggle. Kirstin in turn appeared to look embarrassed, and shoved her twin in the shoulder. Soon the pair were out of view.
Jason sat alone at the table. He looked at the phone number and sighed. "I wonder how old she is?" He said to himself outloud. He thought she might be a bit young, but it still never hurt to look… and even if she was a tad young, a date was fine as long as nothing happened afterwords…
A cough interrupted his train of thought. He looked up to see John, his friend from the Fienes shoe department, standing at the table.
"Hey John!" Jason motioned for him to have a seat.
John looked at Jason and arched an eyebrow. "Jason…what happened to your face?"
Jason clutched the scrap of paper slightly. "Something wonderful."
"Something wonderful has appeared to have broken your nose." John replied.
"I got punched in the face." Jason answered.
"And that's something wonderful?!?" John stammered. "Are you a masochist now?"
"John my friend, pull up a chair and I'll tell you all about it." Jason replied. He then proceeded to tell John all about his shortened work day…
THE END
Disclaimer
Well, nothing much to disclaim, here. No use of Boy Scouts, nothing borrowed from Takahashi-sama. Although I suppose I should mention that the consept that UPS would ever deliver on a Sunday is obviously a fabrication of the author's immagination.
You know, Jason, I was disapointed by the complete and total lack of Fenny in this story! It seems to me that you might just have to make Perspectives from the Food Court into a trilogy to make up for this. (And to think, this whole bloody mess started when I just included you, Fenny, and John in part 11 for brief cameo apearences… If I only knew then what I knew now…)
"I know about twenty words and that's it. Greetings, suffixes, and a few choice insults. That about sums up my knowledge of the Japanese language." Funny, that about summs up my knowledge of Japanese, too. Must be the standard for the average Otaku…
You know, Jason, I was disapointed by the complete and total lack of Fenny in this story! It seems to me that you might just have to make Perspectives from the Food Court into a trilogy to make up for this. (And to think, this whole bloody mess started when I just included you, Fenny, and John in part 11 for brief cameo apearences… If I only knew then what I knew now…)
"I know about twenty words and that's it. Greetings, suffixes, and a few choice insults. That about sums up my knowledge of the Japanese language." Funny, that about summs up my knowledge of Japanese, too. Must be the standard for the average Otaku…