“Like I say, you stick around and don’t let nothing happen.”

“You can depend on me.”

“It’s not you I worry about. It’s the way God runs the world.”

“He’s all right, Doug. He tries.”

- Douglas and Tom Spaulding, Dandelion Wine

Late October. Last week, at Dave’s Rentals.

Reed thumbed through the stacks of VHS tapes, looking for...well, she didn’t know. She wanted to watch something; as to what that would be, she was open to anything.

Movies? Nah, I want to sit down for six hours and marathon something.

That brought her to the sitcom section.

Sitcoms? Meh...

That brough her to that old familiar section, the Japanimation section. The old classics section, mind you; anything coming out of Japan these days was subject to strict Pan-Asian League censorship. And if you thought New England censorship was tough...

Reed took stock of the shelves around her. The tapes stretched from the 1980s to their abrupt end in the 2050s when the Taiwan Crisis went nuclear (both metaphorically and literally) and brought an end to Japan’s status as an independent state. The old American occupation of Japan left it as a relatively intact country that could eventually pursue its own aims; the Chinese occupation looked more akin to the Warsaw Pact. Tokyo jumped when Beijing said so.

Not that Reed really cared about that outside of the fact that the golden age of Japanimation came to an end in the 2050s. That only left about seventy years of Japanimation to consume, and considering Reed started that journey about ten years ago...

Reed made her choice and brought the tapes to the front counter. The titular Dave sat behind the counter, a nearby radio broadcasting a local baseball game that was only occasionally broken by sudden news broadcasts regarding Portugese-Nigerian tension in West Africa. Apparently, a Nigerian destroyer escort group centered around the carrier Walkiya depth-charged a Portuguese sub which had gotten too close for comfort.

Reed placed the tapes on the counter.

Dave smiled. “Ah, there’s my favorite customer.” And she actually was; Dave had never seen anyone come in as much as her.

Dave looked down at the tape titles. “Ōsaka no shōnen ga reberu 100 ni umarekawatta yō ni... Gan man?”

“Just an Osaka Boy Reincarnated as a Level 5...Gunslinger?” Reed translated, reading the fine print at the bottom.

“Thought you were more of a 1990s girl,” Dave said.

Reed shrugged. “There’s only so many things made in the 1990s. And only so many things from then we can still watch.”

Dave rung her up. When Reed looked at him with those bored eyes, Dave felt a knot grow in his heart.

Poor, poor Reed. It’s not easy being an incest survivor.

When Dave first heard the tragic tale, Reed had been a regular for about a six months. By that time, she spent about half an hour each visit to the story just talking with Dave. Back-and-forth opinion sharing and arguing...and boy, could Reed argue! Dave never heard of something so convinced of Japanimation cult classic Banana Split's status as a creative masterpiece, up there with Da Vinci’s The Last Supper (Reed thought the Mona Lisa was overrated) and Christ the Redeemer (“it’s a big goddamn statue overlooking a city, what’s not to love?”)

One night Reed stayed late, all the way until closing time. Dave flipped the sign on the front door of the store to now say CLOSED. He turned back to Reed, who was spinning slowly in an old swivel chair.

“Alright, Reed, I’m closing up shop.”

Reed looked at him, right in his eyes, and just the hurt and longing in them...Dave froze where he was.

“I just wanted to say...thanks for always talking and listening to me,” Reed said softly. “I don’t really have a lot of friends, so it’s just nice to be able to talk to someone.”

Reed reminded Dave of his own daughter, who now attended college in Vermont.

“You got good taste,” Dave answered. A bit of a deflection, he knew, but he didn’t know how to answer.

“Can I...talk to you about something?” Reed asked, her voice small.

She never mentions her parents...she never comes in here with a friend…

Dave collected himself. Deep down, even though she wasn’t related by blood, Dave knew that he just had to answer as a father would.

“Go ahead,” Dave said.

Reed spun idly in her chair. “I...left home a year ago,” she explained. “You see...my father...I’m...I’m an incest survivor.”

Dave slowly wiped his brow. What an absolute bastard! Dave’s first thought, himself being a father, was to throttle the man.

But he calmed himself. The girl didn’t needed violence; she needed reassurance.

“Thank you for telling me, Reed. I know it can’t be easy to open up about something so serious. Please, any time you ever need anything, anything at all, don’t hesitate to ask. My store’s always open to you.”

Reed smiled, relief forming on her face. “Thanks, Dave. I really mean it.”

“Need me to walk you home?” Dave offered.

Reed rose from her chair. “No, I’m alright. You listening to me...that’s all I need today.”

Reed subtly slipped a VHS tape she didn’t pay for into her coat pocket.

Take it, Reed. A survivor like you...take whatever you like.

Reed nodded thankfully at him. Dave opened the door and let the girl he wanted to protect from the bottom of his heart out of the store.

Reed waved goodbye; Dave waved in return, turning slightly so she didn’t notice the single tear on his face.

You need to be strong, Dave, dammit! This girl needs strength. She comes here so often...is this store all she has? I swear, she’ll always be welcome here. I’ll make sure she’s ok. I don’t want anything to happen to her.

The ding of the cash register brought Dave out of his thoughts. He tallied Osaka Boy’s price by hand on a paper spreadsheet, taking off a hefty 50% discount- the usual - for the poor girl who stood before him.

I’m glad you’re still around, Reed, Dave thought proudly. You even come in here with friends sometimes now. You’re making great strides. And I heard you’re a Rddhi user. Keep reaching for the stars, Reed. And I’ll always be here to catch you if you fall.

At the Academy, Reed converted her meal privileges into paper dollars; she handed a few over to Dave, who almost felt reluctant to take them. In fact, one time he refused, since if it was the tapes that kept the poor girl going, who was he to make money off of her suffering? But by the fifth time, Dave sort of thought Reed would’ve insisted he take the money or something, but that never came, so Dave ultimately dropped the free offer. He did it all with a smile, of course. He felt like a father teaching her the value of money that day.

Or something like that.

Dave returned her change. “Take care, Reed.”

Reed nodded. “Always.”

She left the store, Dave watching her go, feeling proud in his own way to see a young girl grow up.

Both the day of the “revelation” and in the present, when Reed headed down the avenue, she sighed to herself.

"What the hell am I doing with my life?" she mumbled.

She knew what she had wanted to say back then about her father. But incest survivor came out instead. Because opening up and telling the actual truth...well, that's hard!

Reed knew she probably should've clarified the fact that she felt too embarrassed to tell the truth during that conversation and instead said the first lie to come to mind. But days turned to weeks to months...to over a year later.

And a fifty percent discount on any tape!

Reed chuckled a little numbly to herself and continued down the avenue.

Season 1, Episode 4 - The Microwave I

A sunny morning in late October. Isaac noticed some changes in the scenery during the usual morning walk to Kenji Station on the way to school. The colors of the tree leaves now sported a seemingly ageless fine coat of brown and auburn, some of the leaves already falling from the trees. The autumn breeze carried a slight nip in the air with it; Isaac looked forward to donning the school winter uniform with its warm greatcoat in the coming weeks.

Beside him, Audrey seemed lost in her world as usual, using her own method of preparing for an upcoming test.

“Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev, Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist bloc. Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dacron...Di...Dien...FUCK!”

Audrey’s sudden exclamation took Isaac off-guard, almost making him stumble on the sidewalk.

“What’s with that song?” Isaac asked.

“It’s how I’m studying for today’s world history exam,” Audrey explained. “It’s so nice of them, just listing out all those world events for us. Who says entertainment can’t be educational?”

Isaac sighed.

“By the way Isaac, what comes after Dacron?”

“Dien Bien,” Isaac answered.

“Wow, that was an automatic answer.”

“Well, the lyrics are really just a chain of individual words and phrases. I feel like it isn’t that hard to memorize.”

Audrey sniffled lightly.

Isaac sighed. She really is sensitive.

Isaac kept talking. “I would say keep it at, but I think there are a number of issues with your study method.”

“Oh yeah?” Audrey smiled and put her hands on her hips as she looked over at Isaac. “Like what?”

“...well, for starters, you only know the names of people and events, not what they actually are.”

“You think I really need to know anything more than the name?”

“...yes?”

Audrey laughed. “That’ll be the day, Isaac!”

“If the question were to ask who led the Soviet Union during World War II, what would you answer with?”

“...”

Audrey looked away and thought about it.

She looked back at Isaac confidently. “Give me the multiple choices!”

“It’s a fill in the blank.”

Audrey looked away and thought about it.

“Alright, fair point,” she admitted.

“Now, do you know who Joseph Stalin is?”

“Of course! He’s in the song!”

“And what did he do?”

“…fair point.”

“And secondly, and I think this one might be slightly more important...the exam is on the 1800s, not the 1900s.”

“You say that like it’s an issue, Isaac! Of course I know what time period we’re studying!”

Audrey laughed away, and Isaac supposed he could press the issue another time.

“We have a world history test?”

Isaac and Audrey smiled as Reed joined their presence from out of nowhere, as usual.

“Yeah, today,” Isaac said.

“Ah, hell.” Reed shrugged. “Oh well.”

“That’s the attitude to have!” Audrey exclaimed.

Audrey cheerfully put her arms around Isaac and Reed’s shoulders and brought them close together for a moving huddle as they walked.

“And today’s the perfect day for that kind of attitude! You know why?”

Isaac smiled while Reed rolled her eyes. Audrey had done this ritual for as long as they could remember.

“You know, this never gets old,” Isaac said.

Reed said nothing, glancing impatiently at Audrey’s arm around her.

“Isaac, you know why! Do you know why, Reed?”

“Fuck off.”

“Ah, Reed, it seems like you’ve forgotten what tonight is. Should we remind her, Isaac?”

“This one’s all you.”

Audrey smiled wide.

“It’s Friday night, motherfuckers!”

Isaac raised his arm and cheered.

“It’s Friday morning, chutzpah,” Reed corrected. “Don’t go saying that when we have a full day of school ahead of us. It’s demoralizing.”

“It gives us something to look forward to!" Audrey exclaimed. "And tonight will be a great Friday night! Come by my apartment around 8. I got a surprise!”

“What’s the surprise?” Reed asked.

“It’s not a surprise if I tell you.”

Reed rolled her eyes. “See, that’s what I don’t get. What, am I supposed to automatically feel enthusiastic about a surprise? Why would I be? Is there something inherent about a surprise that makes it exciting? I’d rather know what I’m getting in to. If I know what it is, then I can get excited about it. But I don’t think surprises are inherently exciting. They don’t hold up on their own. It’s like a mystery flavor lollipop. If I had to choose between a grape flavor lollipop and a mystery flavor lollipop, I’d choose the grape. Grape excites me. A mystery flavor is hit or miss because it’s a surprise. The mystery flavor isn’t inherently exciting, especially when compared to grape.”

“Grape?” Isaac questioned.

Reed looked over at him. “What? You got a problem with grape?”

“Not necessarily, but grape’s your go-to example of excitement? Grape?”

“Grape’s not exciting to you?”

“Meh. Top five flavor maybe. But not really in the realm of excitement. Strawberry though? Now that’s a flavor.”

“Guys,” Audrey interjected. “I can assure you that tonight’s surprise will be better than grape or strawberry or even watermelon! Tonight’s surprise is magical!”

“Magical?”

“Magical, Reed, magical! This surprise is near and dear to my heart. I hope you guys will appreciate it.”

Isaac put his thumbs up. “If it’s that important to you, then I’m excited.”

Reed needed more convincing. “Is it edible?”

“What?”

“Your surprise. Can I eat it?”

“...no. But it’s something better than eating.”

“Is your surprise sleeping, because that’s the only thing I can think of.”

Audrey winked. “Better than that too. But I won’t say anymore because it’ll ruin the mystery.”

She raced a few steps ahead of them and turned back to face them.

“Like I said, come by at 8. I’ll handle the details. I’m gonna pick up food from Calvin’s and even a VHS for us to watch!”

Isaac and Reed glanced at each other. Audrey’s VHS picks were usually...less than stellar.

“What?” Audrey asked. “Are you still upset over the time I picked THE greatest romantic comedy of all time, One Week in Vienna?”

“Yes,” Reed said.

Audrey raised a finger gun.

“Don’t worry Reed...tonight’s gonna blow your socks off.”