BACK AT THE MALL
Howie clipped up his last overall strap as he exited the men’s room.
"Pippi Longstocking is coming into your town." He sang as he bent down to pick up his cell phone.
He held it up to his ear.
"Nick? Nick?"
He is greeted with dead silence.
"Hmmm."
He folded up the phone and put it in his pocket.
"Waaaah! Waaaah!"
He turned toward the sound of the baby’s cry.
Leighanne, Brian, and Kevin were headed into Record Town, a bawling baby in Brian’s arms.
Howie trotted over to them.
"Hey Howie, where you been?" Leighanne wondered.
"We’ve been looking all over for you." Brian said, unconvincingly, as he rocked Baylee in his arms.
"Uh... I was... doing a thing... and stuff like that." Howie said.
As they walked past the DVD rack, Howie stopped to check out one that caught his eye.
He picked it up and looked it over.
He walked over to the others, who were waiting for Brian to choose his gospel record.
"Guys," Howie asked, nervously " Would you think ill of me if I bought Divas Live on DVD?"
They all looked at Howie as if he’d grown another head.
"Howie, I don’t mean to swear" Brian said. "But dangit."
Now it was Brian’s turn to be looked at as if he’d grown another head.
"Bitch... shut the fuck up." Kevin said to his cousin.
"Gasp!" Brian gasped. Those words were poison to his innocent ears.
He handed the baby to Leighanne.
He ran out the door and dipped his ears in holy water.
"Must remove it! Must!"
He looked up just in time to see Nick go flying by... or rather, a blur that looked like Nick.
"Howie!" The blur yelled.
Nick ran into Record Town and found Howie arguing with Kevin over whether or not a grown man could purchase Divas Live on DVD.
Nick grabbed Howie by his overall straps and shook him.
"Are you okay?!"
He shook the Divas Live DVD right out of Howie’s hand and onto the floor.
Kevin took the opportunity to grab it up and burn it before Howie could purchase it.
"Speak to me Howie! Speak to me!" Nick screamed.
Howie tried to speak, but was cut off by more of Nick’s irrationalism.
"Are you dead? Are you dead?!"
"I dropped the phone to go to the bathroom." Howie explained.
"Oh… ok."