Cool name tag!
He pulled out of the parking and drove over to the Staples that was sort of on the way to the Six Pound Cleaver. He liked the look of Sheila’s name tag and thought that maybe he could pick one up at the office supply store. Now, he’d just have to come up with a moniker that sounded tough, something that would make you think twice about messing around with the bar bouncer.
“Welcome to Staples. How can I help you?”
“Well, Brandy, I’m looking for a name tag. Just like the one you’re wearing”, Stefan said, pointing at the tag with his chin.
“You’d like a name tag that says ‘Brandy’?”, she asked.
“Oh, no, I was thinking of something a little scarier.”
“Let me show you the colors we have here at the store. We have white and black, red and white, blue and white, and black and yellow. You can special order different color combinations, but I can make these up while you’re waiting.”
“I like the black and yellow.”
“OK, fill out this form with what you want me to engrave on the tag and I’ll come back over in a minute.”
Stefan grabbed the form and checked off the size, one inch by three inches, which was the largest blank they had in the store. Then he chose an Old English font style which he thought looked bad-ass. Now he had to think up a good bouncer name. He started chewing on the pen when he realized that it tasted like sour cream potato chips and tried to spit the sensation out of his mouth.
“Are you all right?”, Brandy asked, walking over when she noticed him having a fit.
“No, I put this pen in my mouth and it tastes funny. I can’t get it off my tongue!”, he said, rubbing his tongue on his front teeth and continuing to spit.
“Oh, that’s my pen. I might have been cleaning my ears with it”, she said with a shrug.
“Eccch!”, he said, wiping his tongue on his bowling shirt.
“You can rinse your mouth out in the bathroom if you want. Sorry”, she said pointing to the restroom.
Stefan looked down the aisle towards the back of the store where the bathrooms were. He started walking that direction and then turned around to glare at Brandy, while he was still rubbing his tongue on his teeth.
“Sorry”, she said with another shrug.
He had left his form on the counter and she turned it around and picked it up. He had checked all the boxes and filled in the name, so she threw the blank into the laser cutter and started the machine. The name tag was finished by the time Stefan had come back from the bathroom. His face was still twitching and his bowling shirt was all wet from using the sink.
“You really need to fix that faucet”, he said holding out the bottom of his shirt.
“I’ve heard that before”, she said, just half smiling.
“Hey, It’s done. That looks nice”, Stefan said as he released the pin and ran it through the silver stripe on his shirt. “What do you think?”
“It’s so you”, Brandy said, raising her eyebrows.
“Does it scare you?”
Brandy blew a breath out between her lips while she contemplated that question. “Scared? I could be scared.”
“That’s what I was going for.”
“Well, it’s on me, no charge. Sorry about the ear wax taste test.”
“Yeah, keep that pen in your pocket. That was not pleasant.”
Brandy just shrugged again, “Sorry.”
Stefan left the name tag on his shirt and got back in the van. He only had five minutes to get down to the bar to start his duties. He drove down 4th Avenue and cut across the railroad yard to get over to Airport Way. He lucked out with a parking spot right in front of Marie’s apartment. He got out of the van and looked up at her apartment. The lights were on.
“MARIE!”, he yelled up at her windows.
Nothing.
He ran the block and a half over to the Six Pound Cleaver and pulled his stool out to the alcove in front of the door. He didn’t notice that Marie was already in the bar playing pool by herself and he just sat down to check IDs when people came up to the bar. After about fifteen minutes Marie looked over and saw him sitting there. She poked her head through the wrought iron gate that blocked off the patio that served as the smoking section.
“Hey cutie”, she said behind his head.
Stefan was startled and hopped off the stool, then turned around. “Hi Marie, have you been there the whole time?”
“No, I’ve been playing billiards with this really hot chick. What’s that?”
“My new name tag”, Stefan said proudly as he pinched it with his right hand.
“Killer Jones? In Wedding Text?”, Marie said, grimacing.
“What? What’s Wedding Text?”, he said, holding it out to look at it.
“That’s the font you used. Where did you get that thing?”
“At Staples. The clerk said it was scary.”
Marie just shook her head and pushed his hand away from the name tag. She unhooked the clasp and took it out of his shirt. “You’re a dork.”
