Moose and Goose

Chapter Three

"First, I start with a plain Frank," she begins while leaning against the counter, patiently waiting for the tall brown man on the other end to deliver their food. Judith blankly stares at the white side of the advertisements hung on the windows, the constant droning of an arcade machine providing a better ambiance than the sizzling of meat. "Then I look over it to make sure it hasn't been bathed in grease, and if it's good, I start with chili, ketchup, mustard. I mean, I go way out to build the biggest hotdog. Wanna know where I got the idea from?"

Judy glances at her, intending to say no but the prideful smile on Mary's face changes her mind. Sighing the minimal amount of breath in her lungs, she nods her head.

"When I was just knee-high to a Junebug, my Dad took me, my sisters Avery and Sandra, and my brother Benjamin to a carnival in Darlington. Oh, my God, girl," Mary exclaims. "It was so pretty and fun. Anyway, I entered into a hotdog eating contest with the adults."

"Did you win?" The clerk sits a food tray in front of the ladies with a generously topped hotdog weighing it down. Mary slides the tray into her hands.

"No, but my Dad gave me a fiver for my effort," she answers. The doors invite in a whoosh from passing cars when the group of men she first encountered at the bus stop opens them. "Look at this beauty, though. Who knew a small loss could account for such a huge win?"

"Mary?" Mary lifts her attention onto Judy, who's watching them march towards the side of the store. "Who are those guys?"

Furrowing her eyebrows, she whips her head in the direction Judith is staring in, but a long rack of candy obstructs her sight. She walks toward the door to peer past the display, then returns to Judy's side.

"Those are the frat guys in Zeta Psi Phi. They're not, like, super athletic or jocky like the ones in Alpha Psi Delta, but in my book, they're all the same," she explains without visible emotion. "Anyway, I'm gonna grab a Slurpee. Do you want anything? I can split this in two for us."

"Uh, no, that's okay," she says. As Mary leaves her side for a cup of slush, Judith walks around the display.

"Someone beat our score," one of the men mumbles to the Goliath of the group.

"Excuse me?" She stands behind them, her voice meek and her heart racing in her chest. His short dreads bounce off of his shoulders when he turns his head to meet her gaze. He and his friend with the fade, turn their bodies to her. "I'm sorry to bother you, but I saw you not far from my house, and I wanted to say hey."

"That's where I remember you from! My name's Jerome, and this is my friend Eric," he begins the introduction before glancing over his left shoulder. He has a gap between his two front teeth that she's hardly able to resist the urge to stare at. "And those are my friends Manuel and Khalìd."

"It's nice to meet you," she says with a smile as she looks from one to the other. "My name is Judith, but I prefer Judy."

"Was it you," Khalìd, the man with the high top, asks her. She gives him a confused look, his friends also watching him, and he elaborates, "We play Space Jungle every day, and only three other people made it to the top of the leaderboard before today. Was it you?"

Jerome steps to his left, and Eric steps to the right of the rainforest-themed machine, clearing a path for her to approach the screen. The background is black, and the font is white like many other arcade games.

Just under the word leaderboard is a score of fifteen thousand forty-eight created by a player with the initials MEH

"No, that wasn't me." She shakes her head and looks Jerome in his eyes. "I play this sometimes during my lunch break, but I don't think I'd have the time to knock you into second place."