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THE NEXT MORNING, EDGAR, ALAN AND I were at the counter watching TV when Sam came in. He was wearing a brightly colored Hawaiian shirt, continuing with his pattern of odd and bright clothing. Alan tapped Edgar's arm to get his attention.
"What?" Edgar asked.
Alan nodded in Sam's direction and the two shared a glance before walking over to the boy. With a sigh, I followed behind them, offering a small wave to Sam.
"Hi, Sam," I greeted.
"Hey, Alice,"
"Notice anything unusual about Santa Carla, yet?" Alan asked.
"Nah. It's a pretty cool place. If you're a martian," Sam said, picking up a comic from the shelf.
"Or a vampire," Edgar said.
"Are you guys sniffin' old news print or somethin'?" Sam asked with a small grin.
"Probably. That would explain a lot,"
The brothers ignored me and Edgar rolled his eyes. By then, I think they'd accepted the fact that I wasn't going to be all dark and brooding like them.
"You think you really know what's happening around here, don't you? Well, I'll tell you something. You don't know shit, buddy." Edgar said.
"Yeah. You think we just work at a comic book store for our folks, huh?" Alan said.
"Actually, I thought it was a bakery." Sam commented.
I resisted the urge to laugh and let them go about whatever it was they were trying to do with Sam, focusing on organizing the comics.
"This is just our cover." Edgar said. "We're dedicated to a higher purpose."
Edgar walked up to Sam, a rolled up comic in his hands. I stood right behind Edgar, preparing for his usual speech. Putting my hands on my hips, I over dramatically began to reenact Edgar's words right after he spoke them.
"We're fighters for truth-"
"Truth-" I mouthed, pointing at Sam.
Sam's eyes flickered over to me behind Edgar and tried his hardest to keep a straight face.
"Justice-"
"Justice-" I repeated once again, this time holding up a fist.
"And the American way."
"And the American way." I finished, tapping my fist on my chest.
With that, Sam lost it, letting out a snort. Edgar and Alan spun around to look at me, but I had already gone back to organizing the comics. I looked up at them with an innocent smile and they rolled their eyes, turning back to Sam. I shot him a quick wink and smiled, which he accepted with a short nod.
"Right," Sam said in response to Edgar's speech.
It was clear he wasn't impressed. He pushed past Edgar to get to another rack of comics.
