Chapter 25

LONDON, It was rarely too hot in London, but today was an exception, and the air conditioner at Brainy Fun was acting up.

Arthur wondered why he and Emily were there.

Customers came in, likely not looking for toys but for relief from the weather. They stepped in the door; then turned around, opened the door, and walked out.

Not that he had a problem with that. He'd do the same.

"Are you okay?" he asked Emily from behind the counter as she straightened up some arctic animal figurines.

"Sure," she said too cheerfully."Why?"

"It's hot in here."

"It sure is!" she said.

How was one supposed to respond  to cheerfulness in the midst of adversity? It was almost wicked.

Emily stopped straightening penguins and said "We're blessed to have such tolerable conditions on most days. I think of all the people who have to deal with weather extremes everyday and they never have heating or air-conditioning. I think we can manage a few days without AC."

"What about the customers?" Arthur said, not wanting Pollyanna to win this battle.

"If they need something, they'll stay and buy it," she said "I'm not worried."

Arthur wasn’t worried about them either. He was worried about himself and worried that his shirt was going to end up with armpit stains.

***

He decided to try and keep his mind off of the weather. He'd check his phone for email and texts. 

There was nothing from Bernard.

There was a group text from his aunt's mother-in-law who lived in Australia. She sent a photo of his cousin Mia looking at fish at an aquarium. She often sent photos to Arthur...and a lot of other people.

Arthur had never met Mia and wondered if he ever would. They weren't able to come to either wedding. 

They came back to the states to visit Arthur's grandmother when she was dying of cancer, but Arthur had been at UCLA at the time and didn't visit until a few weeks later.

He wondered. Was there that much difference between having a relative that's a ghost and one who lived in Australia?

A customer came into the shop. She must have had Emily's disease, because she didn’t seem to notice the heat.

 "Can I help you?" Arthur asked

 "Do you have board games?"

"Yes, right there in the back. To the left." He pointed her in the right direction.

She smiled and headed off to board game land. Arthur wondered if he should wait until she left before checking his email. He knew Emily was fine with doing phone stuff at the shop but doubted she’d be okay if he did it when customers were in the store.

He’d wait.

He waited.

And waited.

She was taking too long.

Should he go and check on her?

No, that would be too intrusive. Besides, Emily was around there somewhere. She could help if needed. 

He decided to check his email. There was stuff from Amazon.com and Spotify; an email from Zoe; and an email from his dad.

Zoe's email was very short. It said: I ended things! 

Arthur hoped she was referring to her relationship with what's-his-name and that he wasn’t getting an email from the ghost version of his sister.

His dad's email wasn’t short.

Arthur, 

I have fantastic news. I presume you will be as excited about this as I am. A good friend of mine is involved in a film production being made right here in Atlanta! It's about Julia Nichols! You may have heard of her; but if not, she's the first EB to reach out to a relative with the internet. It's going to to be a fantastic film. I predict it will win several awards. (I'm rarely wrong about these things!) 

The best news is I talked to my friend and told him I had a son who's a very talented actor. They're going to pull some strings and get you an audition. I know you won't want to miss this. It's an opportunity of a lifetime! You'll need to come to Atlanta, but there's no need for you to worry about that. I'll fly you over, all expenses paid! Bernard is welcome to come too, if he's not busy with work. 

I understand you may need to think about this before giving me an answer. That's fine, but please don't take too long. I'd like to start making arrangements! 

Love, Dad. 

P.S-Your mother has missed you so much. I think a visit from you will really lift her spirits! 

Yuck. Arthur felt sick and furious. He wondered if he was insane. Because wasn’t gratitude and love for one's father the sane thing to feel after reading such an email?

He didn’t want to get another job through his father's connections. He wanted to get it on his own, so his father had to admit, Hey, miracle of miracles, my offspring do have the capability to achieve things without my help.

Arthur would like to imagine this realization would make his father happy, but he couldn’t help but believe it would anger him.

Of course, his dad would try to hide it. If he tried to point it out to him, Arthur would be accused of paranoia.  

***

The customer returned from the back with a large pile of board games. She could hardly carry them. Arthur rushed out from behind the counter to help. He tried to grab the games on top and ended up causing all the games to fall. Some landed on his feet, and some landed on the customer's. 

I'm so sorry." He tried hard not to give into the temptation to bawl.

She smiled kindly. "Accidents happen."

"Is your foot okay?" he asked.

"No. It hurts." He liked her honesty. "But don't worry. I'm not going to sue or anything."

Okay. That's good. But maybe he should give her a discount? What are you supposed to do in situations like this? The father-in-his-head said, It would help if you weren't such a klutz in the first place.

Arthur told his imaginary father to shut up. He'd give her a 20% discount. Emily would likely agree to that. Should he ask her? He picked the games up off the floor. The customer helped. Then he rang her up with the discount.

***

Later, he told Emily about it. 

"I would have given her a higher discount," she said, making him feel like even more of a failure. Now he felt cheap on top of everything else. She must have noticed his despair because then she added, "But 20% is fine too, of course." 

They had no customers for the next several hours. Arthur kept busy with his sweating, and he dwelled obsessively over his father's email.

Continue to Chapter Twenty-Six

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