Chapter 4: The Mean Boy and the Jerk

Ein almost burst into tears when the phone rang. He was so tired of the scrubbing and the dusting and the footrubs. God, the footrubs.

"I need your help." It was Princess, of course.

"I'll do anything, if it means getting to stop cleaning for a few minutes."

"Great, see you in ten."

Ten later, Ein sat on a different floor, scrubbing away a different family of dirt. "I can't believe your restaurant's gonna be in the haunted house. Don't you remember elementary school? All those ghost stories I told you? You screamed like a little girl."

Princess stared at him, then shook her head. "Baka."

"What does that mean?"

"I told you, it means friend in Japanese."

At that time, a puppy trotted into the main chamber. Ein smiled and petted him. "Whose a nice little puppy dog? Who is it? Who is it?" He turned to Princess. "I didn't know you got a dog."

She grinned. "I didn't."

"So she's not yours?"

"Oh, she's mine."

"Then what are you talking about?" He let the puppy lick his hands.

"That puppy is a rat."

Rat.

Rat.

Rat…

The memories clawed at his mind, so he screamed with all his might, trying to force the dark thoughts out.

He opened his eyes again with Princess hovering over him. Her popsicle rained down on his face.

He sat up and quickly glanced around. "Is it gone?"

"So he's an it now? What happened to cute little puppy dog?"

Ein rocked back and forth, shivering. "If I see that thing again, I swear, I'll run away and never come back here ever again."

She studied his face closely. "You really are scared, aren't you?"

"Of course I am! I was petting a giant rat!"

She shook her head. "There's something more that you're not telling me."

"Don't be ridiculous." He swallowed, hard. "But seriously, where is it?"

"Ratty's taking a nap in the mirror room, so don't worry. Keep cleaning."

Ein nodded and kept scrubbing. "It's going to take us forever to clean this place up."

"Don't worry. Sunflower's bringing some friends to help."

"That's good, at least." The front door opened behind him.

Honk, honk.

Ein's eyes narrowed. He recognized that honk. His bike horn! And more importantly--his bike! He turned around and pointed. "You!"

The spoiled brat also pointed. "Sunflower, that's the boy I was telling you about! The Mean Boy!"

Ein pounced forward. "Give it back!"

"No, it's mine!"

"Liar!"

Ein tried to shake the Jerk Boy off his bike. The caped hobo dashed forward, wrapped his arms around Ein and tugged at him.

"Break it up!" Sunflower ordered. "Everyone! Take a few steps back from each other and let's talk this thing over."

Everyone did as they were told, and sat on the ground, catching their breaths.

"I'd almost prefer the giant rat to this guy," Ein grumbled.

"Now Ein," Sunflower said. "What exactly is your problem with Vincent?"

"My problem is that he stole my bicycle!"

"I didn't steal it!" Vincent burst. "I needed it!"

"What's the difference!"

Sunflower studied Vincent for a while, then--"Can't you see what's going on here, Ein? Vincent was raised in such a horrific environment, he doesn't know the difference between right and wrong."

Ein crossed his arms. "That's no excuse."

Vincent also crossed his arms. "Well if Mean Boy had simply pointed out that I was doing something in the wrong, instead of chastising me in front of my men, no less, I of course would have remedied the situation appropriately."

"See, Ein?" Sunflower walked over and placed a hand on Ein's shoulder. "You shouldn't allow your anger to take control of your life."

Ein erupted, "I am not an angry person!"

***

Princess finished her beef jerky, and looked around for more sustenance.

"I'm going to go check about getting our business license," Sunflower said. "You sure you can take care of these two on your own?"

"Piece of cake." Oh yeah, that reminded her. She reached in her pocket and pulled out a plastic bag with leftover birthday cake inside.

Sunflower straightened her tie. She left, briefcase in hand.

Princess rubbed her hands together and began devouring. It took her a few delicious moments before she could hear the horrible silence infecting the room.

Ein and Vincent sat on opposite ends of the haunted chamber, scrubbing at the floor, slowly, mechanically. They stared at each other with unblinking eyes.

"So…guys…either of you see any good movies lately?" No response. "I saw this one movie about a guy and a girl falling in love, and I don't really remember what happened, but there was this one scene where the girl was cooking a meal for the guy. Meat loaf, mashed potatoes. It looked sooooo good." Still no response.

She sighed, and went to work cleaning the walls. Everything was going along just fine, until she came to this one black spot.

The darned thing wouldn't come out. "You darn thing won't come out." Finally, she--"ahhh!"--and pounded the spot with her fist.

The lights dimmed, and an eerie music began to play.

The ghosts were going to get her! Worse yet, maybe they were after her cake! She rushed over and grabbed Ein. "Help me!"

Ein snapped out of his trance, and forced, "You're…choking…me…."

She let go and grabbed him around the waist. "They're after my cake!"

Ein stood, and she stood with him, still holding on tight. "It's just music, Princess. Probably left over from the amusement park days. We just need to figure out how to turn it off." He took a step, and she took a step with him. "Did you do anything before the music started playing?"

She shook her head, and spoke into his neck. "I was just cleaning."

"Stop that, it tickles."

"Sorry."

"Are you sure you didn't do anything? You didn't flip any light switches?"

"No. All I did was hit that black spot on the wall."

"This one?" He pounded it, and the lights brightened, and the music stopped playing.

Princess searched the room, making sure there weren't any phantoms or goblins hanging around. There weren't, so she let go of Ein.

"Now that wasn't so scary, was it?" He said, patting her head like a child. A second later, his eyes widened, and he wrapped his arms around Princess. "Help me! It's coming to get me!"

Princess turned around, and Ein turned with her. Sheesh, it was just Ratty. "You're a nice little Ratty, aren't you?" She stepped closer to the cute furball.

"Ah!" Ein let go of Princess and sprinted out the door.

Princess petted Ratty for a while, then led him over to the others in the room. "Ratty, meet Vincent and his friend. Vincent and his friend, meet Ratty."

Vincent shook Ratty's hand--"A pleasure."--then kept scrubbing the floor.

Princess was a little disappointed. "You don't seem very surprised that I have a giant rat as a pet."

"Oh, should I be?" Vincent scratched his chin. "I just assumed it was normal for your kind to have rats as pets."

"Are you implying that because I'm Japanese--!"

"No, no. You misunderstand. I'm referring simply to our economic differences. When I was growing up, I wasn't even allowed to have an ant for a pet, let alone a rat of this caliber."

So it was true. This poor guy had been living in a dumpster his whole life.

***

Ein finished sitting fetal-position whimpering in the dirt, and was just about to head back inside to get his bike back, when someone grabbed his shoulder. He turned around.

"I know what you want to do," Sunflower said. "But please, let Vincent have the bike. At least until he can afford his own."

"What do you mean until?"

"You do realize he's homeless. That's how I met him. He sleeps in a cardboard box."

Ein looked at the entranceway to the haunted house, and saw Vincent sitting there, working.

Huh, maybe he was wrong about this guy. Maybe Vincent wasn't a spoiled little brat.

Vincent turned around and petted the bike with a stupid smile on his stupid face.

Jerk.

Ein started walking toward Main Street.

"Ein, wait," Sunflower said. "We need your help."

"I'm not in a very helpful mood at the moment."

She sighed. "Like it or not, Ein, you paid the most money for this restaurant, so me and Princess both agree you're the boss. Shouldn't you be here while we're creating it?"

"I'm not the boss. All I did was give money to my friend to help her out. That's it. I don't mind helping out with the cleaning, but I'm not going back there until the rats are cleared out."

"There's only one rat."

"Yeah, right."

***

"Scrub faster, my minion! Faster!"

Old Hobo Joe scrubbed like a good little soldier.

Vincent realized Sunflower was staring at him, and he felt a strange feeling in my stomach. "Forgive me, Sunflower, for not doing more myself. My hands are not accustomed to this kind of work."

Sunflower nodded. "Don't worry about it. I understand. Probably the only work you're used to is stealing."

"You're quite right. My father stole from innocent people, and then I stole from him."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that, Vincent."

Vincent had never met someone who understood him so well, and yet didn't despise him for it. "Thank you."

***

Ein wasn't in any rush to get back home, so he spent some time standing outside Mario's, thinking about what--who was inside.

He took a deep breath, and that wasn't quite good enough, so he took another deep breath, and built up enough courage to enter.

The Waiter, Wall, towered over Ein, and squinted down at him. "Mr. Einstein, you had best not eat here right now. Mr. Mario is here and he is in one of his moods."

Ein sat down in the waiting area, to get out of view. "He still hasn't forgiven me for making him lose his sight in one eye."

"Not to mention his smell in one nostril, and--"

"You're right. I'd better go. But first, I need to talk to one of the waitresses who works here. I don't know if she's here right now, but she has long brown hair, green eyes. She's only been waitressing here for a few weeks, at most."

"You mean Daisy."

Daisy. Sweet, beautiful Daisy. "Yeah, is she here right now?"

"No, she is not."

At that moment, Daisy walked across the eating area.

"But I see her right there."

Wall sighed and leaned over, until his giant mouth was an inch from Ein's ear. "Let me give you a little advise, Mr. Einstein. You best stay away from that girl. She does not want to speak to you. You humiliated her."

"I know, that's why I'm here. I want to apologize."

"I cannot allow you to speak to her directly, but I will relay a message if you so please."

"I please. Uh…" He pulled a wad of bills out of his pocket. "Give this back to her. Tell her I can't accept it. Tell her I'm sorry for everything I did to her. And um…."

"Something else to add?"

"No. That's it. Thanks, Wall."

"No problem, Mr. Einstein. No problem at all."

Ein sat for a while longer, then left.

***

Wall put the money in the cash register, without any intention of ever taking it out again. "I am sorry, Mr. Einstein," he said to the empty air. "But it is for your own good."