dragonyphoenix

“Look and wonder, boys, look and wonder.”

Neither Andrew nor Jonathan looked up from the tv. “Can it wait? Luke is about to blow up the Death Star.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s a great part.” Warren joined them, standing behind the couch and staring at the tv for about thirty seconds. “No, it can’t wait.” He reached down, grabbed the remote, and turned off the tv.

“Hey.” They both stood.

Warren held up a bag. “This is it, boys. My chance to defeat the Slayer.”

“Bed, Bath, and Beyond?” Jonathan asked.

Warren fumbled in the bag. “Not that,” he said, throwing the bag to the ground. “This.” He held up a crystal. “New and improved. Insert it into the invisibility gun and, bam, it’s ready to go.”

“This crystal’s gonna be better than the last one, right?” Jonathan asked. “Cause that whole melting my Heinlein collection … I really don’t want to go there again.”

“Not to worry, not to worry. I got a supplier who knows what he’s doing.”

“Have you ever thought about the phrase new and improved?” Andrew asked. “How can something that’s new have already been improved? I mean, if it’s improved, that implies it’s been around a while and therefore not new.”

Warren hit the side of Andrew’s head. “Ow.”

“What does it matter? The invisibility ray is ready to go.” He fit the crystal into the gun. “And now the test.” He aimed the gun at the black swivel chair. Sparks flew out of the gun, shooting up into the air. Warren dropped the gun.

“Hey,” Jonathan said. “That was new.”

“Yeah,” Andrew added. “It never exploded before.”

“Shut up,” Warren shouted. “Just, shut up.”

“New supplier not looking so good right about now, is he?”

“I should have known better than to trust one of Willy’s deals.”