> ---------------
>
> It was a lazy afternoon at 61652 Fawcett Avenue in Parodipolis, and J.J. Adams was there. He was always there. Like always, he was manning the counter at Forbidden Comics. He likes to consider it the city's premiere comics destination, but he might be a bit biased. It wasn't a particularly busy day, but no day ever is. Sure, there have been minor spikes, but the store has never had any days that are anything to write home about. There have been blog-worthy days and this was one of them.
>
> Around 4:30, the front door opens. A woman with red hair backs her way into the store. In her arms are two cardboard boxes with some water damage to them. On top of that are a black leather portfolio and a few sketch books. On top of all that is a white plastic shopping bag filled with something.
>
> The woman is about to back herself into the low display case behind her. J.J. runs over and says, "Can I help you?"
>
> "I'm not sure," she says, and stops just a few inches before the display case. "Who am I talking to?"
>
> "I'm J.J. Adams, store owner."
>
> "Well, J.J. Adams, store owner," the woman said. She then shifted the weight of her pile, so she could have a free hand. She wiped the sweat off it before offering it to him. "I'm April."
>
> They shook hands, and as they did, J.J. began to search through his memory banks, to see if he was supposed to know her. They each let go of each other's hands after a few seconds' shake. April's hand went back to helping her hold the boxes.
>
> "Um," she said, reshifting her pile once more. "Is there a place I can put this? It's getting heavy."
>
> "Oh! Sorry," J.J. said, then turned and cleared a space on the low display case to the right of them.
>
> "You can set them down here," he said, as he helped her set down her stuff.
>
> This was the first time they saw each other. There were a few moments of each looking the other over. He was a shoe-in for a George Perez look-alike, sans the Hawaiian shirt, a few pounds, a few years and the artistic talent. She was what a real-world version of Mary Jane Watson might look like, if she put on a healthy amount of pounds. Sure, she had a model's looks, but she'd be more suited to modeling for Lane Bryant then Victoria's Secret.
>
> April gave the store a quick look around. "So, where can I set up my stuff?"
>
> There was no answer. So, April asked once more, and again, got no answer. Then, she noticed his eyes weren't meeting hers when she looked at him, so she yelled, "Hey!"
>
> "What?" J.J. said, in a somewhat dazed fashion.
>
> "I know my T-shirt is interesting and all, but ..."
>
> "I wasn't looking at ... uh ... um ..." J.J. said, a bit flustered.
>
> "It's ok. Your can look, but not touch. I'm married!" April said with a giggle, as she showed him her ring.
>
> Changing the topic, J.J. asked, "What were you asking?"
>
> "My stuff!" April said, and then, with a bit of a worry tone in her voice, wondered, "It is today, right? I didn't mix up my days, did I?"
>
> Then it hit J.J., and he said, "You're Mrs. Foxglove!"
>
> "Well, that's my husband. Well ... he's not Mrs. Foxglove. He's Mr. Foxglove. But, what I'm trying to say is, when I'm out in the biz, I use my maiden name of Apple, since that's what it says on all the books," she said with a laugh.
>
> "Oh. That's cool. I just never know what to expect when we have people in."
>
> "You have a lot?"
>
> "No. Not very often. We tried having a big name in a few months ago, and they cancelled on us," J.J. said, then looked at April. "It's not that you're not a big name yourself."
>
> "It's ok. I was a little surprised you even wanted me to come in. It's not like the Groovy Gecko-Gal was all that much of a success, in terms of sales."
>
> "Yeah. But we have some fans that come in, and you're in the area, so I thought we'd try to get you in."
>
> "Cool. In fact, I'm glad you asked. I needed a reason to get away from my life right now."
>
> "Yeah. I heard about the Legion, and all that. I'm sorry," J.J. said, with a saddened tone to his voice.
>
> "Why? You didn't have anything to do with it," April said, and then, with a mischievous smile, she asked, "Did you?"
>
> "No!"
>
> "It's ok, just joking with you. It's not only the disappearance of my hubby, but there is ..." April said, and paused for a moment "... some other stuff going on. My mother-in-law even said it would be good for me to come, so here I am!"
>
> "Cool."
>
> They stood there for a few moments in silence, until April broke it with a question. "So ... where can I set up?"
>
> "Oh. Sorry. I have a place all set up for you," J.J. said, as he led April back through the store, to the back right corner of the store.
>
> There, in front of two book cases filled with role-playing paraphernalia, to the left of a rack of T-Shirts, and to the right of a door marked "storage," there was a rickety-looking card table and a grey metal folding chair. Taped to the table was a sheet of paper, and written on it in pen, it said that April Foxglove would be in the store today.
>
> "Here it is!" J.J. said. "I know it's not much, but it was the only place in the store I could find that fit the table without moving tons of stuff."
>
> "It's fine. I'm sure I'll get lots of traffic, and I can still see the front door from here," April said, as she looked towards the door that was now 20 or so feet away.
>
> "Do you want me to get your stuff for you?"
>
> "Sure," April said.
>
> As J.J. went for the stuff, April walked around the table and sat down. She looked over in the direction of the door, but now, she couldn't see it, for it was now obscured by racks, shelving and various other things. For some reason there was an Iron Man life-size standee facing her, so she'd have his glowing white emotionless eyes to stare at her all night.
>
> J.J. was back shortly with the stuff April had brought. In the boxes were issues of Groovy Gecko-Gal that she'd had in storage. She had a few copies of the collected editions, each divided up by storyline (she was running low on the Great Red Dragon books, but those had always been more popular then the others). In the plastic bag were a few plush Groovy Gecko-Gal dolls, and some T-shirts with the GGG's lizard logo on them (she had a few different sizes, and most were all in the three colors she had). Next, April placed out her two portfolios, that were now horribly out of date, and two sketchbooks, that contained drawings from the start of the book up until now.
>
> As she set everything up, a few people wandered by. They didn't stop. She didn't think they even looked over at her. But then, that seemed to be par the course for the day. She got a lot of people who would walk by and not look at her. Then there were the people who would look at her as they walked by, but then mention something to their friends, which would cause them both to laugh. Lastly, there were the people who would stop and then criticize her work. What was worse about these people is that they had never read any of her stuff before. April was used to this by now, and ready for them! She had gotten quiet good at counteracting it. It was also a chance to use her feminine wiles (male or female, it didn't matter) to win them over to her side. April made a quarter of her sales this way.
>
> But then, there were the other people. She was asked by at least three different people if Groovy Gecko-Gal was a Skrull (The answer is no). There were the people who asked if she had done any mainstream books, and when the answer was no, they would walk away. She was asked by a few people if the items on the table were free, and once they knew they weren't, they lost all interest and walked away. There were four different guys who wanted to know if she would do sketches for them. April asked what they wanted drawn – them having sex with comic book characters (two wanted Power Girl, one wanted Aunt May and another wanted Wolverine). April was quite used to these thoughts, given who her husband was, and she did the sketches just as a way to pass time (in four of the sketches, the guys wanting the drawings were the submissive ones. In three of them, they were involved in some very S&M acts. The Wolverine sketch was just the two men naked and spooning).
>
> In between these meetings were great times for her to people-watch. There was the guy who could have been The Cure's Robert Smith and Dream from The Endless' love child, hit repeatedly with an Emo stick. The woman he was with looked like if Rose Tyler was just a few hits this side of a crack whore. There were, of course, the people who would stand around reading multiple books, but leaving without buying anything. But then, there was The Dork Mage. He felt that April must have been sent to the store by some evil demon, since her table was impeding his access to the RPG materials that were behind it. Now, that wasn't all that annoying, but what was annoying was that he spoke in a half-Gandalf, half-Dumbledore manner of speech, with just a hint of Yoda added in there for some reason. So, after a few minutes of confrontation, she started to swear at him in Elvish. She wasn't sure he understood her, but he did leave quite quickly.
>
> April looked at her watch; she had been there for an hour and a half. It was half over, since when she'd agreed to this meet-and-greet, three hours was the minimum time limit. April sighed and went back to watching people. This went on until *she* entered the store. April didn't know who she was at first, but she did think she heard her name mentioned, in the person's conversation with J.J. They talked for a few moments, and then, the girl made a bee-line for April's table.
>
> "Uh ... hi," the person said, with a small wave of her hand.
>
> "Hello," April said kindly. She wasn't sure how to react to this person, so kindness was what she went with. She was about April's age. The girl in question had short, sandy blond hair, which was pulled back and into two small ponytails, one on each side of the back of her head. She had somewhat pale skin, which made April think that this girl needed to get out in the sun more often. She was also wearing a pair of black plastic glasses, which interested April a bit. She liked the classic look.
>
> The rest of her clothing also interested April a bit. She was dressed in, starting from the ground up, a pair of navy-blue Chuck Taylor All-Star high-tops. April thought she saw that this girl was wearing argyle socks. Her pants were a well-worn, and ripped in places, pair of blue jeans. She wore an unzipped graying black hoodie, and under that was a black T-shirt, with a neon-colored gecko wrapped around a neon-colored circle on it. There was some text on the circle, but April wasn't able to make it out. Slung over the girl's right shoulder was a drab olive-colored messenger bag. On her wrists were a few too many bracelets and a couple of wrist bands. A few of her fingers had some rings on them, and April thought she saw a ring that looked like a waffle. The girl's black nail polish was cracked and chipped in places.
>
> "What can I do for you today?" April said with a kind smile. She had noticed that she hadn't really made any sort of eye contact with the girl before her.
>
> "Uh ... um ..." the girl started to say. She stopped, and then began to start to reach into her bag.
>
> "Oh. Great." She thought. April wasn't sure what she was reaching for, but she prepared for the worst. "I sure hope I don't get shot dead here. Having my blood splattered over the legacy of Gary Gygax was not how I imagined I would go out," was the thought that went through April's mind, but she was soon proven to be overreacting, when a small stack of comics were pulled out of the woman's bag.
>
> "Can I get you to sign these?" she asked.
>
> April let out a small sigh of relief, and then said, "Sure."
>
> There were a few moments of silence as April looked for a pen. As she started to sign, the girl asked, "Is there any chance of more Groovy Gecko-Gal?"
>
> April thought about it for a few moments, and then said, "I'm not sure." She finished one book and went to the next. "It's always a possibility. She's not dead, or anything like that. I would just need to figure out a way to connect to her now. I've been away from her for so long, and so much has changed in my life since I first created her. So much has changed that, to a point, I'm not even the same person I was when I created her. I wouldn't want to put out anything that I wasn't totally satisfied with."
>
> "Ok."
>
> April was about near the bottom of the pile. She was surprised that this girl even had that many of the issues. The silence between them was broken by the theme music to a certain British sci-fi show. April looked up from the books and said, "Doctor?"
>
> The girl then reached into her bag, pulled out her cell phone and stopped the ring tone. Then she said sheepishly, "Sorry."
>
> "It's ok," April said with a smile, and went back to signing the books.
>
> April signed all the books and handed them back. "Here you go."
>
> "Thanks," the girl said, as she took the books back. April finally got some eye contact. The girl had lovely green eyes. Their eyes meet for a few brief seconds, and then the girl turned and walked away. As she did, April saw the girl carefully place the books back in her bag.
>
> That was her only meaningful meeting for the rest of the day, but April didn't mind that. She had her people-watching to go back to.
>
> ---------------
>
> EPILOGUE:
>
> The store had just closed a few minutes ago, and April had begun to clean up. She hadn't cleaned out all the stuff she'd brought with her, but she'd sold a decent enough amount that she was happy with it. She picked up her stuff and headed over to J.J.
>
> "So, how'd it go?" he asked.
>
> "Ok," April said, with a shrug of her shoulders.
>
> "That well?" J.J. said, with a smile and laugh.
>
> "I guess so," April said as she smiled.
>
> "Well, you made Catherine's day," J.J. said.
>
> "Who?" April asked. At that moment, she realized that she hadn't gotten anyone's name over the course of the day, beyond his.
>
> "Catherine Gillespie. The blond girl. Gray hoodie, messenger bag, way too many bracelets," J.J. said, as he went over a few general descriptors for Catherine.
>
> "Oh. Her. I think she was the only person who came in with my books."
>
> "Yeah. She was one of the fans I mentioned when you came in."
>
> "She was the only one," April said with a laugh.
>
> "I'm sorry about that. There were a few more people who were interested in meeting you, but I'm not sure what happened to them. I sent them reminder e-mails, but I guess they didn't read them, see them or get them," J.J. said, a bit dejected.
>
> "It's not your fault."
>
> "Yeah," J.J. said, sounding a bit more upbeat.
>
> Then there was some silence between them. J.J. broke it. "Can you do something for me?"
>
> "I don't know. I did tell you I was married," April said with a mischievous smile.
>
> "No. No. Nothing like that," he said. "I was wondering if you could sign some stuff. I'd like to add something to our Wall of Fame."
>
> April looked around a bit, and then said, "Where is it?"
>
> J.J. laughed. "I know. It's not big but it's here." He then pointed to a framed picture of himself standing next to a man who was wearing a dashing three-piece suit, with his head wrapped up in bandages. He had sunglasses over his eyes and white gloves on his hands.
>
> "Is that who I think it is?" April thought she recognized one of her husband's teammates.
>
> "It's the Manga Shoggoth!"
>
> "He comes in here?"
>
> "Yeah. He's been in a few times. It's nice that he comes local."
>
> "But isn't all your stuff shipped in?"
>
> "Well, yeah. But he could go anywhere, and he still comes here!"
>
> "True. So, what would you like to me to sign?"
>
> "Whatever. You don't have to be signed to the store, but you could if you wanted to."
>
> "Ok."
>
> April walked away from the counter, and came back with the sign that had been taped to the table. She flipped it over, then took out a pen and wrote something. She then gave it to J.J.
>
> "Cool, thanks."
>
> "Sure. Here, have a few shirts and some plushies to sell. The prices are already on them," April said, as she pulled a few things out of her boxes.
>
> "Ok, I'll put them out tomorrow. Do I need to send you back a cut?"
>
> "No. Not unless you feel guilty about it," April said, as she flashed him an evil smile. "Most of this is just going to go back in storage, where I got it out for today."
>
> "Ok. You want to look around the store, maybe pick something out? I haven't closed the register down for the night yet."
>
> "No. I'm fine. I may be back in later and pick some stuff up."
>
> "Cool. Well, you're welcome anytime."
>
> "Even when you're closed?"
>
> "Well, maybe not then."
>
> "Ok. Just making sure."
>
> There were a few moments of awkward silence. Then, April asked, "So, when did you lock the door?"
>
> "A few minutes ago. Why?"
>
> "Well, I'd like to leave, so ..."
>
> "Oh. Right," J.J. said, and then made his way over to the door.
>
> April followed shortly thereafter, with her stuff in her arms.
>
> J.J. held the door open for her.
>
> April waved goodbye. He did the same, then locked the door back up as April walked off into the distance. As she did, she made a point to remember that girl's name. She seemed cool.
>
> ---------------
>
> THE END.
>
> ---------------
>
> FOOTNOTES!
>
> - I'd like to thank Kirk for his help while I wrote this book. He came up with the idea of these 2 women meeting, I just ran with it. He also helped in some editing & information wise (I had a vague idea about April & he helped fill in the gaps). Thanks, Kirk!
>
> - This story does take place during the "Saving the Future" storyline if only vaguely. I guess this story is a sign that life does go on.
>
> - This story also marks the second time Catherine's phone has gone off & her ringtone was Whovian in nature. The other ringtone was the sounds the TARDIS makes when it materialize or dematerializes.
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