“Yeah. Although when I started out it was a lot smaller than that. Grimmer, too. Grown men arguing about which issue was worth an extra ten quid.” I laughed, but thinking about it made me feel strange.
“Huh. Didn’t pick you for a comic book guy.”
They never did. Not since I’d left uni, anyway.
“What got you into that?”
I’d never been asked that before. I thought for a minute.
“It was the stories,” I said, eventually. “The idea that morality could be that black and white. The rules made sense, you know? Cause, consequence, redemption. Simple. Nobody loves superheroes for their money or status… just for who they choose to protect.”
Fuck. I sounded about twelve.
“My father thought it was silly,” I added.Not that I give a shit what he thinks.“I know it sounds—”
“It’s not silly.” She was looking at me, her eyes soft. “It’s actually really… nice.”
I hadn’t thought of it that way in years. How I’d got into it,why it had mattered so much. It had morphed into something completely different since then.
And so had I.
Damn. How had we got ontothissubject? I’d much rather be talking about her.
“What’s this restructure all about?” I asked. Pixel & Grape sounded a bitboutiquefor that sort of thing.
She threw her head back. “God, don’t ask. Apparently, we’ll find out tomorrow.”
“What’s happening tomorrow?”
“New owner showing up, apparently.”
Huh. That’sweird.
“Not good, I assume?”
“No.” She sighed. “He sounds really bad.”
Somewhere outside, a bus hissed to a stop. I heard the faint sound of mewing and scratching from the kitchen.
“Why does he sound bad?”
“If I told you, you’d think I was making it up.”
“Try me.”
“This guy”—she shook her head—“he’s basically the living caricature of a capitalist pig.”
I scoffed. I knew the type, unfortunately. “Classic corporate douchebag, then?”
“I reckon. It’s a regular douche convention in there, to be honest. And he’s the Douche King himself.”
She didn’t mince words.
“Sounds terrible,” I said.
“It is. Total sociopath. Some old German bloke who made millions during the GFC while the rest of us were surviving on baked beans.”
Did she sayGerman?
