Ballad of an empty fridge (Gideon)

[Robin Douglas]

Robin looked in her fridge. Somehow she hadn’t noticed that all of the food was slowly disappearing. It was something that she should have taken note of, given that she was the one eating everything. However she had been too focused on her new job, and that meant things fell through the cracks. The broken coffee maker really didn’t help this, as it meant that she headed to Hammel even earlier in order to score a cup in the staff lounge.

The pantry was opened next. It had a box of cereal , flour, sugar, and pasta roni. Robin smiled, sure that her meal problem for the night was solved until she opened the fridge again. No milk, no butter, just a container of pesto. Clearly she was going to have to go out and get something as she knew she wasn’t going to be able to swing it this time. She had every plan of being responsible despite her hunger. She was going to go to the grocery store and figure out what to do from there. She could pick up a chicken breast from the store and then freeze the rest, or put it in salad.

Pleased with her plan she drove downtown to the grocery store. As soon as she was inside with a cart all of her good intentions faded away. Instead there was a 2 for $6 sale on chips and half off on the cookies in the bakery section. Soon enough there wasn’t any room left in the cart for Robin’s good intentions and she had reached a new level of starving. She leaned haphazardly over her cart as she attempted to still push it while digging around it in. She grabbed a can of Pringles and popped it open. She figured that this was fine because she was going to pay for it anyways.

Robin dug a couple out and bit down just as she nearly ran into someone turning a corner. She stopped short and dropped the half of the chip that wasn’t in her mouth. “Oh, sorry!” She said to her almost cart victim. Then she offered the can of Pringles. “Don’t tell and I’ll let you have one.”

[Gideon Silverstein]

The Silverstein household was not short on food, but after his failed attempts to convince Feivel that their weekly grocery list was sub-par at best, Gideon decided to do his brother a favor and take care of the chore for him. Feivel wanted him to help out around the apartment more anyway, and he was just doing his part. Sneaking a few 20s out of his twin’s wallet to cover the cost, the bioluminescer left a short note on the fridge in place of the list, sniped the cars keys from Five’s bedroom, and disappeared to the supermarket.

After pulling the car into the parking lot and grabbing a cart from the front, he nabbed the basic milk, bread, and butter. Feivel was pretty lucky that his twin bothered to get them at all; Gideon only wanted them because he knew those were the essential ingredients for mac n’ cheese and sandwiches. With that taken care of, he decided to pick up as much junk food as possible while he had grocery-buying power. Feivel never bought enough.

It was no mere coincidence that the Robin bumped (or nearly bumped, as it was) into him, for Gideon had noticed the woman from afar while scoping out the same sales. It was after he quickly carted down the next aisle over in hopes of cutting her off that she nearly hit him, his timing just off enough to allow for the incident. So nevermind her almost hitting him, he was barely able to stop short of running her down. That didn't mean he wasn't going to let her take the blame, though. “Holy—I mean, excuse me.” He grinned, glad to see that the woman he almost plowed through was the same woman he was pursuing.

“I can keep a secret,” he said with a chuckle, pulling a couple of chips out of the can. “So who’s the gorgeous lady trying to kill me? Are you new to town? I don’t think I’ve seen you around before.” He actually had no idea if she was new or not, having spent far too much time lounging on his brother’s couch watching t.v. to actually notice the comings and goings of the other residents. If he did leave the house, it was to work, road trip, or go to the club, and those activities were far and few between since he was both lazy and broke.

[Robin Douglas]

Robin was glad that the man she almost ran down didn’t take incident with her. Her blood sugar was too low for her to handle a situation like that with any sort of competency. So when he not only didn’t look angry but took a chip she knew that she was in the clear. “I’m glad, because you know this might be…” Robin trailed off for a minute as she took out another chip and munched on it. “Just barely illegal.” She silently reflected that Pringles were absolutely downright delicious and she was going to need to pick up another can.

She took another glance around the grocery store. It was fairly empty, and the closest employee to them was a rather ragged haired teenager who was struggling with a box cutter. Robin took another chip out of the can and munched, confident that there was no way anyone would really call her out on it. Seriously, who would care? Still she was ready with the lid on top of the cereal box in the cart in case a manager strolled by.

Robin let out a slight chuckle and then tilted her head as she decided now to answer the question. “I’m returning, actually. I used to be a student up at the Hammel University and now I’m teaching up there. New would be the best word though, as that was twelve years ago and I just rolled back into town for the first time in like twelve years. It really hasn’t changed.” She ate another Pringle and continued. “Actually I think I recognize you. This might be a long shot but I think I went to high school with you. I graduated back in 2000.” She felt a twinge of self consciousness at having dated herself but brushed it off easily.

“But anyways, I’m Robin, Robin Douglas. Now do I get to know the name of the gentleman who I nearly ran over and am now sharing my Pringle dinner with?”