Page 178 - Where the Dream Ends ebook

Marc Erdrich

space. Distant stars twinkled in a darkened sky and an eerie
silence fell over the troops gazing at the screen.

“What happened?” someone asked.

The young man at the controls banged his fist against the
terminal in frustration. Finally, a message appeared at the bot-
tom of the screen: PLEASE DEPOSIT 50 CENTS TO CON-
TINUE PLAYING.
“Shit!” They’ve got to be kidding.”

“What a rip!”

“Who’s got fifty cents? Anybody got some quarters?” he
asked, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a handful of
change. Someone, get some quarters from the bar.”
In a booth across the dimly lit room Eddie sat alone, watch-
ing the young people with a mixture of antipathy and envy.
He was not particularly comfortable in bars, nor was he fond
of video games, but at this moment he would have given any-
thing to be in the company of the young men and women who
were busily chattering among themselves while they waited for
the game to continue.

Staring at his half empty ale, its creamy, amber hue a near
perfect likeness to the hair of one of the young women, Eddie
imagined himself as a video superstar. He could feel the hot
breath of his adoring young admirers as they squeezed closer
and closer to watch his masterful manipulation of the joystick;
their bodies caressing his as single-handedly he destroyed one
after another of the hordes of attacking ships racing across the
screen: ZAP! BOOM! WHEEEOW! SKREE! KABAAM!
In a virtuoso display of high-speed finger tapping, the ene-

176