I like Uncle Plasma. I had to see where this story is taking me. Here’s the first one: https://commercialherschel.substack.com/p/uncle-plasma. That’s how this is. We are all the way past Parts 1 and 2 of the halfway mark of Flash August Fiction. Now this is Part 2 of a new thing, Uncle Plasma. Thanks for reading, listening, sharing, restacking, and all the things.
Arriving at the gas station, Pete eyes a hot dog special.
“I swear these people are trying to kill me. How am I supposed to resist 2 dogs for 4 bucks?”
At the fixins counter, Pete grabs two mayo packets. There are only three there. “Hey, you got any more of these little mayo packets?”
“No sir, what you see is what we have left, tomorrow more coming, customers only sir, please.” The guy says.
“You know I’m a customer.” Pete says, as he stuffs the two packets in his pocket.
“You having hoddugs tonight sir?”
“Yeah, I’ll take two dogs.”
“Only two hoddugs tonight sir? OK, two hoddugs four dollar.”
“I think it’s ingenious the way you take the word hot dog and make a one syllable word. Only a real American could pull that off.” Pete tells him.
“Thank you sir, I’m glad I can contribute.” The guy says.
Pete instructs him. “Just do me a favor and don’t call it a glizzy. That’s some kind of sick psyop, designed to destroy our nation’s number two symbol of food, fun, and freedom.
“Don’t worry sir, I will never say this word.” He responds.
“It sounds like a dirty sex habit.” Pete says.
“There is something wrong with this sir. Yes, I agree” They guy says.
“The kids are being sabotaged.” Pete concludes.
“I pray for them, sir.” The guy says.
Pete thanks the gas station guy and both of the hot dogs are essentially down his throat by the time he reaches the sidewalk. He crumples up the wrappers and wipes his hands on the napkins, tossing them into the garbage can. As he bends down to pick up a stray napkin he notices something in the overgrown area of shrubbery at the end of the parking lot.
There is some kind of duffel sitting under the lowest branches of the plants. If he hadn’t bent over, he never would have noticed. It could be nothing. Someone may have lost it when they stopped, it could be a bag of trash. Pete knows that it may be something, too. He knows better than to just walk over and check it, in case it’s dangerous, or, in case it is being watched. What if it’s a pickup spot for organized crime?
Pete nonchalantly walks over to that corner of the building, makes the left turn around the corner out of sight, throws his arms down, cups his hands, and plasmifies. Plasma swirls around his body, and bends the light, allowing him to seem invisible, but for the waveforms. He’s going to stake the place for a while, to see what happens.
In this plasmified state, Uncle Plasma can use a technique to detect camera lens reflections. From the corner of the building, he scans all around the area, and the only camera he sees is the one at the intersection, and that camera does have a view of the duffel area. Unless someone placed the duffel from the other side of the bushes, there will be a record of it getting there. He flashes some light at the camera, so that when the footage is viewed, this point in time will be easy to find.
To get a better vantage, he levitates himself to the roof of the gas pump shelters. He does a quick scan of the area, and hops over to the roof of the gas station. From there, he lowers himself back to the front corner of the building, and settles in next to the ice machine.
Just then, a large box truck pulls into the lot. It stops, and a young kid jumps from the passenger seat, and he runs over to, and then behind the bushes. The truck pulls into the corner spot, right next to the bushes, while the driver goes into the store. Uncle Plasma can see that the truck is blocking the view of the corner from the intersection camera.
The bushes rustle, as the duffel is pulled out of the bushes from the other side. Uncle Plasma levitates himself to the top of the truck. The driver comes out of the store with four hot dogs, enters driver seat and pulls away from the spot and leaves the lot without the young passenger. From atop the truck, Plasma shoots a flash at the camera before getting out of sight of it.
The truck leaves the way it came in. As the truck gets to the back side of the gas station, it stops. The young passenger with the duffel appears from behind the store and gets in the truck, and it takes off down the street.
“Let’s see where this goes.” Plasma says to himself.
The End
787 Words
Well, we’ll have to get to the conclusion of this installment soon, and then I guess, the Uncle Plasma origin story.
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