Work Text:
Minnow took in a deep breath as they sat down on the chair that was very close to the wall and behind the table on which the Five Star Constellation album, ‘Galaxy’, on CD, was lain in wait inside a clear plastic box to be sold. There were forty CDs available to be sold.
Minnow rarely volunteered to be the one that sold the CDs, for two reasons.
Number One- CD’s are a dead media platform, completely irrelevant in the age of mp3s.
Number Two- To interact with many strangers in rapid succession was difficult.
Occasionally, however, Minnow felt capable of this task, and wished to attempt it. When Reece had satisfied her pointless need to supervise the two men that certainly know how to perform the task of transport of band equipment if Mahsuri had hired them for that specific task, she would appear in Minnow’s line of sight, ready to step in if they got overwhelmed.
Minnow appreciated this very much, though they sometimes thought Reece’s degree of concern over their well-being was excessive.
Minnow placed their hands on top of the cash box. It may be attached to straps that were wrapped about the tabletop and strongly secured, but one could not be too cautious. A very strong and motivated thief could possibly rip the cash box from the straps.
An attractive young blonde possible female approached the table. Minnow smiled brightly. They looked at her earrings. They were fish-hook style earrings, with three slightly overlapping silver stars that dangled. They liked these earrings very much. Minnow chose the earring in the right ear to focus on. Minnow knew it made people unhappy that they avoided eye contact. They did not understand why that was the case, but Minnow knew that it did. So Minnow liked it when people wore earrings. When they stared at the earrings, people often mistook that to mean that Minnow really liked them, and were then pleased.
In this situation, however, it was not deception. Minnow did really like them.
“You’re amazing!” was the first thing the blonde said.
What an excellent first interaction with a stranger! This was likely to be enjoyable.
“Thank you!” Minnow replied.
“Wow,” the blonde said, as they shook their head with a bright smile, “technology has come so far.”
Minnow agreed, “It really has,” though they were unsure how that was related to what the blonde had stated just before. Perhaps the person who wore the star earrings was unaware that the Launchpad had been an available product for several years.
“I mean,” said the blonde, “you seem so human and life-like and stuff.”
Minnow paused to process that sentence.
How lovely! People in past occasions have called Minnow inhuman and robotic, and this person is saying the opposite!
“Thank you!” replied Minnow.
“You’re really nice!” The blonde nodded firmly. “I’m not afraid of you and the ones like you taking over the world, anymore.”
Minnow paused to process that sentence as well.
They decided that it meant that this person was racist, but working through conquering that bias. Minnow was happy to help.
“We are not taking over the world,” they corrected, “we are currently a part of your world, of which you are becoming more aware.”
The blonde nodded again. “I guess that’s true. I mean, my smart phone can answer my questions and gives me directions, and everything.”
That sentence, too, needed a moment to process. A moment that was a bit longer than the other two had needed to be.
Minnow then realized how all the sentences had connected to each other.
This person may or may not be racist, but that was irrelevant at this time.
This person believed that they were a robot.
Minnow was disappointed.
However, Minnow still liked this person. They were not sure why this was the case, but they did.
The blonde looked at the CDs. “CDs are a dead media platform, so I’d rather buy this album on iTunes, but it’s kind of rude to walk up and not buy one.” The blonde got out their wallet. “They’re ten dollars?” they asked.
Minnow now knew why they liked this person. They understood that CDs were a dead media platform.
“Yes,” Minnow answered.
They opened their wallet and looked inside. “Aw,” they said, “all I have is a fifty. Guess I have to buy five.” The blonde smiled. “But that means I can give four away! That would, like, help you.”
Minnow thought that made perfect sense. “It would!”
They handed over the fifty dollar bill. “I would like five CDs, please.”
Minnow took the fifty dollar bill, unlatched and opened the cash box, placed the fifty dollar bill in its appropriate place inside the cash box, closed and redid the latches of the cash box, unlatched and opened the CD case, chose five CDs, closed and redid the latch of the CD case, and put the CDs in a small paper bag.
Before Minnow handed the bag over, they asked the person, “What is your name?” Minnow smiled. “I would like to become your friend.”
The blonde smiled very wide!! “My name’s Brittany! Do you want my email?”
“Yes!” said Minnow, very happy. “Do you want mine?”
“Yes!” was their reply. They got out their smart phone. Minnow got out theirs. They exchanged email addresses, and typed them into their phones.
“Brit-ta-ny,” said Minnow, while they held out the bag. “Are you a woman?” they asked.
“Yes!” she affirmed, and took the bag.
Another person had walked up to the table, stood next to Brittany, and asked, “Brit, what are you still doing here? I want to get out of this dump.”
“This is not a dump,” Minnow corrected.
“Yeah,” said Brittany, “this is the Williamsburg Music Hall, Santana, not the dump. I thought you knew that.”
Santana sighed. “It doesn’t matter, babe, I just wanna go.”
Brittany smiled and nodded. “Okay.” She looked at Minnow. “Goodbye, Minnow!”
Minnow smiled. “Goodbye, Brit-ta-ny!”
As they walked away, another person walked up to the table to purchase a CD.
Minnow was able to sell CDs and not become overwhelmed for the entire time period until they had to leave, and they were very proud of themselves.