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Normally there’s always supposed to be another person helping to close down the small pet shop, but tonight it was only Max. He didn’t mind the lack of people; there were never many customers at night anyway and he knew how to care for the animals.
It was about half an hour before he was supposed to lock the doors, so he just started to feed and clean the enclosure. He had a sun conure on his shoulder, the bird didn’t seem to like any of the other workers besides him, which was good since he was planning on taking the bird home with him after pay-day.
The bell on the front door chimed and in walked a man bundled up in winter gear. He stumbled over to the register and yanked off his hat and scarf and gasped for air.
“I’ll be there in a second!” Max yelled as he locked up the parakeet cage. “Come on, Pickle, let’s go say hi.” He said to the bird who just tried to preen Max’s nose in response.
Max turned the corner to see the man holding onto the counter for dear life while he shaked and trembled. Max rushed over, Pickle still perched on his shoulder.
“Whoa, hey, hey, hey, you ok man?” Max held out his hands, unsure of how to help. The wheezing man looked up with wide eyes.
“Oh..shit, uh,” The man hesitated before continuing. “You’re not Todd, uh,” He looked at the front door then back at Max. “Hide me.” He said with nothing but panic in his voice.
“What? Hide you, why? Did you steal-” A car came to a screeching halt in the parking lot, scaring Pickle and the two men. “Ok fine, follow me.” Max grabbed the man’s wrist and sprinted to the back of the store, Pickle now hiding in his shirt.
Max shoved the man up and onto one of the storage racks in the back, hidden behind a few container of extra cat litter the store had.
“There’s a vent above you that leads to the break-room, if you have to climb through and hide in the storage closet there; there’s a board that looks nailed to the wall but it’s not, just hide there if things get bad.” Max pulled Pickle out of his shirt and handed him to the stranger. “Just keep him safe for me, ok?”
“O...ok, thank you, really, and be careful, those guys aren’t too nice.” He put the bird on his shoulder and tucked himself further into the corner as Max left the backroom.
In the front of the store were three shading looking people, two guys and a girl. The shorter guy of the two was the first to approach Max.
“Did a guy with blonde hair run in here?” He mumbled.
“No sir, the store isn’t too busy at night, can I help you find any pet supplies while you're here though?” He asked, hands behind his back tracing over the pocket knife he had in his pocket.
“You sure no one ran in here? Coulda swore he came in here.” The man’s voice was louder now.
“I’m sure sir.” Max reassured.
The man growled before turning on his heels and leaving with his two friends. “If some blonde guy does run in here, yell outside.” He mumbled on his way out the door.
Max nodded and stood in place until he no longer saw the trio and quickly locked the doors. He ran back to the storage room, now just realizing how bad of an idea it was to give a complete stranger such an expensive, and aggressive, bird.
“They’re gone, you can come out now.” Max yelled through the door, a loud bird shriek and flapping wings were his response. Pickle then landed right on Max’s shoulder.
“You sure? They didn’t drop anything in here, did they?” The man asked as he crawled down from the shelf.
“I’m sure, why ask?” Max was giving Pickle a head scratch, to which Pickle made happy little sounds.
“I was supposed to make them a bomb, but instead I made them a smoke machine. And boy, were they mad when they found that out.” The man laughed as he brushed dust off his coat. “Thanks for the help, I’m Gordon by the way.” He handed Max a business card with nothing but his name, his number, and his email. “I make a lot of electronic stuff; false limbs, small robots, toys, computers, really anything that’s not illegal I’ll make.”
“Uh, ok then, thanks.” Max gave Pickle the card to hold, and he did. “You can leave out the back door if you want, but I think they went around the building, I’m not sure.”
“They didn’t take the car?” He asked as he put his hat back on.
"No, I don’t think so, why?”
“They stole my car, so imma go steal it back, thanks again for hiding me! Here’s something for the trouble.” Gordon handed him an envelope and headed towards the main exit.
“You don’t-oh, wait, I locked the door!” Max chased after him, key in hand, as well as an envelope with more money than two weeks worth of work.