No Freaking Thanks

Chapter 10

Saturday, October 29, 2022; New London, Connecticut, U.S.A.

The four went to a shopping mall for a couple of errands to run. Jared had to pick up another book from Barnes & Noble along with several Halloween ones for his mother's activity of reading to the kids. Terry went inside a Hot Topic to purchase several items such as Funko Pops, clothing and treats for the purpose of giving them away as prizes for various games. Vince and Joy, however, had to meet up with a foodie at the food court: Sonya Garland of Kansas City.

An African-American woman with a great following on her social media, Sonya grew interested in cooking courtesy of her aunt and cousins. Judging by her well-built hourglass figure and fair complexion, Sonya is the type of person one must ask for nutritional advice. For instance, she would provide instructions on making a glow juice made with carrots and apples. However, nutrition is not her sole focus; she also wants to see great presentations, sense succulent flavors and pleasant aromas, and feel the right textures of the foods and drinks. Contrary to the four's gaming skills, Sonya is only a novice. The tradeoff is her great abilities in robotics and extreme sports. She dreamt of joining the Olympics as a professional snowboarder, so she spent her winter vacations at the Snow Creek area northwest of Kansas City. Sonya also grew interested in skateboarding and the like because, to her, they are similar to her favorite winter sport. Wherever she goes, Sonya would find a sporting goods shop to rent a bike to travel around long distances with ease. She owns one back home to help save money on gas for her car [a red 2018 Honda Civic] when she wants to travel to a local store or at a friend's house.

Sonya is on the same page of the political spectrum as Jared albeit with a little more progressivism to be more aligned with the Darrells. Among her left-leaning family are two outliers [her father's sister and her cousin's soon-to-be ex-husband] traveling down the rabbit hole of far-right extremism.

Sonya is also a cousin to the same Internet star from California that shaped Terry into what the latter is now, which is how she managed to get in contact with the Darrells and their friends. She had a reason to meet up with them: the need to seek sanctuary from the crypto craze along with bringing some of her family to collaborate with the Slovakias for the party.

She treated Joy and Vince with pumpkin spice lattes before the discussion. "Any idea where the other two are at?"

"Jared's picking up children's books for his mother's Halloween reading time," Joy replied, "My brother's buying stuff for the games. You know, like how the teachers do it for their prize baskets. We'll wait for them to finish up. So, how's life?"

"Aside from the social issue insanity, life's going well," Sonya said as she took another sip of her latte, "Okay, except that one recent trip to some barbecue place back in upstate New York. Albany to be precise. I was stunned by the tasteless aesthetic of it: no fireplace, walls covered in crusty wallpaper, framed pictures caked in dust, droopy plants, and that sour smell reminiscent of old mozzarella. The dining experience was not any better. I had to replace one of the cushions that apparently had its springs damaged for one that was treated better. The seats—Oh! The seats! Trash is everywhere: chewed-up gum, wrappers, lint, even a sucker. I ordered a half rack of baby back ribs, chicken wings, a chicken salad, and fries—everything was bad: the meats were drier than a conservative commentator's wife's vagina, the salad had rotten tomatoes and spinach, and the fries were overly seasoned and soggy. I even tried to tip the waitress twenty dollars; that money instead went to the owner.

"After that visit, I went to drop a review with a one-star rating on Google; I was even in shock to see the owner dropping cookie-cutter responses calling out on those that leave one-star reviews."