The Paradox Corridor

Chapter 2: The Man in the Bowler Hat

Andrew was super excited as they headed toward the Mills. He was telling anybody who would listen (so, basically, nobody) about how he was going to steal one of the go-karts and drive it around the Mills...twice. That left James with Amber, who was going with her usual technique of pretending not to be related to Andrew.

"So, how's the new house?" asked James, since they didn't really have much to talk about.

"Its really cool!" answered Amber. "Our rooms are huge!"

"More room to hold my 'sound machines', if you know what I'm saying" put in Andrew, obviously referring to his massive whoopee cushion collection. If you wanted to know what kinds of things he enjoyed, it could be summed up in one sentence: bad puns and anything that made a loud noise. Their 'conversation' (if you could call it that) was interrupted by the sound of loud thunder.

"Those clouds have been bothering me" said James. "They've been there for a while, but it hasn't rained yet. That's not normal, is it?"

"No, it isn't" said Amber "According to the news, it came in just like any other storm, except when they reached all over America the wind just stopped pushing it. In fact, there hasn't been wind at all since they came."

"Maybe it has something to do with global warming?" asked Andrew. Both Amber and James rolled their eyes.

"This has absolutely nothing to do with global warming," said James. "Wind doesn't just stop."

"Well, wind or no wind, I hope the rain waits a little while longer," said Andrew, "I really want to try out the outdoor Go-Karts." Amber and James sat, waiting for the inevitable pun that was sure to come. Andrew thought hard for a minute, then said,

"Making a pun about wind isn't exactly a breeze, is it?" Amber and James groaned.

Ten minutes later, they finally reached the Mills. It seemed to James that it looked exactly like every other mall in existence.

"L-A-M-E!" complained Andrew, voicing James' opinion out loud as rudely as possible. But when they pulled around the back, they saw the Go-Kart tracks. Both Amber and James smirked.

"Ah! That's what I'm talking about!" exclaimed Andrew, ignoring his friends and the laughs from behind him. When they stopped in front of the entrance, Bob went over the plan.

"Ok, here's how it's going to go. We will be in the Area labeled Nascar until lunch, which is at 11:30. Meet us here at that time. Now, go off, and have fun!" Everyone split up, each going with their friends.

"What should we do first?" asked Andrew.

"Lets do laser tag!" said James.

"Alright. If we're on opposite teams, you'll be going down so fast, people will think you're a laser!" crowed Andrew.

"I'll be at the indoor go-karts when you guys are done," said Amber. Then she walked away, most likely due to the terribleness of the joke Andrew had just attempted. The two friends headed inside.

"That was totally radical, dude!" exclaimed Andrew as they left the laser tag area. James rolled his eyes,

"Since when did you take up surfing, Andrew?" he asked sarcastically.

"Oh, shut up, James," replied Andrew. The game had been a close one. They had both been on the same team, and they had worked together to push the enemy team at the very end and won the game by 1 point. The other team, needless to say, were pretty pissed at the result, and the two boys suffered their fair share of evil glares as they walked toward the indoor go-karts.