The Tragedy of a Pinball Wizard

The Janitor Arrives

As Oliver began walking away from his flat, he heard the sound of a door opening behind him. "YOU!!!!" A booming voice called out to him. Oliver froze. He slowly turned his head to view his instigator.

"What could you possibly want from me cretin?" He snarled through gritted teeth. About 10 feet away stood the feeble frame of Mr. Otis, the 83-year-old maintenance man who worked in Oliver's complex. Mr. Otis stood around 5'4" and was thin as a rail, but Oliver was fully prepared to let him catch his hands if he dared to interrupt him any further.

"You fix that wall. Right now, Oliver. You cannot keep doing this. I have a letter right here from the landlord warning you that any more damage to the property and you're getting evicted. He is absolutely fed up with your chicanery." The old man brandished an envelope signed by Oliver's landlord.

"Let me see that thing." Oliver requested calmly. He then charged at Mr. Otis with full force and tackled him to the ground. He tore the letter from his old, wrinkly hands and devoured it. "What happened to your letter stupid? I don't see any letter!" Oliver taunted at Mr. Otis's limp, unconscious body.

"You were always such a fool Mr. Otis!" Oliver climbed off of the janitor and began to continue on his way. Once he arrived at the double glass front doors of his apartment building, he noticed something was off. He attempted to push the doors open, but they wouldn't budge. "What is this? Why won't these doors open?!" Oliver screamed in frustration. The doors didn't look like they had been tampered with. They looked just the same as they did every day; plain glass doors aside from the letters P-U-L-L placed down the side of the door handle.

"Maybe these strange markings could provide me a clue?" Oliver thought aloud as he studied the letters. "If only I could read them!" Oliver was more frustrated than he had ever been in his life. "YOU MONSTER!!!" He roared at the top of his lungs. He knew exactly who was responsible for this. He sprinted to Mr. Otis's still crumbled body. "You did this to me!!" He yelled as he grabbed Mr. Otis and threw him straight through the double glass doors. 

Mr. Otis did not react at all and landed face first down on the pavement leading up to the building. Oliver then realized what he had done. "Oh man. I really took things a little too far this time. I need to calm down a bit or else I'll be too distracted to play pinball."

Oliver needed to make things right with Mr. Otis. He approached him and gave him a gentle slap on the booty. "Good game, Mr. Otis." Oliver stepped over Mr. Otis and continued on his way. Oliver began to skip away gleefully and loudly sang to himself "Safety Dance" by Men With Hats.

Suddenly, Oliver heard a familiar voice from behind him.

"I'm not done with you yet. You are a heathen." the voice bellowed. Oliver turned around to see Mr. Otis standing in front of him with a determined look on his face.

"Back for more, eh?" Oliver gave a small laugh. It can never be that easy, can it?