Special Forces

Pins and Needles

The record had turned to static. A young man, swung down from the ceiling, taking off his dust ridden goggles that protected his normal glasses. The man pushed a button, that then took the record off and put on the next one, only to find the record place empty, "Oi, Curt!" The boy called, "Didja steal that new record? Louis, Louis something?"

His older brother had his legs propped on the counter, he flung the newspaper down, "Armstrong, ya bantha." Curt hissed before flipping the newspaper to the next page, "But no, it was Wrecker, wanted to learn the songs on his sax or somethin.' Didn't you hear him last night?" He replied as he put down the paper and crossed his arms, "And you know my name, it ain't Curt" he hissed, standing up, grabbing their cups and headed up stairs.

The younger of the two watched his brother stomp upstairs before he pushed the button again, putting on his goggles then climbed back up into the raft. "Grab it for me!" He screamed before grabbing a wrench from his belt and continued his work.

The man who resented the name Curt, had chosen the name Crosshair but his younger brother resented it, so in turn, Crosshair never called his brother by his chosen name of Tech, Tucker would do just fine. Or even his second name, Everett, if the man was mad at him. Crosshair had made it upstairs and found his brother, Hunter, on the telly. Hunter waved to Crosshair but wasn't surprised when he didn't wave back. Crosshair put the cups in the sink then snuck to his oldest brother's room, who was passed out.

Wrecker had been working the graveyard shift, luckily Crosshair weighed next to nothing and moved with precision that grabbed the record was not problem. "The things I do for that misfit" he grumbled as he carefully avoided the creaks in the floor. Once out of his brother's room, he carefully shut the door before heading to his own. He walked to his window, watching the people walk down, so mindlessly happy. He was disgusted. But he saw people heading over, and the mindlessly happy people always buy things they don't need. So Crosshair grabbed the record, a pop from the fridge and headed downstairs.

"Tucker, visitors" Crosshair mumbled, Tech immediately jumped down as they walked through the door. "Welcome, looking for anything specific?" Crosshair greeted as Tech took off his goggles and wiped his face with a rag, giving the customers a smile as he headed behind the counter and grabbed the record.

"Good morning." One of the customers greeted, "I'm looking to buy a watch, perhaps you have some of, finer quality?" The man asked. Crosshair nodded, turning to his brother who walked back out from the counter to the customer. He was an older man, most likely in his sixties, a grey beard, and an accent. Crosshair would guess slightly British. The man had a young lady with him, she looked like she belonged in the freak circus.

"We do have a few," Tech had said as he led them to a case presenting several of the finest watches they'd come across. Most had been half broken, but Tech had taken time and fixed them up. "The watches you see here are from some of the finest brands, all fixed and polished as if they were fresh from the company lines" Tech explained as the man carefully eyed each one.

The woman behind him had whispered into his ear. "Ah, yes," he spoke as he carefully examined each watch. Tech looked to Crosshair, the man was seemingly looking for a very specific watch, but he did not speak. When the man requested to look at a watch at last, it was a Gubelin watch, the most expensive thing in the shop, made from several diamonds and onyx. The man took a look at the price tag, to the women, then nodded, "This one, will do." He spoke as he handed the watch to Tech, who nodded as he closed the case and walked to the cash register.

"A fine pick, sir" Tech smiled, as he rung up the watch. Crosshair had put it in a watch box, then handed it to the man after he had paid. "Thank you, sir, have a wonderful day" Tech had said as the man gave him a civil smile.

"Oh, thank you," the man said as he turned to the young lady beside him, "Here you are, my child" he handed her the box, "I told you I would find you the one you wanted" Crosshair took note, erasing any conclusions he had made about the odd pair. He couldn't see the similarities between the two, but Crosshair knew not being related by blood doesn't mean you're not family.

Once the two were out of shop, Tech turned to his brother, holding up the cash, "That man just bought that thing for well over a thousand credits," he smiled,"I love it when the rich come to visit" he joked as he headed upstairs to show Hunter the cash he'd gotten. Crosshair expressed mirth towards his brother. They now had rent for this month, and hopefully some leftover for groceries. Crosshair walked over to the case to make sure it was locked when he heard his brother yell.

"Hot milking sith!" Hunter exclaimed as he took the watch from his brother, "Someone really bought that over priced piece of rock?" He asked as he counted the money, it was all there. "We can pay rent off right now," he mumbled as he handed the stack to Tech then went to the fridge, pulling the bills off of it, sorting through them, adding the price in his head.

"Yeah, he did!" Tech smiled, "He was hunting down that specific watch for his daughter," he explained as he looked over Hunter's shoulder to see the bill cost. Running a pawn shop wasn't cheap, ironically. "With any leftover cash, we can put it in our savings for Santa Fe," Tech mentioned as Hunter sat down at the table and took the pen from behind Tech's ear.

"Well, let's see what we have left first, kiddo" Hunter mumbled as he begun to set aside the money on top of each bill, "Ol' Wrecker will be happy," he mumbled as he worked. Tech sat beside him and nodded, 'but not happy enough to stay home' Tech thought to himself.

Wrecker has worked his entire life, even when he was still in school. His strength got him a lot of jobs, a lot of traveling jobs too. He'd leave for weeks at a time then come back for a day or two and be out the door again. It had pressed the responsibility of parenting the other two on Hunter. Tech and Crosshair couldn't recall a lot of happy memories with their oldest brother. But they could recall the fights he's had with Hunter, yelling and yelling after the other two had gone to sleep.

Wrecker was grown up at age ten, he worked hard and did whatever it took for his brothers, but Hunter has never forgiven him for being so absent in their lives. Tech never understood why they couldn't just be happy, Crosshair never seemed to be bothered. Well, perhaps he was just better at hiding how scared he got when they would fight. Tech certainly never hid his feeling. Maybe that's why Crosshair didn't share anything, so Tech wouldn't worry about him. But he did, they all did.

He zoned back in to see that Hunter had sorted all the bills, taken account  for groceries and then counted the leftover cash, "Okay kid, here's what we have left, why don't you go to the post office to get these bills sent out" Hunter said as he grabbed several envelopes and a ribbon and the two starting writing on the back of each envelope and stuff the corresponding bill and cash inside, "Then, while you're out and about, swing by the bank to deposit this, oh, and take ol' Crosshair with ya" Hunter explained as they stacked the envelopes then tied the ribbon around them.

Tech nodded as he took the stack of envelopes from his brother, "Will do, I'll be sure to close up shop," Tech said as he grabbed the keys, "Since it'll be supper time soon," Tech walked towards the staircase, "Bye Hunter, we'll give ya time for cookin' so supper is ready when we get back!" He smiled before heading down. He got back in the shop and saw Crosshair closing up another deal, once they left Tech patted his brother on the shoulder. "Hey, Hunter's got us on errand duty, so we're closing up shop to go to the bank and post office." Tech explained.

"Great, errands" Crosshair mumbled as he locked the cash register and walked to flip the sign and then closed the blinds, "Well, let's just get this over with." He mumbled as he opened the door, taking the keys then locking up. They walked out into the cool fall air.

There were only a few blocks from the post office, the bank was closer to downtown. When they stepped into the post office, the air was musty and everything was bland as always. They saw people getting their mail and a long line for sending out mail. "Great, this will take all afternoon" Crosshair hissed as he stood in line with his brother, crossing his arms.

"Well, that's fine" Tech told him, "We have to waste some time anyway, to give Hudson time for dinner." He spoke as he looked around the post office, taking account to everyone there. So basic were they. "So relax" Tech punched his brother, who rolled his eyes as they moved forward.

The two stood for thirty minutes before reaching the desk and sending out the bills. Crosshair let out a groan as they got outside, "Now to the bank."