Abandon the Pope and All who Sail in Her

Joe Bloggs loved television and movies. That was his passion in life. He didn't need much in his tiny appartment; a worn couch, television and DVD player were the celebrity items of his living space inventory. He wasn't rich by any means, yet with his factory job which didn't pay overtime, he managed to save enough each week to keep his flabby body alive and to purchase a DVD movie from the local video store. He loved movies, they were his adventure; he didn't even need to leave his appartment, because all he needed to do was memory quick dial the fast food burger place, which he lived two doors down the road from, and they would bring him his burger and fries, about ten minutes later.

Payday tomorrow. Mmmmm, money left to spend and off to the video store to buy a DVD movie, as he sat on the bus that towards his home. The simply named, Movie Shop, was not far from where Joe lived. He already knew which DVD he wanted and went directly to the shelf where it sat. The Monkey Bride of Marbados sat in its shiny shrink wrapped packet, among its clones - like virgins, they waited nervously to be picked, to have their clothes torn off and ravaged by some dirty bastard's DVD player. With his grubby hands, he snatched the DVD off the shelf, flipped it a few times while his eye ogled the pictures beneath the glare of the wrapper. 'I WANT IT!' he shouted, seconds later, a spotty kid beckoned Joe over to the cash desk.

The kid looked spotty but clean: he smelt clean, yet his spots oozed pus. Joe stared at the boys skin under the glow of the tube lamps, they were like red nipples on soft skin; he licked his lips. Beep. The acne kid ran the DVD through the scanner, the price appeared on the display. Joe panicked as he stared at the illumiglow figures, "That can't be right ya bitch, that is higher than I usually fucking pay - ya bitch."

The kid stared lifelessly at Joe, put his clean hand out, palm facing upward, with its surface normal perpendicular to the ceiling. "Do you want the DVD or not?"

"Look here ya bitch!" Joe raised a dirty knuckled fist at the boy, "I work my fucking arse off at the factory making packaging," his eyes started to tear up, ".. I work my fucking fingers to the fucking bone, and all I want to do is watch a fucking DVD..." he wiped a tear from his eye, "I saved up to buy that DVD, is that too much to fucking ask?"

The boy stared droopy eyed at Joe, dropped his hand and swiped the DVD of the counter and held it in front of his face, "Do you want the DVD or not?" A spot volcanoed on his face, some pressure differential beneath his skin, no doubt caused by rising stress levels.

Joe rubbed his face, eyebrows sagged. "Give me the fucking DVD!" he pulled a banknote from his pocket and tossed it onto the counter top. The boy with his immaculate clean hand picked up the scrunched note with his fingertips and examined the watermark underneath the glaring lights before tapping the buttons of the cash register.

He handed Joe the change, "Want a bag for that sir?"

"Of course I do, I fucking paid for it, gimme that fucking bag," he snorted.