Chapter Five: You Made Me Understand What You Meant

It doesn't take a lot for something like this to happen. Aspartame understood that fully in his little heart of hearts. Not a lot at all.

He watched as the other patrons filed out. It was his turn it seems. He sped toward the door pushing someone else out of the way. There was no way he would be the last one out. He couldn't afford to be the slowpoak again. Not this time.

It was raining fervently. Aspartame booted up his rain poncho and paid the obligatory six space dollars. He didn't feel like tipping today. He pulled the poncho on, covering his face and ears. There was no way he was going to get rain on his neatly trimmed eyebrows.

"It takes more than that," a stranger said to him. Except this was no stranger. The voice was familiar. A little too familiar. It was his friend Aardvark Prime. Aardvark Prime was quite the smooth move, a bit a jokester in his own way, except most of his jokes involved unpaid parking tickets. A real smooth move indeed.

Aspartame kept walking. He had places to be and he knew he couldn't afford to be late again or his boss might fire him. People only get so many chances after all. Aspartame feared his chances were running out. He just had to make the move, seize the day. He booted up his motorheelies and spead away.

He went straight home to his Official Sheep Dream Empatron. It had been a while since he'd felt any empathy. He took off his scarf revealing the small three and half milimeter audio jack in the back of his neck. He started to plug in the HD Gold Plated Dreamjack from the Official Sheep Dream Empatron. It didn't fit. Wrong direction. He flipped it around and plugged it in. That always seemed to happen.

Empathy rushed through him. He started feeling deeply sorry for his bookshelves. They had been carrying far more than they could hold for far too long, but they had been too polite to tell him. He moved some of the book onto the floor. That was much better.

He walked into his laundry room, feeling sorry for all the dirty clothes he'd been ignoring. They'd been crying about it all week, but Aspartame's heart was too cold to listen. They were just clothes after all. But now, with the empathy coursing through his veins he felt a deep sense of guilt for neglecting them. He threw them in Washimatron and deposited six and a half space dollars. He was feeling like a big tipper today. He slipped the Washimatron 30 Canadian space dollars just to be safe. Didn't want any stains showing up on his clothes. He started the liquid oxygen. He thought back to the times when people used liquid water to wash their clothes. Unfortunately modern clothing wasn't as good at swimming as the stuff they used to make.

He ran out of the room as quick as he could. He didn't want to risk getting caught in the cross-fire. The empathy was starting to run out. He turned up the dial a little more. He felt bad for the Official Sheep Dream Empatron. He knew it was trying it's best, but it was an older model and it just couldn't give him the empathy it used to. Other times he might consider replacing it, but right now the thought of throwing it out was unbearable. Maybe he could get it repaired.

His empathy session ended and he removed the HD Gold Plated Dreamjack. He made sure to polish it so it wouldn't rust. Gotta take care of your tools. It was then that he noticed it.

It was almost midnight now. A little early for sleeping, but after drinking all that coffee Aspartame was feeling tired. He threw himself onto his bed, making sure to bounce a little. He always had a hard time sleeping if he didn't bounce first. He fell instantly asleep. What a tender little boy.

How to start a business in the state of Missouri

To be continued...