Fools Follow, Part 5

“Hello”. He said to the stranger. After all, there was no point in being rude. He further knew that most of his neighbors did not speak, and he assumed that this person, known or unknown would be no different.

“Hi.” The stranger said after a moment, still ogling the pills.

Bart was surprised. He decided to be adventuresome. After all, his Doctor, or whoever or whatever she called herself was always telling him to be more forward. Dimly, he remembered that she had mentioned that this part of a conversation was called “small talk”, and quite common among normal people outside of the building, if outside of the building really existed.

“Are you new here? I don’t think I’ve seen you before.” Bart asked.

“No, we’ve definitely never met before.” The stranger said in an accent Bart had only heard on television. The stranger was still staring hungrily at Bart’s pills. Bart shifted uncomfortably. He had tried “small talk”, and it had been odd and unnatural. There had been nothing normal about it. He decided that he was going to take his pills and head off to another chair in the room, because the thousand yard stare of the stranger was very creepy.

“Look, I know we’ve never met – but you seem like an honest fellow – you remind of a friend of mine, Bart – you don’t mind if I call you Bart do you? It’s better than, what is this here – ‘#0101010’, isn’t it, fellow?” Before Bart could interject any word, tiny or large, the stranger kept talking. “And I know you think that this might be a little forward of me, but the thing is, I really need something from you. I really, really – need – I mean, need, isn’t even the right word, but between us fellows, ‘need’ is good enough, I mean, I really require that blue pill you’ve got there. That large one that could choke a horse. Yes, that’s the one you’re looking at there. So, what do you say? Help a fellow out? Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone at all what’s going on, You won’t get in trouble or anything. I mean, one could say that there could be all sorts of repercussions for not giving me that silly little pill, but really, its nothing, I’m sure you’ll make the right decision, so no reason to worry about that or anything else, which I’m sure you’ll understand, so, as this is a pressing matter, I know that you’ll decide quickly – and correctly.”