This is itthe end of an era. Bradley Strauthorpe Shoemaker has reached the end of his journey at Giant Bomb Industries. No great fanfare is to be had. No clamoring crowd surrounds him to see his final moments inside the warm, unctuous womb of the Giant Bomb Command Center
nay, COMMANDE CENTRE.
With a deep sigh, Brad (Braderator Rex to his friends) looks over his desk one last time. Between Moss Burger wrappers and negative pregnancy tests, there is a lone figure staring at him. It is a Sigismond Thalberg porcupine figurine, gazing up with what seems to be moist, regretful eyes. Porcupine Sigismond was one of Brads first tchotchkes in the interactive dreamscape industry. The character wasnt popular and only appeared in one sensual missivePorcupine Virtuoso Thunder Attack Xbut it was the first sign to Brad that he was IN.
TIME WARP
It was a cloudy day at the Gladbrook Gentry Exposition Center (steel barn), in a lost part of Iowa. Brad was fresh off a tour of duty with the militia and was at Gamesmans Authorship Camp (GAC = NO Girls Allowed!) to offer a fresh perspective on Gamesmanship that his mother craved. She would be the first, but not the last to crave his exquisite rants
Long story shortBrad tripped over a drunken, nicely-dressed howler monkey, cracking his head on an oddly placed stone howler monkey statuette. What is this? An aviary? he would have quipped if not for being unconscious. Brad came to with Sigismond Thalberg resting in his hand, never having set foot in the actual exposition center (steel barn). The GAC had been over and done with for three weeks.
TIME DEWARP
With the memory passing, Brad reaches down to his shin to feel the scar that the howler monkeys ivory cane had imparted on it. Mustering up some saliva to spit upon that cursed, possibly possessed, Sigismond Thalberg porcupine figurine, he pursed his lips for a good spatting-upon. Those missed three weeks still sting, dude. Brad just couldnt do it, however. Porcupine Bros before ivory-handled, cane-wielding simians
and tilling implements
and that guy who can bend his elbows backwards. Its just wrong.
Brad nods his head in approval as he picks up an empty, cardboard box. His fingertips brush along the corrugated edges as he feels a chill down his spine. The air-conditioning is on, drifting through the empty halls of GBCCentre at a medium blasting efficiency. Old Ortega must have left it on before he went home. Good ol Ortega
Brad wishes he had time to stick around and fire that wasteful miscreant, but luck was on Ortegas side this time. This time, and EVERY TIME. That lucky hoobajoob has four war-crimes tribunals under his belt and no time served
With a deep breath, Brad realizes that he doesnt need to leave these hallowed halls with anything on his desk. No trophies, nor spoils of a war never battled, will outdo the honor and civility with which he served. Donning the dusty, wrinkled box on his head, Brads heartbeat echoes in his ears as he leans forward to give a parting kiss to that goofy, porcupine bizzle-snizzle. They never saw eye-to-quill on most things, but he would be damned if he didnt go out with a dash of humanity.
As he leans forward to impart a wet one on Sigismonds sweet, little forehead (or the interior of the box on his head), Brad whispers out Mercurial! misusing it as he always does.
Unfortunately for Brad, trying to kiss a four-inch tall, anthropomorphized-porcupine-virtuoso-ass-kicking-machine, which sits below waist level, while wearing a box ones head, is NEVER SAFE. Losing balance, he falls forward onto his desk, Sigismonds quills gouging deep into a taut, pulsing carotid artery. As he showers in his own blood, Brad gasps out his final words:
Ragrgareragarggghleerlhgle!
It was probably the blood pooling up in his throat.
Ortega threw Brad into the basement incinerator the following morning. The Sigismond Thalberg porcupine figurine was still in his neck at the time, thus melting into Brads remains with a dramatic "poof" of purplish, acrid smoke. They are one, now and forever
at the bottom of a well, or something. Im not a bone smuggler, man! Dont look to me for answers!
The blood stain on Brads former desk is now CEO of a Fortune 400 company. It speaks fluent Portuguese and loves tapas.
[Any mention of a "Brad" or "Bradley Strauthorpe Shoemaker" in this deranged exercise has a silent "isleavingmeme" following it wherever it appears. Please let it rest in peace, for the sake of surviving family members. Yes, this makes absolutely no sense. Just go with it, baby!]