#bergen_county

Connor is idling in the driveway that leads to the King Barn in the morning, before Jaymes has left for work. He scuffs at the dirt with a toe, casts a glance back up at the front door, then resigns himself to wait a while longer.

Jaymes comes out, and stares, "mm, you okay?"

The boy perks up, and trots over to Jaymes. "Mr. Jaymes, good morning." A cheeky smile. "Uh. I brung you a muffiin, but then I was waiting, and was worritted that it would get stale, so I et it for you."

A few crumbs on his shirtfront corroborate the story.

"It's the thought that counts," He observes and dusts the shirt a bit "Did you need something?"

"I saw, on teevee, there was this store." He starts, his story a bit meandering but his tone earnest. "It was in.. um.. New York? So not near here. And I've never been to there. I think? And they had a cat. It was called Bodega Cat and she got to sit around and sleep under the counter, and watched everyone shopping in the store." Eyes hopeful up on Jaymes's face. "So it got me to thinking, maybe you could use a bodega dog. I mean, I don't know if your store IS a bodega... and now the word Bodega just sounds funny... on account of I said it too many times..." He shuffles a little, peering upwards. "But I could watch and learn how shopping in a store works, only without gettin' shot at and droppin' a pineapple on anyone's head..."

"Connor, you do know you're a boy not a dog? I mean, yes you turn into the animal, but you're still a boy inside?" The man says, using far more words than usual, "Sometimes I worry you think of yourself as a dog who turns into a boy, and dogs are fine, nice. I have one. But boys and girls are better and I don't know if I should encourage you being less than the wonderful boy Gerd and others know you are"

He scuffs his feet on the driveway, eyes downcast at the scolding (or words he took as scolding). "I know that. But Connor can't go where Buddy can. And I just wanted to visit, is all. ...Sorry."

He sits down on the steps to be more the boy's level, "mmm" eyeing the boy "let me see your hands" he holds his own out

He glances over at Jaymes quickly, unsure about what this game is, then offers his hands?

"These you can show, but other parts," A glance to his ears, "Are harder for you aren't they? " He nods "Life's a little hard for you, but you've got good hands, and a willingness to help. YOu'd be surprised how much that means" He lets go of the hands, "But you also want to see more in this world anyway you can. I get that. I just don't want to take advantage of an adorable pooch for my shop and end up monopolzing your time when you should be having fun as a boy." Jaymes ponders "How about a limit. I don't want you missing school lessons or time as a boy, so no more than two hours a day at the store in 'Buddy' form. You be cute and adorable, wag your tail and all that, but you also learn how i sell things, how inventory is selected and more from watching. I dohn't know if it will ever be useful to you, but you have a right to learn how some trades work. Would that work?"

He had his eyes downcast, and tail down, ready to be told kindly that he should just run along. His head jerks up with surprise, and tail starts a slow wag that quickly increases in intensity. "Oh, would it! Yeah! You'll see, there won't be any monop- momop- mopolopoly. All I HAVE is time." A pause, and he adds, "And sometimes homework. And chores. But MOSTLY time."

"Well, don't think I might not put you to work" He says matter of factly, "But if I do, that too will be learning something. I never liked internships where all they really teach you is how to fetch coffee and act like you should thank them for the privilege. And it's not going to be easy, you'll have to show some willpower, not down the merchandise of snacks or slurppees . That can be a lot of sugary temptation"

"I -am- good at fetching coffee. But folk don't always like my 'gredients." He says, honestly. "But how was I SUPPOSED to know that "Saffron" is that expensive? It's just a tiny bottle of little bits!"

"Yeah, I think we'll tread carefully there" Dubious

"Anyway, I'll let Gerd know. She's your family so she may have opinions. I'm not sure HOW she got to be your family, but she takes this big sister thing seriously with you it seems. So maybe she'll be willing to 'walk' you to the store and leave you there before picking you up again, make it look legit."

He scratches at his head thoughtfully. "I'm not sure? But... Gerd understands me. Better than I do, I think, sometimes." A nod. "She's good at being a sister. I never had one before, but I think she's good. ...maybe if she says it's okay I can ride in the car sometimes? I like car rides, too... Adam takes me sometimes, but I think I'm gonna have to collect a LOT of sparkles from now on to pay him, since he's Knight rider now."

A mmm

Then, "Fine. I'm about to go to work. Would you like to take a car ride and trip there now?"

"Oh, oh yes!" He practically bounces up and down in excitement.

"Let's go," he motions to the truck and opens the door for the boy "I'll text Gerd."

"Whoop!" He bounds over and scrambles into the passenger seat, giving it a test bounce, and eying the radio curiously - he actually sits on his hands to prevent the immediate dial twiddling he is tempted to do.

"Go ahead, " Jaymes says with tolerance and a nod at the dial, "Sometimes Samantha does it too when she's not plugged in.. PUt your seat belt on"

He buckles up, twitching a bit to free his tail behind his back and not pinched under his rump, and tugs the ear-flaps of his deerstalker-style cap - much too big for the boy, but he likes it, wherever he dredged the old thing up - down to cover his own ears fully. And gives the dial a gleeful spin.

He spins forward then back, and then settled on the Simon and Garfunkle. "I knew one of these singers, once."

"Yeah?" He says , glad of the selection. To this day he's not sure who the real slim shady is, but he'd really like him to sit down and pipe down. Proving that he is indeed a grump.

"Never knew me any Garfunkles, though. Isn't that the orange cat from the comics?"

"No, that's Heathcliff" he says

He nods! "I like those ones."

"Hmm" A nod "WOuld have pegged you for a marmaduke fan. But okay" they drive towards the store. It has been given new paint, a new sign, and has a eclectic look to it

WHen they get out, he opens the truck door for the boy and leads him inside

He hesitates, peering about carefully before hopping down and heading inside - wide eyed. "Ooooo."

"What's slurpees, so I know not to steal 'em like you said?"

"Icees, slurpees, it's ..well, I'll amke you a small one" And he says "Point to a flavor" Blue berry, Strawberry, Cola seem to be the options

"Blue! It's my favorite color." And, a cheeky grin up at the troll.

A brow, but also a chuckle and a small blue berry spritz is offered

And yes, part of the fun is watching it come out of the spicket in a slow ice like spiral

"OooOOoooOOoo." He watches, enthralled, but keeps a shifty glance around, and towards the front door. "Do you have a dingle-jingle alarm for me to put my paws on? I could go to the North Pole and find some sleighbells for you..."

"If you need to change, go behind the counter. Or the bathroom over there and between the two it should be covered' He nods "We'll work out a system"

"My clothes are sticky. They come along with me if they know that they are mine. But I'll be sure to put down my slurple, or slurp it all away first so it's in my belly if I need more feet."

Unsure he understands, he wonders for a moment if this is what Siv feels like

"Oh, clothes that.. oh. mm maybe I'll store a change" he says

He shakes his head, but then shrugs, figuring that they'll work it out. "I'm quick, just gotta have an alarm so I know. Like the Bat Signal! Do you know about Batman?" He asks, unsure if the Ancient and Worldly Grumps know about such things. Meanwhile, he is wandering an aisle, eyes flickering about with interest as he examines this and that, and sneezes after getting a snootful of dust from poking his nose under one of the endcaps.

"Mmm I need to dust there. And yes, Dagmar makes sure my superhero education is sufficient" He says

"I've seen him on the teevee sometimes, but I'm not 'sposed to watch too much. I like Robin, even though he's not REALLY a bird. He can practically fly, though." He trots back to the counter where he'd spied a dustpan earlier, and carefully works at sweeping that spot he found.

"Yes, welll, there have been more than one Robin. An orphan in Gotham never knows when he's going to get plucked up and put to work"

A look outside "Car pulling up. The bell will ring when they come through the door" HE says now realizing that might be what the boy was wondering about

By the time Jaymes looks back, there is a pup sitting politely by the counter, though with a bit of dust on his nose.

Customers come in, and yes, they order things, but they also ooo and awww and fuss over Buddy