The Arcade

The week went unremarkably. Everyone went to school as usual, and the boys hung out together – as usual. It seemed, however, as if there was an underlying tension – like everyone was unconsciously and collectively holding their breath.

Thursday evening came, and Cosmo was furiously thinking about how he was going to prevent something that had happened once from happening again. The frustrating part was that he knew what was supposed to happen, and what day it was supposed to happen. He just didn’t know exactly when – and that stumped him. After agonizing over what to do, Providence smiled on him in the form of a phone call. It was Theo.

“Heya Cosmo, watcha doin’?”

“Nothin’ much – you?”

“Bored stiff. Feel like comin’ over and gaming?”

Cosmo thought for only the briefest of moments. “Sure. Who else is gonna be there?”

“Well lessee – Bobby’s gonna be here; Terry, Chris, and that goofy big brother of his, Alec. He’s the one that works at Shakey’s – remember? He’s bringin’ the pizzas. I’ll be DM’ing, of course.” Theo referred to being the ‘Dungeon Master’ of their role-playing game.

“Cool, cool. Okay – I’ll be there in twenty.” With that, he hung up the phone. His dilemma was solved. He would go over to Theo’s house to play D&D, and at some point he would find an excuse to go into the garage to – what, exactly? He supposed he would sabotage the dirt bike somehow, but he knew nothing about engines. He told himself it didn’t matter. He would figure something out.

Twenty-five minutes later, Cosmo pedaled his bike into the driveway of Theo’s house. Parking his bike against the garage door of the house, he walked around to the entryway and rang the bell.

After only a few moments, the door opened and the warm smile of Theo’s mother greeted Cosmo. “Hello Cosmo! Here for poker night with the boys?” she joked.

Walking in, Cosmo smiled back and replied “Yes ma’am. Tonight we’re playing for high stakes – your car.”

Mrs. Castelhano gave her best expression of mock horror, and said “Well then, I hope Theo’s poker face is better than his father’s, otherwise I’ll be riding a bicycle to the flower shop!”

They both chuckled, and Cosmo made his way to the den as Mrs. Castelhano returned to the kitchen, where she was apparently making some very wonderful-smelling cookies of the chocolate chip variety.

“What’s up dorks?” Cosmo called as he walked in to the den. The other boys were already assembled around a card table that had maps, dice, figurines, and notebooks scattered across it.

“Hey-a chump!” Theo responded. “Didja bring your gear?”

Cosmo held up his notebook, velvet bag holding his figurine, and tube of dice. “Do I look like a novice to you? What’s the deal – are we beginning a campaign or is this a short challenge?”

Theo set up his screen and shuffled a few papers, then looked up and replied “This, my good man, is the beginning of the mother of all campaigns. A new module has been released, and it looks like a doozy. It centers on a band of friends of different races, and the core story is an impending dragon war.”

Cosmo knew exactly what he was talking about, because he had read the series of books, entitled The Dragonlance Chronicles, while he was in college. The books had yet to come out. “Sounds great, Theo. Can we use the same character sheets, or do we need to make new ones?”

“Everyone is gonna need to create new character sheets – especially since there is a new race to add: “Kender.” Everyone cool with that?” Theo looked around the table. There was a mixture of nods and “Yups” from everyone present. “Good. Alright gentlemen, as your Dungeon Master I hereby declare this campaign open!”

As heads went down over game modules, characters were chosen and dice were rolled, Cosmo took the opportunity to excuse himself for a “restroom break.” Walking out of the den, he quietly made his way past the kitchen, where Theo’s mom was washing up the last of the baking utensils.

Finding the door to the garage, he opened it and slipped in. Turning on the garage light, it took him only seconds to locate the motorcycle. He had only a few moments and had to act fast.

Knowing nothing about motorcycles, he studied the contraption for a few seconds before deciding the best way to disable the thing was to start pulling on wires. It seemed the most obvious wire to pull on was the one that connected to the spark plug, but he didn’t want to stop there.

Walking over to the toolbox that Theo’s dad kept on the work bench, Cosmo pulled out a crescent wrench. Working quickly, he managed to loosen – but not completely remove – the nuts connecting the front and rear tires to the dirt bike. He figured that after maybe a block or so, the rims would fall off the bike or something, rendering the thing un-ridable. At least that was what he was hoping.

Slipping the wrench back in to the toolbox, he quietly slipped back in to the house, and back to the den. “Hey dude – did you fall in or what?” Bobby asked.

“Yeah,” added Alec “we thought maybe you got lost!”

Cosmo grinned at everyone and said “Nah – I just had to wait until the fog settled. We had Mexican for supper, ya know.” As a chorus of “Ewws” and “Gnarly!” made its way around the table, Cosmo smiled and took his seat among his friends.

The night wore on as the group finished their characters, began their campaign, and happily gamed their way in to a new and strange world while munching on chocolate chips cookies and Doritos, and washing it all down with Dr. Pepper.

As it neared nine o’clock, Theo’s mom reminded him that it was a school night. Everyone took the hint, and started to pack up their notebooks, dice, and assorted game paraphernalia.

As he was gathering his things, Chris said “I’m really excited about this new module, Theo.”

Alec agreed. “Yeah, me too – especially since this is only the third campaign me and Chris have gamed with you guys on. Great storyline!”

Theo smiled, and replied “Yeah, I really hope they turn this into a series of books. I think it might be pretty good.”

Cosmo just smiled.