Elmo's Backstory: Shopping Trip

Elmo yawned as Patricia finished her story. He wondered if he would be able to stay awake for another person's story when Owen turned to Elmo. He didn't notice right away, partly because his eyes were closing of their own volition.

"With how Elmo seems to be falling asleep, I think its his turn to share his story with us," Owen said.

Elmo felt alarmed at the statement, although it took a moment to sink in, with how sluggish his mind was moving at the moment. The surprise was at least enough to give a small jump start to his mind, allowing him to be alert again. If only for a short period before it wore off.

"Okay, but can we pick this up in the morning after?" Elmo asked, willing to do anything to be allowed to go to sleep after.

"Sure," Owen smiled. "We anyway have a few people who won't likely be able to share their stories with us until then anyway."

"Why not let me wait until they can hear my story then?" Elmo asked.

"Don't worry about that," Owen assured Elmo. "I'll use my system to let them know what was shared tonight."

Elmo sighed. So much for getting out of it. Not that he really expected to be able to, just that it was at least worth a shot.

Elmo sighed as he began.

+++

Elmo slapped his computer, starting to lose his temper with how slow it was going. He'd had it for almost half a year, so it should still be good, but it was already turning into a POS.

When that didn't work, as it usually didn't, he leaned back in his chair and sighed. He didn't like looking into the parts of the computer, since it was rather tedious and he didn't always know what he was looking at.

If it was computer code, he'd be able to get through thousands of lines of code in a short period. He never timed himself on that, so he couldn't say how long it took him. However, when it came to the hardware, that was another ball of wax. He could easily build his own computer, but that didn't mean he was adept at knowing how to spot troublesome parts like he could with troublesome code.

As he turned his computer off, he waited a minute before opening the shell to peer inside and look at the circuitry. Nothing seemed out of place, not that he expected the problem to jump out at him. So, he got in there and began to take out each circuit, circuit board, memory chip, and so on, examining each piece before putting it back in.

Nothing was jumping out at him, the only thing he could think of as a possible prolem was the coating of dust that had already accumulated, but it wasn't that think, so he couldn't imagine that being the ultimate problem.

When he reached the RAM memory chips, he was seriously considering replacing his computer, since he hadn't found anything yet and he was running out of items to look at.

However, he stopped when he pulled out the second RAM chip. He could have sworn that he'd chosen a better chip than this when he built the computer. However, this chip was one that hardly had any space on it. He looked at the first RAM chip again and was shocked to see that it was the same size as the second one.

How did he miss this? Elmo couldn't help but wonder. While he wasn't an expert at understanding issues related to the hardware of computers, he at least knew better than to select such crappy RAM chips.

Shaking his head in disgust, he removed the chips and left the computer as it was. He had to go to the store now in order to replace them. Glancing at the clock, he was sure he'd be able to get there and back home before it closed.

As Elmo started to head out of the house, he called out, "Mom, I'm heading to Best Buy. Need me to get anything?"

He waited a minute, but when he didn't get an answer, he was about to close the door behind him when his mother finally called back, "No, I'm good. Thanks anyway, mijo. See you when you get back."

Elmo close the door behind him. He hadn't expected his mother to ask for anything, but felt it better to check, just in case. After all, she might want him to pick up a movie or even just look at prices for blue ray players to TVs.

While he'd like to be able to drive there, if not get a ride from someone, walking had its own charm. He felt fortunate enough that his family didn't like if an area with gangs running the streets, so he knew that he was at least safe enough to walk down the street and not worry about any of the violence that came from gangs.

The sky was finishing growing dark when he arrived at the Best Buy. He hadn't really expected any different, but it would have been nice to have been able to get here with enough time to walk home before it was dark. For one thing, he'd at least have an easier time dealing with his nerves.

When it was dark out, the sight of headlights coming towards him always freaked him out a bit. Not so much from how bright they were, but with how fast the cars the heatlights were attached to tended to move. When he was younger he'd hoped that he would outgrow it, but it didn't seem to be the case here. Maybe it was just as well, but he couldn't help but feel like it might be something flat out wrong with him.

He never told anyone in his family about it. He already felt like enough of a disappointment as it is. He'd been ab le to save up a sizable amount of money from his job being a web master for several small sites. While it wasn't a high paid glamorous job, he made enough that he knew he'd be able to support himself. And maybe a girlfriend or boyfriend somewhere down the road. He hadn't decided which he would want, not that he knew his mother hadn't made her opinion on the matter clear.

Elmo walked into the Best Buy and walked straight over to the area he knew he wanted. While the store rearranged things periodically, the way stored tended to do, he knew that they hadn't done that since the last time he had been looking for RAM memory chips.

He was a little surprised to see how much of the area was glassed off, but with how shoplifting had increased and even started affecting stores in low crime areas, he couldn't say it was pointless. The only problem was that he could see the RAM chips he wanted were behind one of those glass cases. Which meant he had to deal with a store employee.

Not an issue in and of itself, but the problem lay in that when you wanted to get help, the employees tended to be nowhere to be found. He knew it wasn't on purpose but rather one of those things that it just seemed that way. Especially since he'd had times where he'd found one quickly enough.

However, rather than aimlessly searching for an employee, he merely made his way up to the customer service desk. Which happened to be on the other side of the store, but that was still the best way to guarantee getting help sooner rather than later. Especially at this time of day, since they tended to have fewer people working at this time than in the morning.

In all, it didn't take him long before he was able to get the chip from behind the glass case and make the purchase. The employee who helped him was nice enough and made the process go quickly, which Elmo couldn't help but be appreciative of.

However, as he was leaving the store, he suddenly found himself opening his eyes in the room where he first found that stupid loincloth. He wasn't even sure he'd made it out of the store before getting kidnapped by the people running this competition.

+++

Elmo put his arm under his head as a pillow. Right now he didn't care so much, he just wanted to sleep. Owen hadn't seemed happy at how quickly Elmo rushed through his story, but he really didn't have many details to give. He certainly didn't have as interesting of a story as Michelle or Owen himself had, but that didn't make his story any less valid.

Owen had also agreed to let everyone get some sleep as well, given how many were already falling asleep. Elmo suspected some had already gone to sleep without Own noticing, but suspected that they were just better at hiding it than Elmo was himself.

Elmo was also happy that he hadn't been picked to get woken up to cover a watch. Bart was on the first watch and Owne volunteered himself for the second watch. However, before he could hear who was either volunteered or 'volun-told' to take any watches after that, he'd already fallen fast asleep.