One Afternoon at Luanne’s Fashionable Boutique

by Mike Mayak

“Pop! Pop!” Maxwell called, running into the back office.

“Don’t call me Pop,” the older man behind the desk said. “What happened?”

“They broke down the fence again,” Maxwell said pointing towards the front of the shop. “And they’re in the parking lot.”

The two of them walked through the shop full of fashionable, decorative items, festooned in veils and lights and a special Valentine’s Day display. They walked out the front door, under the sign reading “Luanne’s Fashionable Boutique” and into the small parking lot. The lot was black asphalt surrounded with small bushes, trimmed and sculpted into various shapes and festooned with small white Christmas lights.

The two small dinosaurs were happily munching on one of the low bushes, blissfully unaware of anybody or anything.

“See?” Maxwell said. The kid was tall, pale, dark-haired and in his early twenties. He remembered riding a brontosaurus at DinoPark next door when he’d been in Grade School.

Pop was old, at least forty-five and looked a lot like Ed Asner. The kid didn’t know who that was. Some people said Pop looked like he should always be smoking a cigar, but he didn’t smoke.

“They trampled that flimsy wire fence and marched right in again,” Pop said disgustedly.

“It’s probably the lights on the bushes,” Maxwell said. That’s what attracts them.”

“No, I think it’s just the fact that the greenery looks like a buffet,” Pop said. “I went over and told the owners last time they ought to make extra money renting those things out to mow people’s lawns.”

“Yeah,” Maxwell said.

“Hey! You!” Pop yelled. “Get away from there!”

The smaller dinosaur looked up for a moment and went back to munching on the bush. The slightly bigger one spat out a light bulb and stuck it’s head further into the greenery, only it’s own long, deep green neck visible.

“Swell,” Pop said. “And one of those damn things is gonna swing his tail and put a dent in somebody’s car. You go over to DinoPark and tell them to come get their green…” Pop sputtered.

Maxwell nodded. He tried not to grin; he’d get to talk to Kurt at DinoPark again. He wasn’t quite sure if that was the reason they never reinforced the fence.

Maybe he could ask Kurt out—and he’d be on the clock to do it!

As Maxwell was walking away, giving the munching dinosaurs a wide berth, Pop called out behind him.

“And see if you can sell your boyfriend on a couple of our decorative bushes. Maybe if they have their own they won’t eat ours.”

Maxwell blushed and grinned as he headed over to DinoPark.

—end—