Brief and Crewsocks: Ghost Hunters

Chapter 2

The boys expected to find the shop to be dark and completely abandoned. So they were quite surprised when they stepped into a well-lit and fully stocked location that only felt creepy in that it felt like it had stepped out of time from 30 years ago, well before either of the boys was even born.

Before them sat an electronics store from the early to mid-1990s, back when this neighborhood was at its peak. All of the devices on display looked new but were also hopelessly outdated by modern technology. Before they laid CRT TVs, VCRs, and many other long-forgotten devices lining neatly manicured shelves.

As the boys stared on in wonder, a humanoid figure pitch black with glowing red eyes in a badly fitting checkered suit suddenly appeared before them out of thin air. "Welcome to Honest Bob's Electronics Emporium!!" chimed the ghost, "I am so happy you dropped by!!"

The two boys looked at each other in confusion, each deciding that reacting to such a warm welcome with violence felt a bit odd and lowered their weapons.

"Well, actually we were thinking..." began Briefs hesitantly, not sure how to finish that sentence and tell this ghost they had come to send him to heaven.

The ghost popped up behind the two boys and wrapped his arms around them, pulling them into a close embrace. "You hardly need to tell me—a couple of hot studs like you want to sign up for a pager service. So whenever one of your many young lady friends needs you to come by to lay some pipe, so to speak, you can just grab the latest payphone and give them a ring."

Crewsocks looked quite bewildered by this and leaned forward to look at Brief questioningly, "What is he talking about?"

Brief, being a proud geek, knew a bit more about older technology than his partner and explained, "Yeah, a pager is kind of like a cellphone but can only send short text messages."

Crewsocks gave a brief nod before looking at 'Honest Bob' and explaining sheepishly, "Well, you see—payphones are kind of not really a thing anymore. I can't even remember the last time I've seen one."

Honest Bob pulled his arms back before snapping his fingers with a confident smile. "I got it— you know, I usually save these for my big business customers, but you boys are probably pulling so much tail that what you really need.." He snatched a big blocky device larger than his hand with an antenna off the shelf, "Are some of these latest cell phones! With these, your girls can call you whenever and wherever and you can instantly talk.."

"Wait—you mean like... talk without being able to see each other," questioned Crewsocks with astonishment.

Brief nodded at this before explaining, "Yeah, people used to regularly use their voice over phones. Old ones like that didn't even have texting capabilities."

Crewsocks shook his head with a sigh and a shrug, "That feels so rude—to demand that someone talk with you immediately rather than just write them a message and let them get back to you whenever they can."

Brief nodded in agreement again, "Yeah—things were weird back then, weren't they?"

Honest Bob popped up before them and instead turned their attention towards a nearby VCR. "Then, how about our latest VCR model? Just imagine! You can watch the cinema at home!! It has auto-tracking and you can set the clock to record whatever channel you like. If two shows you want to watch are on at the same time, you can even have the VCR record the show on another channel from the one you are watching."

Brief reached into his pocket and pulled out his smartphone. "Sorry, but—" he explained to the ghost with trepidation, "But this can not only do everything the pager or cellphone could do, but I can watch every TV show or movie ever made."