D6: Johnny Bar

A treat is in-store for a behaving young boy.

    The boy sat on the bench, waiting for his mother to come out of the public restroom. She had told him that if he didn't move she would get him a snack from the vending machine. The machine was just on the other side of the park's walking path, opposite the bench, and the boy had his eye on D6: a Johnny Bar. He loved Johnny Bars. He wouldn't move a muscle. 

    The first person to come by was a young woman dressed in a sweatpants and a short, black jogging top. She had headphones in her ears that led down to the Music Man that was clipped to the front of her jogging top. She was singing along to whatever was playing. In her hand was a red leash and that led down to a large dalmatian dog that jogged along with her. All of a sudden, the dog stopped in its tracks and began to whine, looking directly at the boy. The young woman, whose eyes had been closed, opened them just in time to keep from running over her dog. 

    "What is it, Pepper?" The woman asked, petting the dalmatian on the head. She turned to the boy, who the dog was looking intently at, and, at first, had a look on her face that seemed to say 'what's so special about that kid that'd make my Pepper Corn stop?'. The look, after only a second, changed to one of wide-eyed wonderment. She stood there, petting her dog absent-minded, staring at the boy.

    The boy tried to peer over the woman to keep his eye on the D6 Johnny Bar, but she was completely blocking his way. Though he'd been taught not to talk to strangers, he looked at the woman and spoke as politely as he could.

    "I'm sorry, ma'am," he said softly. "But could you move a little, I can't really see past you."

This seemed to snap the woman out of her intent gaze. She shook the wide-eyed wonder off of her face and smiled.

    "Sorry," she apologized and added to her dog, "Come on, Pepper." The dog reluctantly got moving again, but he kept turning back to the boy.

The woman and her dog out of the way, the boy looked back at the vending machine, ready to protect it in case anyone came by.

    A minute later another woman, this one older and with no dog, came by, wearing a sweatshirt and jeans. She stopped in front of the vending machine, scanning over the selections. Suddenly she tensed up. For a second the boy was frightened that she would choose D6, but then she turned around and stared at him. On her face was the same round-eyed wonderment that had been on the other woman's, and her dog's, face when she'd stared at him. She smiled thinly and approached slowly.

    "Oh my dear boy," she gasped, as though she was having a hard time breathing. "What are you doing here alone?"

    "I'm not alone," the boy replied. "My mommy's in the bathroom. I'm waiting."

    "I see," the woman nodded, her eyes still wide and round. "I think it would be best if you came with me."

The boy jumped back a little in fright at this.

    "Um, I can't," he said, prepared to scream if the woman tried to grab him. "My mommy's almost done. She'll be here in a minute. Please go away."

As soon as the words left his mouth, the woman blinked her eyes and nodded with a smile. She walked off down the path, leaving the boy to, once again, defend his Johnny Bar.

    After several minutes, the woman and her dalmatian had made their way back to the bench and they stood a little ways away from the vending machine, both staring at the boy. Another minute later and the older woman in jeans was back, standing by the younger lady and her dog. Two minutes passed, and three boys who had come to the park to smoke cigarettes and drink beer joined the women, staring at the boy. After four minutes there was a large man with a sweatband was there, too. They all stared at the boy, who, feeling slightly uncomfortable from the silent attention, stared intently at the D6 Johnny Bar in the vending machine.

    "There's my baby boy!"

The boy turned towards the familiar voice and saw his mother coming towards him from the bathroom. He jumped up and ran to hug her.

    "Mommy!" He smiled. "I did it! I sat there the whole time! Can I get a snack? Can I? You said!"

The boy's mommy was staring at the small crowd of five who were watching the boy with wide-eyed wonder. She felt a shiver creep up her back as she replied, "Of course you can, baby. What do you want?"

    "A Johnny Bar!" the boy exclaimed excitedly, even doing a little jig of enjoyment. 

His mother laughed at the cuteness of it and they walked over to the vending machine.

    That night, the Pepper Corn the dalmatian, though he had been trained not to, ate a large tin of chocolate on the the kitchen counter. His owner dropped the radio into her bubble bath. The older woman in jeans swallowed a handful of sleeping pills with a chaser of a whole bottle of wine. The three boys, brothers, sat in their father's running car in the garage as monoxide flowed through the windows. The large man with the sweatband hung himself from his basement ceiling. The boy slept in his Action Team of Specials bedsheets, dreaming about Johnny Bars raining from the sky.

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