“David, would you be able to go restock an item in aisle four?”

David’s boss shoved a wide cardboard box full of foam basketballs into David’s chest. David almost fell down from the force, but he quickly recovered and took a firm hold of the package.

“Thanks,” his boss replied as he strolled to another aisle to order more people around.

“Pfft, restock my butt,” David muttered as soon as he saw that his boss was out of earshot. David hated this job. He hated nearly everything about it. He hated cleaning the aisle floors to the point where they were so shiny, you could see your reflection in them. He hated ringing up groceries at the cash register, hearing that constant “boop!” sound every time he scanned a barcode. He hated talking to stupid customers who would ask stupid questions like, “Would I be able to find milk in the produce department?” And worst of all, he hated restocking shelves with items that wouldn’t fit in the space provided to him, causing them to fall and scatter all over the ground. David wanted to quit, but Save-Mart was the only place in town that would hire him. Plus, he needed this job so that he could purchase a remote-controlled four-wheel mega-car by DriveCo. His friends all had one, and once David had enough money to purchase a mega-car, they were going to have a big neighborhood race with cash prizes and everything. It wouldn’t take too long to make $200. Then maybe David could get out of this wretched position.

David began making his way over to aisle four, which unfortunately was all the way across the store. It was about a two-minute trip, but David finally made it to the correct aisle: the toy section. David stared at all of the “girly” toys with disgust: the Fun-Bake ovens, the Make-Me-Pretty makeup kits, the Lovey Dovey dolls. David couldn’t imagine why parents would want to buy these things for their kids. Whenever David approached the girl’s section in the toy aisle, he yearned to set the store on fire with the ovens, pull a prank on his boss with the makeup kit while he was asleep, and rip the heads off of those evil dolls. However, the other half of the aisle was a different story. David actually quite enjoyed looking at all of the toys in the boy’s section because it gave him memories of his childhood. He used to play with a lot of

these toys as a kid: the Tuff-Stuff action figures, the inflatable soccer net complete with ball, the Ew!-wy Gooey Bug Collector. This part of the store was one of the only good things about the job. Besides that, aisle four was where he could find his remote-controlled four-wheel mega-car by DriveCo. Well, it wasn’t his yet, but it was going to be soon.

Once he found the correct display, David threw down the box and started grabbing the squishy

basketballs. Luckily, he was supposed to put them in a black iron cage on wheels in the middle of the aisle. It would have been completely illogical to put them on a shelf, otherwise, they’d just roll away. David found it easier to just grab the whole box and dump the balls in. The job took only about ten seconds, and once he was finished, David tossed the package to the side and ambled towards the end of the aisle.

“Someone will pick it up later,” David thought.

Before he made it past the girl’s section, David noticed something that intrigued him. It was a remote-controlled four-wheel mega-car by DriveCo, but not in its usual package. Instead, the car was just out on a shelf, its joystick remote lying next to it. David approached the toy and noticed a small note attached to the top of the vehicle.

“Try me,” David read aloud. He couldn’t believe his luck! The store was allowing customers to test the product before they purchased it. He wasn’t going to let this opportunity slip away from him.

Hands shaking from excitement, David snatched the car and gently placed it on the ground, making sure he was cautious not to break anything. Then, he reached for the remote and examined the controls. From the ads on television, he knew that the car had the ability to go in any direction, spin around and travel at speeds up to fifty miles per hour. The remote itself appeared simple enough. There was a joystick for direction, a joystick for speed and a few other special buttons that would cause the car to make sounds or light up. But David didn’t care about those abilities. The main thing he wanted to see was how fast this baby could really go. He flipped the “On” switch to the right on the remote, then moved the direction stick around, causing the car to spin in rapid circles.

“Sweet,” David said. Now, it was time for something a little more riveting. He moved the speed stick to its maximum power, and before he could shout, “Go!” the car was speeding down the aisle.

“Awesome!” David exclaimed as he accidentally dropped the remote from his jittery hands. He picked it up and followed the car out of aisle four and into the office department of the store. This section was almost always dead, so David knew he had plenty of space to practice some radical moves with the mega-car. He used the direction joystick to make the toy turn around and come back to him, but instead, the vehicle traveled out of the aisle and into the open area of the store.

“Huh, maybe I did something wrong,” David wondered as he followed after the car. Now, the toy was zooming straight towards to electronics department, the busiest section in the store. David knew that he couldn’t play with his car back there, so he flicked the speed joystick down to make the car come to a rest. However, the remote-controlled four-wheel mega-car by DriveCo didn’t listen. It had a mind of its own, and that imaginary brain told it to keep heading in the direction of the electronics, where it could create some major damage.

“What?” David said as he frantically kept forcing the joystick down. “Wait! Stop!”

The toy kept going along the same path at a rapid speed, no matter how many different buttons and

switches David messed with. Within a few seconds, it had entered the electronics department, where it zipped around all of the fancy displays. Eventually, it made its way over to the new televisions, where an old couple was admiring a 44” flat screen. David hoped that that mega-car would dodge them just as it had dodged the displays, but instead, the toy rammed right into the couple’s feet. The impact caused them both to trip, but their fall didn’t stop the mega-car from continuing across the store. David felt very bad for the woman, but her husband had asked him if a Phillips screwdriver was the same as a flat-head screwdriver earlier in the hardware department, so he didn’t have as much sympathy for him. Still, he had an urge to help the two of them up, but he knew his first priority was to catch that car!

Running as quickly as possible, David followed the car out of the electronics department towards the produce. This section of the store was also buzzing with people, but at the moment, David was more concerned about the mountain of various fruits on display that the car was about to destroy. In moments, David’s prediction became true as the car slammed into the display, backed up a few inches, then continued on its epic adventure. The reaction of the collision was drastic; every individual piece of fruit rolled out of the plastic holders and onto the floor, bouncing against the cold tile. The sight and sound of this occurrence attracted David’s boss, who looked horrified at the jumble of tropical fruit on the ground.

“What the-…What is going on here?!” he shouted, clearly appalled. Now, David was really in hot water. Not only did he have to capture the out-of-control vehicle, he also had to escape from his angry boss.

Panicked, David sprinted across the store in search of the car, his boss following close behind. Where they found the toy next did not please either one of them. Aisle seven was now a huge clutter of open cereal boxes, cracker crumbs, and Pop-Tart sprinkles, all thanks to the mega-car riding up against the shelves, toppling every product in sight. The severity of the situation was obviously not being handled well by David’s boss.

“That tears it!” he screamed, quite louder than before. He turned to David, eyes crackling, but instead of chiding his employee on better work responsibility, David’s boss had a much calmer response.

“Here’s what we’re going to do,” he began, speaking in a slow, soothing tone. “The car is heading southeast toward the dairy section. If you come in from aisle eleven and I come in from the laundry department, we might have a chance of catching it. That way, I’ll have time to grab a basket, giving us the ability to trap the thing. Got it?”

David was shocked by the speech. He thought that him and his boss both shared an equal hatred of each other, but now was the crucial time for the two of them to team up and stop the monster that was tearing up the store.

David nodded his head before replying, “Yes. Let’s do this.”

On the release of the last syllable, David and his boss broke off and headed toward different sections of the store. David readied his position in aisle eleven while his boss prepared himself in the laundry department. As soon as they arrived in their designated watch spots, they patiently waited until the critical moment when the car reached the dairy department. David kept a close eye on the vehicle as it slowed itself to a stop directly in front of the egg cooler. When it was completely idle, David gave an audible signal.

“Now!”

David and his boss sprinted towards the car, hollering like warriors. Before the toy had any chance of moving, David’s boss slammed down a blue plastic laundry basket over it, trapping the remote-controlled four-wheel mega-car by DriveCo for good.

“We did it!” David’s boss screamed, causing several customers to turn their heads in confusion. The patrons' concern didn’t stop David from receiving a high-five from his boss and a “Nice work, kid.”

“Thanks,” David responded, smiling for one of the first-ever times in Save-Mart.

“No, really.” His boss’ tone sounded much grimmer. “Nice work. You’ve officially trashed my store, giving me no choice but to fire you.”

David would have been more upset, but in a way, he was almost relieved. As he walked back to the employee break room to get his stuff, car and remote in hand, he couldn’t help but wonder how the whole fiasco started. He curiously flipped the remote over on its backside to notice that the “On” switch had been switched to “Demo.” David realized this must have happened when he had dropped the remote earlier, giving him no control over the car and signaling it to go crazy. If the car was going to be this touchy, David didn’t want it anyway.

“Stupid piece of junk,” he hissed before slamming the car onto the floor. A few pieces of plastic broke off from the sides, but David didn’t care. Someone would clean up the mess later. It kind of stank now that David didn’t have a job since he still needed money for other things.

“Oh well…” he thought, trying to stay somewhat positive. “There are always more chores to be done at home.”