70 - The goblins took everything.
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I'm riding along in the truck with Cliff to some
job he wants a hand with. We blow through the stop
sign at Wray and 111th because Cliff doesn't care
much for stop signs, and it's just our bad luck
that we clip some big old sedan on its rear
quarter. Our truck somehow gets the worst of it:
whole front quarter is wrecked and it can't steer,
airbags out, all of that. Meanwhile, that old
sedan does this wild skidding one-eighty, and I
see the driver has this crazed look on their face
as they work the wheel and smoke the tires trying
to speed away. And I'm wondering why they're so
frantic. They sure don't get too far, and run the
car right into another. Goes flying, and flips
upside down. Two more cars come barrelling
through, swerve, tip over, slide on their
sides. Another comes by, hits all three, and rolls
four times. It was bonkers. You ever watched those
old Blues Brothers movies? Yeah, like that.
Somehow everyone just crawls out and walks away
from this, and we all sort of gather in the mud
patch by the curb. Then a thing happens. Some trap
door opens just past the curb across the
intersection from us, and a whole horde of goblins
comes pouring out of it. They head for the wrecked
cars, and they strip them bare of everything not
bolted or glued down. Sunglasses, receipts, masks,
keys, food, boxes, tools, our test rigs, shifter
knobs... everything. Take it all down back the
trap door with them, close it, and that's that.
I turn to Cliff with a sort of "now what" look,
but he just shrugs. He pops open this round metal
box hanging around his neck by a leather cord,
takes out a waffle and starts munching it. And I'm
thinking the same thing you all probably are:
where can I get me one of those shiny waffle
boxes.
