Grizz Needs a Tape Player
Greg "Grizz" Lee has come a long way since the death of his uncle. He's lived on the streets, gotten back off of them, even found himself with a girlfriend and two kids. But when an old friend of his uncle's comes by the house, having found an old cassette tape addressed to Greg, he's eager to listen to it. The only problem is, technology's come a long way too, and everyone he knows uses CDs...where will he find the means to listen to the tape? And what will he have to endure along the way?
Chapter 1
Alyce peered over her boyfriend's shoulder, watching the transparent object tumble dry in his confusion. “What is it?” she asked, her eyes watching a thin ribbon that ran through it.
Grizz gave it one last turn in his hands before he shrugged. “Dunno,” he admitted.
“Idiot kids!” Officer O'Malley shouted, snatching the thing back from Grizz. “It's a cassette tape!” Alyce stared at the tape and back to the police officer standing in the living room. His frown was sinking further beneath his mustache with every glance he gave around the room. “You two really don't have a tape player in this whole house, do you?”
Grizz shook his head. “Hey, ain't my fault!” Alyce liked watching his long hair bounce when his head moved. “Ain't had a need for one, ya know?”
“Okay, boys,” Alyce said, one hand held out toward each of them. “Grizz, before you make O'Malley too angry...” Her head turned to the cop. “...what does a tape player look like?”
O'Malley took a step back, taking him to the front door. “What kinda dumb question is that?' he asked back. “There's big ones, small ones...I ain't got one, so I can't show you. And I can't sit here and tell you everything!” O'Malley was already out the door by the time his last sentence came out. The tape came sailing over his shoulder, a throw that Grizz was barely able to catch. “Just find something you can fit that into and press Play on it!”
Alyce looked to Grizz, whose eyes were still locked on the tape. For the first time since O'Malley gave it to them, Grizz finally moved his hands to a place such that she could read what was written on a small band of white tape wound around the top. “To...Greg.”
She could feel his eyes on her for a brief moment before he knew better. Grizz hated his real name, but she was only reading aloud. He seemed to have realized that before she could say anything, instead repeating what O'Malley had told them earlier. “From Uncle...” The words fell out of his mouth as he stared at the tape in the light of the sunset coming through the window. “Never thought he'd be the type to leave a message like this.”
Alyce nodded. “I wouldn't have guessed it either!” She guided Grizz away from the front door and onto the couch. She sat the two of them down and asked, “So what do we do with it?”
Grizz held up the tape and looked at her through it. “Ain't it obvious? Just like O'Malley said...we gotta find something we can put it in and press Play!” Grizz sank against Alyce and turned over, staring up with dull blue eyes. “But how?”
“I don't know.” Alyce smiled and ran a hand through Grizz's hair. “But someone is bound to. By the time I got out of the Asylum...” Alyce's thoughts grew cloudy for a moment as she said it, but she tried her best to just focus on her point. “...well, everyone uses CDs now, right?”
Grizz closed his eyes and rested a bit in Alyce's lap, letting her play with his hair. “I mean, I guess? But if we've never seen one...well, if someone knew, we'd know right off, see? Like, we'd have seen it in their house or...somethin'.”
“Yeah,” she sighed, leaning in to kiss his forehead. “So we just rule out people whose houses we've been in, for now...and ask everyone else!”
“I dunno, sunshine.” Grizz's hand trailed along one of Alyce's ears as she sat back upright. “We just go up to all those people an' ask 'em for a tape player?”
Alyce fidgeted in place for a bit, freeing up her foxlike tail for Grizz to pet. “Grizz,” she said, “after all you've done for me?” With a short giggle, she added, “We can find a tape player...!”
“This was simple.” Alyce's tail fluttered a bit as Grizz's fingers gently scratched it. “Just had to go to the guys tryin' to cut ya up, and start fightin'.”
“'Simple'? You got stabbed!”
“Said 'simple', not 'easy'.”
“I...” Alyce exhaled the rest of her sentence in a harsh huff. “Look, tomorrow, we'll find a babysitter and ask someone.”
Grizz sat up. “'Someone'?” he repeated. “Gonna have to narrow it down, sunshine.”
Alyce held up her index finger. “I know who we should ask, but you're gonna hate the answer.”
“Maybe we ought to kiss before you tell me.” Alyce couldn't help but agree; she'd been wanting to really kiss him since they got to the couch.