Page 5 of Out of the Storm

“Gary, hurry up!” Mel picked her bag up off the floor. “I can’t be late for the movies. Ken will think I stood him up.”

“Have a fantastic evening Mister...” Gary’s eyes fell to patch on General Grump’s chest. “... Eastwood.”

Mel snorted. “Eastwood’s the name of the mall, weirdo.”

After a moment, the man wet his lips and said, “Billy McCoy.”

Gary couldn’t stop himself from breaking into whathadto have been the most pathetically happy smile ever. “Gary Graham.”

“Radio man.”

“Gary Graham, Radio Man,” Gary repeated. “And yet all I could come up with was Graham Cracker. Where were you four years ago?”

After a beat, Billy McCoy said, “I was a shoe salesman in New Jersey.”

Was that thetiniesthint of a smile tugging at the man’s lips? So much for General Grump. Though Gary had the strange sense that this Billy bloke was poking fun at him somehow. He kind of wanted to ask about that faintest tease of a smile, but instead, he found himself saying, “Oh, wow, what brought you to Ohio, then?”

Mel tugged the sleeve of his coat once more. “Gary!”

Gary sputtered, “Right, well, feel free to listen in tonight, Billy. WKBR. I’d be curious to hear your opinion on the topic of the evening. Do you think French fries taste better with ketchup or malt vinegar?” He started following Mel toward the exit before whirling around and shouting, “Discussions at five and ten!”

As soon as they were out of earshot of Billy McCoy, Mel caught Gary’s eye and started cackling.

“Maybe there’s a man for you here in Niles after all.”

“Oh, yes, me and the broody custodian. We’re a perfect match,” Gary said with a snort, tucking his papers tighter under his leftarm. “Really, Mel, I’m not sure if I’mcoolenough for a man like that.”

“You’re not sure if you’re cool enough for a mall janitor?”

“He has that whole edgy shtick happening. Heoozescool.” Gary shoved her with his right elbow. “I mean, he’s John Bender, the bad boy. I’m Brian, the brain.”

“Enough withThe Breakfast Club! Ever since we saw it last week, you’ve been sticking it into way too many of our conversations.”

“Are you telling me you prefer my math puns to pop culture references?”

Mel threw Gary a smirk as they neared the exit. “I prefer normal human conversation.”

“Oh, notallmath puns are terrible. Justsum. You know—S-U-M?”

“Oh, God,” she said, shoving Gary sideways with a rough push.

“Aren’t I clever?” Gary said, recovering easily.

“I’m surprised you even have listeners sometimes.”

“Well, when I’m on the air, I leave out the math-related commentaryin favor of useless trivia. Sometimes food related. You know, what with the names of my programs and everything.”

“How fun,” Mel said with a sarcastic glance his direction.

They stepped out into the parking lot in tandem, and the rush of winter air had Gary tensing his muscles.

“Poo-poo it all you want,” he said, awkwardly hurrying to zip up his coat, “but I make enough to keep the electricity on.”

“Ah, yes, the local business advertisements.”

“Hey, I have plenty of listeners. The fine folks of Niles simply will not start their mornings without listening to me read the obits.”

“I thought you were switching those to the evening program.”

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