‘So we’re breaking and entering,’
says Elle, a little disapproving.
I hold up my finger. ‘Well
technically nothing’s getting broken so we’re just entering. There’s no crime
there.’
‘Nice logic,’ she replies. ‘How
are we making contact?’
‘I’ll tell you inside,’ I say. ‘You’re
going to like this.’
‘Oo mystery,’ she says. I can
think of nothing else in reply so I just stick my tongue out and travel through
the door.
Graham spends most of his time
in a big room his parents converted for him under the house. I inform Elle of
this as she steps through the front door into the spacious hallway.
‘He lives in his parent’s
basement?’ she remarks incredulously. ‘Seriously? People actually do that?’
‘You’ll see why,’ I reply. ‘It’s
like mecca for nerds.’
‘Great,’ she says, layering
sarcasm on her words.
She follows me down the
staircase to the right, under the stairs travelling upwards. Graham’s parent’s
style, for a pair of highly paid scientists, is very chintzy, with thickly
piled carpets, ornaments and doilies scattered everywhere.
As soon as we step down the
staircase, the change is instantaneous. Static chintz becomes suave glitz and
as I notice every time I come down here, Graham has spent his parent’s money
extremely well.
To the left is table football
and a crimson pool table, with spots and stripes already set up. On the left is
a set of leather sofas facing a huge flatscreen TV with every game console
imaginable underneath.
Just under the stairs is, I’m
sure, the world’s biggest comic book collection. Graham, though he neglects to
admit it, is as big a comic book nut as I am. And his alphabetised collection,
spanning from Atlas to The Uncanny Zed calls to me from the white, glossy
shelves. Over to the far side is an area of the room which is not used as much
as it’s worth: a big island table, set up with beakers and Bunsen burners,
along with several complicated looking pieces of scientific equipment even I’d
have trouble putting a name to. A lot of it is covered in dust and I itch to go
over to it.
Graham, typically, is stretched
out on the leather sofa with a bowl of popcorn and a game controller under his
thumbs.
‘So how are we going to get his
attention?’ asks Elle. ‘I can flash him if you’d like, just for laughs. I doubt
he sees much boob.’
I laugh. ‘No I have a much
better idea, something much more Graham’s style.’
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