Arthur and the Stranger Chapter 1: Unexpected Encounter
Arthur looks up from his counter to be greeted with the surly face of a stranger with a distinctive scar over his left eye. The man grunts as he walks from aisle to aisle as though he’s looking for something. Arthur breathes in deeply before deciding that he should do his job. He takes a few long strides toward the unwelcoming figure.
“Hello, sir. Welcome to StarMart. Is there anything I can help you with?” Arthur tries to smile as politely as he can; however, the stranger’s steely grey gaze makes him stumble a bit over his feet.
The man looks up at Arthur for a moment and leans close enough for him to smell his garlic breath. Arthur holds a stretched smile attempting to not break his composure. After the stranger looks Arthur up and down he shakes his head and resumes browsing the store.
Arthur exhales in relief before walking back to his counter and working with a child and an elderly customer.
After he finishes, he looks up again to see the surly stranger once again. This time he approaches him with a large loop of rope slung over his shoulder, a bitten red apple in his left hand, and a basket containing a small hatchet and a hammer. Arthur’s breath hitches before he starts choking on it. He turns his back on the man, reaches into his pocket, grabs his inhaler, closes his eyes and takes a few slow puffs. He takes a moment, then returns to this customer.
“Ahem… Wow! You must have a pretty big camping trip coming up, sir. Are you going down to the desert camp grounds this weekend?” He laughs nervously hoping to start some sort of small talk that might clear this uneasy feeling.
The stranger shrugs before placing the items on the counter. Arthur scans the items until he notices a strange silver clasp just underneath the customer’s brown wool jacket. This quickly eliminates any evidence pointing to the man being homeless.
“Eh… That really is an interesting pin you have got there. Do you-”Right at that moment the stranger flings a small glimmering object. Before he can decide what it is he feels a sharp pain in his left arm. Arthur yelps and grasps his arm in pain. He looks down and taps the object with his middle finger and grinds his teeth as he realizes that a ninja star is imbedded at least a half an inch into his arm. He quickly decides to leave it there and call 911 after he deals with this menace.
“Okay. What’s the big idea attacking m-“ Arthur looks up to notice that the stranger is gone. On the counter is a wad of $200 of cash. He picks up the money and leafs through it trying to ignore the blood that is dripping from his arm.
When the police arrive two hours later he shows them the ninja star and answers a brief series of questions. A paramedic takes a look at his arm and treats him with an adhesive glue before assuring him that this injury isn’t fatal and should heal up within a month or so, but he should go to the doctor to receive antibiotics.
The next day Arthur comes back to work and starts cleaning around his workstation. While sweeping underneath the counter he finds a small sheet of paper. Confused, Arthur picks it up. It’s a business card reading, “ Monster Hunter’s Association.”
