“So, was I early?”
I can tell that while Stain is mildly amused about interrupting my encounter, he’s also worried that he’s upset me.
“No, it’s your birthday amigo, there’s no early.”
“You sure? You’re not saying much?”
“Yeah, the soldier’s rigamortis is still affecting the General’s ability to command, you know?”
“Ah, as in the blood has flowed away from your brain?”
“It’s going back there again. Before you know it, I’ll be able to think of all kinds of cool stuff.”
“Like costumes?” Stains asks with a glimmer in his eye.
“But aren’t costumes for superheros with secret identities?”
“It’s not to hide who we are. I just think costumes would be like guano crazy awesome.”
“OK, but hold on here. You’re Stain, and I’m Sappho. Would we both just steal the Superman “S” for our chests, or do your propose that we do symbols? Perhaps you get a big brown excrement mark, and I adorn myself with lesbians.”
“No to both. I was thinking we both do the first two letters of our superhero names,” Stain returns.
“So, you are S-T, which is saint, and I would be S-A, which stands for Sexaholics Anonymous.”
“Oh, crap, good point.”
“No, no, no. No, I like it. Can mine be red? Oh, I don’t want to wear tights though.”
“We could just get custom t-shirts. You could have a red S-A, and I could get a blue S-T shirt.”
“We should probably get a few of them. I don’t want to be wearing yesterday’s stinky shirt when fighting crime.”
I see Stain look up ahead. “Dude, is that a dingy hotel bar?”
I look ahead and look around some more. “You mean the one right across the street from the restaurant that only hires really hot girls and makes them wear next to nothing?”
“Yeah. I love hotel bars. We going?”
“Oh, yeah – we’re going. Hey Stain?”
“Yeah?”
“I know Superman has become one word in common practice, but it’s really two words if you think about it. Shouldn’t Superman have more than one letter?”
“I guess.”
“Well, since he’s super and a man, I was thinking that he should be S&M?” I say.
“Right, and I suppose he’ll be doing the nasty with door to door sales girls that visit him at his home which is actually a converted mechanic’s shop.”
Stain opens the door and motions me to go ahead in. The bar is surprisingly well-lit and clean for what it is.