Mart
by Mary

Mart had hoped for refreshments, but as he looked around the room that was bustling with people milling about and seating themselves, he saw nothing that could be construed as edible. He discounted the fake cherries on an elderly woman’s hat. He wasn’t that desperate.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that his sister, Trixie was taking in the other occupants, her gaze sweeping through the room as deadly as a cobra before it is going to strike. In typical Trixie fashion, she was probably deciding that one of the others looked “mysterious”. Mart almost smiled at the thought. For all of his teasing, he had to admit that he was proud of Trixie. She had a way of noticing things that most other people did not.

It wouldn’t kill him to take a page out of Trixie’s book and become more observant himself. Like his sister, he took a quick glance around the room. Armless metal chairs in an odd gold color with padded backs and seat cushions in a flecked gray. An older woman who looks like she regrets coming here today. What she should really regret is that unfortunate headgear. And there’s a kid looking pretty disappointed. He’s probably let down by the lack of snacks, too. Mart grinned at the thought of a fellow foodie.

“What’s so funny?” Diana whispered from where she sat next to him.

“Nothing. I just think that lady over there thinks they could have at least provided some coffee and Danish or something. Cherry Danish.”

“Shhh!” Di whispered, but Mart could tell by her face that she was amused. He could always tell.

She reached into her purse. “Here,” she said, pressing a peanut butter granola bar into his hand. “I wouldn’t want you to faint from hunger, after all.”

Mart opened the snack and took a large bite. “You are a celestial creature from the great beyond,” he mumbled.

Diana merely rolled her eyes.

Mart was about to resume his observations of the room and its occupants when the man who’d approached the BWGs at the mall stepped to the front of the room and cleared his throat in an “okay, it’s time to shut up and pay attention” kind of way.

Mart listened carefully to the instructions as he finished the granola bar and shoved the wrapper into his jeans pocket. He noticed that his sister looked a bit nervous and this confused him—it sounded like an easy gig to him, and of all the BWGs, she would be the most likely to do well in this kind of project. So what did she have to be nervous about? Now that’s mysterious, he thought. He made a quick mental note to talk to his sister afterwards and then focused on the screen in front of him as the video began.

One...two…three…Mart flicked his gaze back and forth as he followed the basketball and kept count of the passes as he had been instructed to do. As had been his habit while playing basketball for Sleepyside Junior/Senior High School, he kept track of the team in black, the other team in this “game”. Eight…nine…ten…? Mart saw something at the corner of his vision and almost burst out laughing as a gorilla nonchalantly wandered into the middle of the players, beat his chest a few times, and then moved off screen.

What the…I hope I didn’t lose count, Mart thought as the video ended. He looked at the questionnaire he’d been given before the start of the video and stretched his neck from side to side until it popped, prompting another, “Shhh!” from Di.

“Sorry,” he whispered. He took the pencil from where he’d tucked it behind his ear and began to answer the questions.

Mart hoped this was correct, but he’d been a little distracted by the gorilla.

3. How hard was it for to separate the passes from the two colors?
It only proved difficult when, for unknown reasons, a Primate from the family Hominidae, namely, a black gorilla, made an appearance. If you want people to perform accurate calculations, you might want to reconsider this portion of the video.

Mart finished the sentence with a satisfied flourish.

Mart was glad he had thought to make this observation.

Mart frowned at the next question and realized to his consternation that he had no idea.

7. Did you notice how many girls were on the video?
3 females; 3 males

Mart finished writing and felt pretty good about his answers. He looked around the room. A few people, including his brother Brian, were still writing, their faces still with concentration. His sister looked a bit flushed, but she was clearly finished, the paper turned over and resting on her lap as she appeared to be eating the pencil.

He wanted to ask her what was wrong, but knew better than to talk while others were still completing the test.

He sighed inwardly and hoped that she wasn’t brooding over Jane Morgan again. When it came to certain things, his sister could be as stubborn about letting go as Reddy was about surrendering a stick he had just retrieved. He knew she was disappointed, but what else could she do but make the best of it?

He turned his attention back to the test and wondered if he had done all right. He couldn’t wait to see what a bunch of basketball passes and a gorilla had to do with anything.