Arcadia Arcadia

Joe chuckled as they walked away, glancing back at Woody Allen, who had morphed suddenly into Luigi, Mario's brother, and was looking suspiciously at them.

He clutched Lemtata to him and sped up slightly, suddenly nervous.

    "What's up?" Lemtata asked, glancing back, "Joe, he's following us.  Where did Woody Allen go?"

    "I don't know, he just turned into that guy, listen just keep walking, I think I have an idea." Joe replied, backtracking.  He had seen a touristy information booth a block back, and his instinct was telling him he needed a map.

    They arrived at the information booth after speed walking dorkily past a group of seeming wanna be delinquent ne'er do well pre teens who were skate boarding and smoking something that smelled both of weed and cigarettes simultaneously.  Their skateboards sparked and crackled as they landed or did 'Ollie's', and Joe wondered if they ever got electrocuted.  One of them smirked as they strode by and snapped-"Where's the fire, Pee Wee!?" to which all his cohorts guffawed and jeered.  Joe paused, stopped walking instantly, and coldly glared at the kid.

    "Luigi from Mario Brothers is following me, probably to kill me, and my best friend Jose is lost in this city, so get out of my face." and Joe kept walking.

The punk balked and his face drained of blood.

    "You said.....you said the name.  You...you can't say that name!  Hey!!"  Joe paid no mind and focused on the map he was to receive surely.

     The pudgy old lady at the information kiosk was too happy to receive a customer and proceeded in with a lengthy rant about the downtown district and its charms and also the I.E.D., the Interdimensional Education District, but Joe tuned her out once she handed him the gawdy tourist map he had been hoping would be included in the kiosks offerings.

The map showed different features of the downtown district with different symbols,  and Joe found what he wanted quickly and, after turning back and forth for a second, asked the pudgy lady:
     "Which way is Mother Boardwalk Way?"
    The lady, whose dayglo orange name tag insinuated that her name was Midge, pointed the way, and Joe briskly walked off, tugging on Lemtata's arm.


Their destination loomed before them in the nightsky a block before they got there.  The glow from the neon and lights on the building's exterior filled the late night with a paltry and eerie false daylight.

"Nero's Retro Arcade Palace" blinked a story-tall vintage neon sign.  It seemed the blinking was not a feature of the sign but rather an indication it may be on its last legs.  On the fritz was the theme of this district.

They walked in.

Joe led Lemtata down aisles and aisles of upright video games, searching for something.  He began to despair that he wouldn't find it, until he got to the back corner of the building, off near the service elevators, and, crammed in a corner and covered in grime and dust and barely recognizable, he saw the video game console he seeked..

The tube emitted a faint blue gleam.

Joe reached into his pocket to find quarters.  He hoped.  Yes.  There were at least a dozen quarters in his pocket somehow.  He didn't know how, but didn't particularly care.

He dropped a few into the machine.  It chirped with affirmation and Joe hit the 1 Player button on a video game named TRON.

    "This is the place." said Joe.