Spizzicato

(a dream.)

"It's Spizzicato! You'll never leave home without it!" As soon as the commercial ended I was out the door. I ran and ran and was there in seconds. It was an enormous building glazed in modern architecture. I walked into a large open space bustling with people and with all sorts of shops around the perimeter. One of the shops had no visible name and I knew that that was the one. There wasn't anyone in line or anything so I got immediate service. The girl hadn't slept for days though, and looked like a bird ready to fall off the branch. I walked up and she was cleaning the soda dispenser with a rag in slow, exaggerated scrubs. I had to speak up. "Excuse me, yes, I'd like some spizzicato." She slowly turned around and finally muttered, "oh sure, of course." She came closer and held out her hand as if she was expecting something from me. I reached in my pocket and gave her a pen. She examined it for a whole minute, taking it apart and testing the spring's elasticity. She put it together and handed it back to me saying this pen just wouldn't do. "I'm so sorry," I said, "I don't know what it is you sell here, I just saw the commercial and thought you guys did such a good job on it that you deserve a customer. I mean the argument between the bottle cap collector and the stewardess culminating in an epic piano duel sing-along, it just fascinated me to no end." She nodded sleepily like she didn't hear a word I said. She then ducked down and got out a company pen from the inventory. "Here, you can use this." She then proceeded to break open the pen at the center. There was a hinge sewn into into the plastic so I guessed it was meant to do that. She pulled out a large bottle marked "Spizzicato", put the nozzle to the pen's opening, and squirted the dark green liquid to the brim. She closed it back up and presented it to me like a newly-crafted sword. I took it and said thanks. At that point I realized I had absolutely no money on me. I confessed this to her in a mumble as I reached in my pockets to make sure. All I had was my hair brush. So I gave her the hair brush and moved on. I am now the proud owner of a Spizzicato.