Seattle, Washington

March 2000

 

Bubble wrap, boxes and packing tape littered the countertops of Xanadu Comics.  The lights still burned brightly though the store had been closed for hours.  Ken Hollenbeck affixed another label to another box and dropped the label back into a wastebasket now overflowing with them, a testimony to the volume of address labels he'd adhered to as many boxes.  The completed box was placed in a growing stack with a little less care than when he'd began 3 hours ago.

Knock. Knock.   A tap on the glass front door.

"We're closed," Ken said in a raised voice.

Another tap, this time a bit louder.

"I said...we're closed!" the storeowner said, raising his voice further and turning to face the door.   Once he turned, he got a look at his late night visitor and immediately walked to the door.  "What are you doing here so late?" he asked after unlocking and opening the door, setting off the electronic door chime.

"I was going to ask you the same thing," Holly Wood said with a smile.  "I was passing by, walking home and saw you in here.  Hope I'm not bugging you."

"I wish.  Because if you were then that would mean I was doing something more interesting than talking to you...which I'm not."

Holly laughed.  There was something about the way that Ken talked that she found charming, amusing and self-deprecating all at the same time.  "I'm glad I'm interesting.  I was worried there for a second."

Ken chuckled back.   "No need to worry.  You are still registering on my 'interesting meter'."

"So...not to be a broken record, but what are you doing here at ten o'clock?"

"Oh... I'm trying to get a shipment ready for UPS for tomorrow.  I'm like a week behind."

"A shipment?  Of what?"

"Comics.  I run a mail order business out of the store."  Ken paused a moment and realized they were still standing in the doorway.  "I'm sorry, come on in, I could use the company."

"Thanks." Holly Wood stepped inside as Ken locked the door behind her.  "Mail order, huh?  Does it really keep you THAT busy?" she asked, indicating the large stack of outgoing boxes.

"Actually it does.   It's more cost effective than running all over the country to the various conventions.  I hardly go anymore...except San Diego.  That's a nice two week vacation I can write off as business."

Holly handed the Tully's bag she was holding over to Ken.  It was still warm.  "Here.  I saw you working late and figured you could use this."

Ken set the bag down and retrieved the contents.  "You are an angel!  I haven't eaten since lunch."  Ken eagerly attacked the pastry and coffee.

"You know," Ken said with his mouth full of food before washing it down with the mild coffee, "I told myself that I wasn't going to eat until I got everything finished.  You know, like a goal?  To help keep you going?"

"Right..."

"So now that I HAVE eaten, I guess I met my goal and I'm done, right?"  Ken paused a moment and spoke again before Holly could answer, "See…if you say yes, then I have external validation.  Just say yes, okay?"

"Yes, Mr. Hollenbeck, you have achieved your goals for the day," Holly laughed.

"Okay then, one last thing to do," Ken added as he set down the coffee.

"What's that?"

"Ask you if I can return your favor and take you out for a bite."

"Well, it's a bit late for me to be eating..."

"Hey, nothing fancy, I was just going over to Kell's Irish Pub and grab a burger and a pint.  How about a beer or something?"

"Okay, that sounds good," Holly said with a smile.

"Aw crap!"

"What?"

Ken turned back to his stack of boxes. "I have one that I have to get out tomorrow.  Do you mind waiting a minute?  Won't take five minutes."

"Sure, Ken.  Can I help?"

"Yeah," Ken said as he walked behind the counter, "grab one of those small reinforced mailers and some of that bubble wrap."

Holly obliged as she watched her proprietor friend kneel behind the counter and open a small safe.  "Aren't you afraid I'm going to rob you?" she asked with a laugh.

"No cash in here and you'd probably have a tough time moving this merchandise."  Ken relocked the safe and stood up holding a comic in his hand.   It was protected by some kind of hard plexiglass sleeve.  "The safe is fireproof.  My insurance company insisted upon it," Ken said, laying the comic on the counter and wrapping it in bubble wrap.

"So how come that one is so valuable?" Holly asked, looking at the package with curiosity.

Ken stopped wrapping it for a moment.  "Despite the fact my 'inner-geek' might rear it's embarrassing head and reflect poorly on me in the company of an attractive woman," Ken smirked with a strange glint in his eye, "would you like to see?"

"Do I have a choice?" Holly asked, feigning disinterest.

"This comic, 'Exciting Action!' number 62," Ken began, ignoring his friend, "features the long-awaited origin of 'Captain Patriot,' published in October of 1945.  What makes this comic unique besides it's age is that all of the other major comics of the time, 'American Ace,' 'Ultra Woman,' 'Doctor Indigo,' and 'Thunderman,' just to name a few, all had their origins spelled out early in their print runs, if not as a quick blurb in their first issues."

"Uh, huh."

"See, the writer, Cecil Blakemoor, had NO IDEA where 'Captain Patriot' came from or what he could do.   His powers changed almost issue to issue.   Yes, there were a few consistencies…he could always fly, for example…but in one issue he could see through walls, and in the next he could read minds.  And until this issue," Ken said holding up the comic, "no one had any reason to wonder about 'Captain Patriot's' past.  The readers were all ten years old.  Kids don't care about things like that."

"But he wrote a story about it anyway...?"

"Exactly. His story went back more than a thousand years, talking about a woman in Roman-occupied England named Bodecia that led a revolt against the Roman Legions. She had prayed to the Celtic gods and was given powers to fight against the 'eternal enemy.' Eventually she was killed but her offspring would receive the power in turn to defeat the 'ageless-foe,' until finally he was destroyed.  The hero would always have the power necessary to beat the enemy, and 'Captain Patriot' was the greatest of all the descendants of Bodecia."

"Cool story," Holly said, now leaning against one of the counters.

"Yeah, and from what I read, based a bit in truth.  There was a Celtic queen named Bodecia that led a revolt against the Romans in England.  Of course she's a folk hero in England and Blakemoor was originally from there," Ken said as he put the comic in the shipping box and began to tape it shut.

"What happened to 'Captain Patriot'?  After the origin, I mean."

"They stopped publishing him about a year after.  Western comics became the rage.  No one wanted to think about war anymore after 1945.  And Cecil..." Ken added with enthusiasm, "this is kinda cool, Cecil disappeared about the time the last issue came out.  No one knows what happened to him.  The rights to 'Captain Patriot' have been tied up in the courts for years, and so comic fanatics hold this book in pretty high regard.  There aren't many around these days, top condition or otherwise."

"How much is that one worth?"

"Decent condition like this?  About six thousand dollars.  I see fewer and fewer of them in ANY condition these days.  They don't show up in the auction houses nor at the conventions, which is unusual.  Had to trade some very nice books for it at the last San Diego show.  But this guy's sent me a certified check for twenty-three thousand dollars, and with those kind of 'zeroes,' I'll consider it an investment well made."  Ken locked the packaged comic back up in the safe and looked at Holly, "Just in case... I'd hate to have to refund that Brit's cash.  Ready for a pint?"

"Just one, is that okay?"

"Hey that's fine by me," Ken said as he unlocked the door, and opened it for Holly.  "Remember, I was planning on eating alone."

Ken turned off the lights and locked the door behind them.

End.

 

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