Old Games on the eShop: Some Ideas

With original software like Mutant Mudds and Mighty Switch Force, emulations of old handheld games, game demos and more, the eShop is a pretty good service thus far. I do think, however, that Nintendo has a lot of untapped potential for old games that should be ported, remade, and followed up with sequels on the downloadable service for the Nintendo 3DS. Some of its back-catalog is a perfect fit.

Bird and Beans was released for the DSiware service in 2009

The big N had the right idea with Bird and Beans and Paper Plane on DSiWare. These were both originally minigames included on the Gameboy Advance game Warioware Inc, and were both plopped on DSiWare separately for $2 a pop. This is smart. Perhaps a $1 price point for each makes more sense, but they at least have the right idea. These were fun, simple little games that make perfect sense as digital offerings for a handheld device.

One of the best minigames included in Super Mario 64 DS

So, I say, why not take the same idea and do it for the mingames included in Super Mario 64 DS and New Super Mario Bros.? Although these more almost certainly thrown into these games to show off the potential of the Nintendo DS's unique features, a lot of them were really quite brilliant. I remember one tasked you with the duty of protecting a single bob-omb from touching any other bob-omb by moving it around with your stylus, avoiding the little guy's flammable brethren to avoid a massive explosion. Another had you flicking little Mario's with your stylus to bounce them off of shy guys and keep them airborne. Many of these also had fun multiplayer options that added to the usual arcade-style lasting appeal. Bring them to the eShop, Nintendo!  

Nostalgic for you DS early-adopters?

Yoshi Touch and Go was the game that made me write this article. This game was tons of fun when it released with the original DS back in 2004, tasking you to get baby Mario as far as possible with the help of cute little Yoshi's that swapped out as different colors as you got further and further into the game. The game made clever usage of the touch screen, dual screens, and microphone of the DS; features still on the 3DS. So why not throw it on the eShop for $10 or so?  It almost seems like this game was meant for a platform like the eShop, with its compelling gameplay but steep price point of $30 when it originally released. I'd rebuy this game in a heartbeat if Nintendo threw it on the eShop - especially if they spruce it up with stereo-3D and wide-screen. 

It's time to remake it, Nintendo.

How about some truly great remakes of arcade classics Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. for the eShop? Donkey Kong has a port to the NES, and that port was ported to the Wii's Virtual Console, but how about a full-on remake for the 3DS that boasts a dual-screen, stereoscopic-3D display with Mutant Mudds-quality graphics? As for Mario Bros., Nintendo was smart to remake it and throw it on the remakes of various Mario games on the GBA: I wouldn't mind just a straight port of that great remake, although even better graphics, usage of the dual-screen display, and stereo-3D would make it even better.

Remember this game? Let's get another one. 

And lastly, I would love to see follow-ups to the Pokemon Trozei and Pokemon Pinball brands for the 3DS's eShop. It's been a very long time since I've played either of these spin-offs (I've never actually played the original Pokemon Pinball, only the GBA one), but I think they're the types of games I'd love to have always on my 3DS to play on-the-go. Pokemon Trozei, for those who have forgotten it or never heard of it, is a tile-based puzzler originally released on the Nintendo DS in 2005. It was a fun game, and I think a continuation of this IP on the eShop would be sweet. And my desire for a new Pokemon Pinball game on the eShop should be something I don't need to explain much. Nintendo could copy the Pinball FX formula by putting out a cheap download with a few boards - or even a free download with no boards initially - and offering more boards as paid DLC. Let's not forget that Nintendo is attempting to champion paid DLC now, which can be seen with its DLC strategy for New Super Mario Bros. 2. 

These are my ideas for old Nintendo games that should live on in the eShop. What do you think? Have any suggestions of your own? Hit up the comments below! 

Grim Leaper #2 - Review

Grim Leaper #2 is a hard book to review. A book this good makes me want to tell you all about what happened and why it's so awesome, but I can't do that because I'd be spoiling it all for you. So I'm going to give this a shot, but just know that it's going to be difficult for me.

Okay, well, holy crap.

Grim Leaper, an Image comic from Kurtis J. Wiebe and Aluísio C. Santos, follows two lovers - Lou and Ella - with a curse: They die very frequently, and when they do, they reincarnate as someone else in the same town. The first issue was excellent, fully exceeding my expectations, delivering a read that was so near-perfect that I was apprehensive about whether or not the next issue would keep up the high quality. This issue starts out with a curve ball that entirely extinguished such fears.

The book starts with this great reveal, leaving me shocked and disturbed, smiling and shaking my comic book in excitement, and ended leaving a similar impression on me.

Once this intro is over, we get into the main plot of this issue, which centers around Lou, for the first time, being dropped into the body of a man with a partner. This makes Lou contemplate the ugliness of his curse; a curse that he had seen as a bit of a blessing beforehand. It bothers Lou that he's probably going to die very soon as this man, without having said goodbye to the wife. This provides interesting and dramatic commentary to coincide with Grim Leaper's normal approach of comedic ridiculousness that is seen in the beginning of this issue.

Which returns at the end of the book, when Lou meets back up with Ella for familiar laughs and familiar displays of the strange cuteness of their relationship. The ultra-gory and violent ending leading into #3 is a good display of the stellar art Santos is doing. The strange color palletes, quirky character designs, and blood that practically falls off the page continues to impress.

I have a few complaints, though they may simply be holes that Kurtis intends to patch up in later issues. I don't understand how Lou manages to find the home of the person he reincarnates as, and similarly, I don't understand how Ella found Lou's current body. Blatant missteps in such a good series makes me think that I'll get answers later on, but at the moment, it's still jarring.

Grim Leaper is the real deal. It's a comic book that isn't from the two big publishers, isn't even about capes and cowls, and it's very enjoyable.

***

At the end of the book is a back-up from writer Ryan K Lindsay and artist Daniel J Logan titled "Love Sick." Like the actual story I purchased these pieces of paper for, it's hard to review this without spoiling things. This five-page story tells the tale of a man cheated on by a love that was meant to last forever, but instead left him very fat by the woman's cooking - a skill of her's that she took great pride in. It ends with a bizarre and morbid ending that initially caused me to be confused as to how I should feel, but I indulged in laughter and it felt right.

Door to Creativity - Coming 2013

Josh Door is your typical atypical person. He's certainly not a part of the majority, but he's not wildly different from people you already know. He lives by himself in a little apartment, entertains himself with video games and comic books, and most importantly, lives off of his writing career. He's a loser in the best way possible. 

Words From Josh Door, his first book, a collection of comedic short stories, was a success. Now, it's time to write book number two. 

Josh's life is a funny, emotional, and weird roller coaster ride of novel-worthy proportions. Hop on and watch Josh clinch success in a way better than I did with this preview, as he harnesses his door to creativity. 

Door to Creativity is a novel by Matt Petras, scheduled to release in 2013. 

***


(Interlocked has unfortunately been indefinitely delayed)

Grim Leaper #1 - Review

Every now and then, I read a comic book that absolutely nails it. Every aspect of the book just works perfectly, forming a stack of stapled-together pages of pure nirvana. Grim Leaper #1, the first issue in a new ongoing Image series from writer Kurtis J. Wiebe and artist Aluisio C. Santos, is one of those books.

Grim Leaper follows a crude man named Lou with a sizable desire to get laid, who obtains a curse that makes him reincarnate as someone else every time he dies. Humorously, and interestingly, he dies quite a bit, which makes him a deadly person to be around. But that's not even fully setting up the direction this book seems to be going. This is a love story, as the cover of the comic advertises - He meets a lovely lady named Ella, a girl with the same curse as him, but for what seems to be a shorter amount of time.

It's fantastic, because it reeks of style and personality, and nails pacing with fluid story-telling. The narration from Lou's perspective is entirely informal and very fun. The dialogue is equally good, spitting immature-yet-mature humor every chance it gets. I absolutely love Ella's line after she learns that Lou has the same curse as her: "Fuck me."

The imagery is equally stylized and entertaining. Santos nails coloring and gives the characters a unique, quirky look, delivering pictures that pop off of the pages. A particular full-page, satisfying scribble of a tire smashing a man's head clear off of his body is an accurate representation of the creative visuals of this comic.

I have no complaints. This book is perfect. It oozes with personality and doesn't waste a second on you, with jokes that work every time, drawings that never fail to please, and a distinct style and personality that is going to force my hand into my wallet every time this book comes out. Grim Leaper #1 absolutely nails it.

***

There is also a cute, enjoyable back-up from Joey Esposito of IGN included here, entitled "Drive Time Commute." It's nothing to write home about, but it's a sweet tale of a man and a woman enamored by the glimpses they catch of each other in their day-to-day, boring schedules. The fitting artwork is easy on the eyes, and the script is well-written.

Batman Annual #1 (2012) - Review

If you pay attention to bloggers, critics and forum posters who have a love for modern comic books, you're probably sick of hearing this, but I'm going to go ahead and say it anyway: Scott Snyder has been doing superb work on Batman in the New 52 (along with the equally good Swamp Thing). His Court of Owls idea - creating a group of assassins that have been around in Gotham for centuries in secret - is absolutely brilliant, especially in its coherence to the extensive Batman lore. Snyder, along with co-writer James Tynion IV and artist Jason Fabok, not only add quite a bit to this new Court of Owls concept, but also introduce Mr. Freeze into the New 52 with Batman Annual #1 this year. And it's a damn good over-sized one-shot.

In typical Snyder fashion, this book takes multiple stories and intertwines them cleverly throughout the read to form one, compact final product. We see a disturbing flashback to Mr. Freeze's childhood relationship with his mother, a flashback to Freeze's initial attempts to bring his love back from her cryogenically frozen state, and a look at current happenings with Mr. Freeze and the Night of the Owls (the current Batman event going on right now about the Court of Owls). The first story mentioned serves as the opening and closing of the book, and does a wonderful job of starting and ending the book with some rather dark stuff. The second isn't anything wildly different from what has already been written in Batman stories, but it is a well-done showcase of Victor Fries' mad-scientist-origin for people new to Batman, as well as avid comic book fans that are eager to see how Mr. Freeze is going to be portrayed in the New 52. 

Mr. Freeze plays a large role in the Court of Owls story, in a way that should have been more obvious than it was to guess. Freeze feels as though he has finally perfected the formula to bring his love back to life, but the Court of Owls steals it from him to use on their assassins, according to his side of the story. This shows more than just about anything else that Scott knows what he's doing when it comes to creating a Batman story that fits right into place with everything else. 

Through a fun run-in with The Penguin, as well as an awesome one with Nightwing and Robin, the creative team here shows just how badass Mr. Freeze is. He's a cold (no pun intended), angry, smart-but-crazy man with an obligatorily sweet ice-blasting gun and get-up. Our villain also hates Bruce Wayne, and greatly desires revenge on him for halting his unregulated research on restoring his love. He doesn't get to see Bruce in this issue; or at least he doesn't think he gets to see Bruce. He ends up mono y mono with Batman at the climax. 

It's at this point that we see some satisfying fisticuffs between the two. Batman combats Freeze's icy attacks with heated gauntlets (or at least that's what I'm calling them) in an entertaining blur of action and a chain of heated dialogue. This dialogue mostly feels good, but can veer a bit in the corny-direction here and there. However, it's at this point that the artwork is at its peak: It's great stuff, overall. Motion is gotten across very well, faces are drawn very well, and the coloring is done very well. 

I came off of this book feeling very excited about what I read. Batman Annual #1 introduces a very badass Mr. Freeze into the New 52 with a book that fits snugly into Scott Snyder's Court of Owls plot. The book's method of story-telling through multiple, intertwining stories blends together perfectly and the artwork is easy on the eyes. This is my favorite Batman book so far from the New 52 and I highly recommend giving it a go. 

S456 ARCHIVES: Bat-Claws - Creative Writing - FanFic

originally posted on station456.tumblr.com on March 25th, 2012

**********

Mark straightens his legs and pushes them together, as he’s extending his arms out from his sides. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He shifts his weight forward ever so slightly.

And just like that, he’s falling.

The cool, night air pushes itself into his face, which would be blowing back his hair if it wasn’t for his mask. A jet-black mask covering his entire head, leading up to plastic ears that look like that of a bat. Approximately six seconds before he would have otherwise got a ticket to the hospital at the ground, he took out his ClawGun and shot it out at a pole above him. This attachment from the gun portion to the claw by a durable string allowed him to swing over to a tall flagpole, housing a flag with the good ol’ stars and stripes. He grabs onto this with his right hand, followed by his left and and his two legs. He slides down the pole to the roof of the building that the flagpole is attached to.

Mark puts a hand to his stomach, looking down from the roof, as he catches his breath. Mark is around six feet tall, thin but certainly built. He’s not ripped but sports what just manages to be a six-pack chest, with healthy muscles on his arms and legs. His suit is skin-tight yet moderately protective. The logo with which he affiliates himself with is plastered in dark purple across his pecs on an otherwise straight black suit. His gloves are made of leather, and at the ends of each of his digits lie a sharp claw.

Mark is Bat-Claws.

Mark is also currently in the process of training himself. For what, he really can’t be sure. He never has been sure about anything, come to think of it: Where he’s going, who he is, who he wants to be.

Now that he’s caught his breath, he sprints along the building, preparing to jump from rooftop to rooftop until he tires. Once he reaches the edge of the first building, he pushes his right foot onto the far edge hard, and propels himself to the next building. Once he gets to the end of this building, he does the same thing; but this time, instead of a solid landing his foot is caught on the tip of the next platform. Mark panics as he lands on his arms, receiving a few cuts directly before he realizes that he’s close to falling off of this old, worn-down mass of bricks.

Mark attempts to grab hold of something to stop himself from falling, but fails and he begins to plummet towards the pavement. He attempts to pull out his trusty ClawGun – his only gadget – but merely finds himself in a non-life-threatening but humiliating dumpster, filled with bags of rancid-smelling trash cushioning his fall.

Our protagonist lets out a sigh of self-disappointment

He’s what you could describe as a newcomer to the masked vigilante business. No, scratch that – Business is not a good word to describe what he does. He isn’t paid to do it.

Perhaps this is an opportune time to give some back-story on Mark. His last name is Wayne, which should provide a good starting point.

Maybe it’s best just to come right out and say it: Mark is the offspring of Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle. Batman and Catwoman. Caped crusader and crooked criminal.

It’s not a love story. Mark’s creation does not fall into the “When a mommy and a daddy really love each other..” scenario. It is a crappy result from one of their scandalous acts of fornication.

Selina always wanted to be a mother, but only an accident like this could make it actually happen. If it was a decision entirely on Bruce, he most likely would have went to the blank clinic to get a blank, but Selina wasn’t gonna have that.

Mark had a rather strange childhood, as, surely, one can imagine.

At this point in time he’s in his 30s. His father is dead: He never quite learned how he died. But the moment he heard about his father’s passing, he ran off to an area across the country. A place where one of his friends he met online lives. They currently live together.

He just couldn’t live with the death of his father. Despite having such an odd set-up growing up, he was quite close with his father. He loved him, and it was certainly mutual. Just like any normal relationship between father and son. He wanted to be far away from Gotham and has no plans of going back.

Mark doesn’t know what’s going on with his mother. He was rather close to her as well, but not nearly as he was with his father. It was nothing against her, he just didn’t get to see her as often. She was always out doing something: Most likely stealing. When he was around 15, he woke up to find a reality without his mother. He asked his father where she was, but he said he didn’t know.

So here he is.

He walks to a nearby alleyway that he was at previously. Behind the dumpster in this alleyway he hid a backpack. He took the bag, quickly stripped off his costume, and stuck it in the bag. Underneath he has on a pair of gray sweatpants and a plain white t-shirt. Mark’s hair is dark brown and messy as it always is, with unruly bangs always getting in his eyes. And, to get the elephant out of the room, he’s white.

Once the costume is in his bag, he throws it on his back and begins to make his way towards his house. Or, his apartment, rather. His friend’s apartment, actually.

***

“I swear to God, man, it seems like you were bit by a radioactive leech. Just call yourself Leechman. With great apathy comes great laziness!”

“Ray…” Mark’s really not sure on this one.

“Yeah, bud?” Ray chides.

“Just, shut up. And I told you already, I -”

“Yes-yes, you’re bearclaw or whatever. You need to quit mooching off of me, man. Get a job or something. Get a girlfriend. Or boyfriend. You’re straight, right? I don’t know.”

“Uh,” a pause. “The name is Bat-Claws.” He’s avoiding the sexual-orientation-question.

Ray lets out a sigh. “Yeah, Bat-Claws, sure. Ya’ know it was so cool to have you come over and live here. Never thought I’d meet you in real life – thought our friendship would remain an internet thing. But now -”

“I’m hungry.” Mark lets out bluntly, interrupting Ray.

Another sigh. “Look, it’s gonna be Mickey D’s again today.”

A smile quickly grows on Mark’s face. “Awesome! I’ll have -”

“A twenty-piece chicken mcnugget meal with a sprite. I know.”

“Thaaaaaaanks broskay.”

“Whatever.” Ray spits out, annoyed but in a rather light-hearted sort of way. They’re good buddies.

Ray grabs his keys and heads out the door to his car, after telling Mark not to blow the place up. Should be easy enough, Mark said.

Mark clicks on the television. It’s a standard definition tv, 4:3. It’s old. And nothing special.

His instinctual clicks of the remote brings him to Nickelodeon, but that channel is fuzzy. He clicks over to Cartoon Network, and it’s the same story. He tries Comedy Central. Same. Feeling desperate, he gives the Disney Channel a shot. And nope.

He’s having some pretty awful luck. He decides to just watch the boring news for a while. It was rather boring for him.

A press of his finger on the power button of the television turns it off. He walks over to the window. He brushes the curtain aside so he can see outside. It’s still rather light outside, being only 4:30. It’s the summer time, and appropriately hot. Which Mark hates: Hot weather gives him headaches.

Just as he was about to walk away from the window, he spots a shady looking man walking down the street. He is dress in muddy jeans, a gray shirt one would wear under their main shirt - tattered with holes, big brown boots, and a ski mask.

Ahead of the man, Mark spots a woman. A rather attractive woman. This woman is yoga-pants-clad and has on a tight, teal t-shirt. Her skin is nicely tanned and her blonde hair is in a ponytail. In her arms is a regularly sized brown purse and a smart phone. She is standing directly in front of an alleyway.

What are the chances?

***

“Give me the purse!” Brad shouts at the woman whose right arm he has in his iron grip, in the middle of an alleyway.

The woman screams, but no one is around to answer her call, besides one teen who saw but ran in fear. She tries desperately to run but the man’s grip is too strong.

“Shut up! And give me the purse!” Brad barks at the woman, whose iron grip of her own is tightly wound around her bag.

“No!” she shouts. She then shoves her teeth into his left cheek and bites.

“YAAAAOWCH!” he yells, loosing his grip on her.

She has her chance to run but doesn’t immediately as she’s too struck by the intensity of the situation. She instead trips.

Brad seizes the opportunity and grabs her foot.

***

Mark runs back to the couch and grabs his backpack. He hurriedly grabs the zipper and pulls it up. The zipper snaps off.

Shit.

Mark is forced to pinch the base of the now deformed zipper and slowly pulls it up and around the backpack. He yanks out the pants of his costume and haste-fully puts his first leg into them, and then his right, but he didn’t do the latter as elegantly as the former: A misplaced leg sent him falling to the floor.

Once he was back on his feet, he put his pants on proper, on top of his sweats. Then, on top of his t-shirt, he puts the torso of his costume on. Lastly, his mask, gloves and black boots.

Finishing his little ritual, he grabs the ClawGun and sticks it in the band of his pants. Now that he is fully prepared, he makes his way over to another window in the apartment.

He has a hard time opening these.

“Aaaah, damn-damn-damn how do you open these. How-how-how did Ray-Jay?!? Ray-Nay! Ray saaaaaaaaaaaaay! Saaay how to do it?!?!”

The door then opened and in came Ray with their dinner. “Uh, Mark?”

“RAY! OPEN THIS DAMN WINDOW!”

“Why!??!”

“JUST DO IT!”

Ray complies, throwing the food to the floor and opening the window with ease. Bat-Claws leaps out without an ounce of grace, landing in another dumpster in an entirely different alleyway than the others.

***

“SOMEBODY HEEEEEEEEEEEELP!” Alexis shouts.

The mugger grabs her face by her cheeks, looks her in the eyes, and just gives her a nasty look that says more than anything he could have made verbal.

And just then, a man in a ridiculous costume shows up, and says “Ma’am, do not be alarmed. Bat-Claws is here to save you!” with hands on his hips.

***

Alright, I’m here, I’m here. Mark thinks. What do I say – what do I say – what do I say.

“Ma’am, do not be alarmed. Bat-Claws is here to save you!”

“Haha! And what are you gonna do to stop me, bub?” the mugger shouts.

Mark, passionate and determined, sprints toward the mugger with fiery eyes. Once he is close to the mugger, he takes his claws and slashes him across the face, leaving a few streaks of bleeding, slashed flesh.

“AAAAAAAAAAAH! Damnit! I’m done, take your stupid purse!” The mugger releases his grip on the purse and runs away.

A smile forms on Mark’s face. He turns his gaze towards the woman. Man. She’s pretty hot,his now calm mind thinks.

“Thank you so much!” the girl tells him, giving a hug. “I really have to go, though! Thank you so very much, again!” And just like that, she was running in the opposite direction.

Mark feels good. He looks down at his boot to take a breather, but then something catches his eyes. A fat roll of twenty dollar bills, that the woman must have dropped. He quickly picked it up and saw that the woman was in shouting distance.

But he didn’t shout.

I wouldn’t mind some extra cash, he thinks.

S456 ARCHIVES: The Old Man - Creative Writing - Fiction

originally posted on station456.tumblr.com on February 9th, 2012

***

A few words in particular seem to come to mind for those who take a look at Carl Ellington’s house: old, worn, aged, depressing, decrepit; things like that. When one enters this house, they must first make their way up the ancient staircase. This is an old house, so decisions often looked at as silly nowadays were permissible at the time of construction: These steps are made of an uncomfortably weak wood, and these specific steps are particularly in danger of a harsh snap, making the journey up them off-putting and slightly frightening. The sound of each creaky, bothersome step is outlandishly loud.

Once an individual braves his way up the horrific flight of stairs, he is greeted by a screen door, damaged with several holes and smothered with the excrement of those damn, smarmy birds. The entrance to this house opens fine, however, which makes it considerably more desirable than the pathway discussed earlier.

If one moves further, beyond the door, he would be greeted to a floor mat filled with the shoes of an elderly man. And often times a dog: A large, black-furred canine who is content to sleep and scarf down any food he can get his choppers on. This dog is old, lazy, and wants nothing to do with anything that does not involve slumber, a fuller stomach, or the man currently sitting in the living room.

This man’s name is Carl Ellington. He’s 78 years old, and could honestly be described in a similar fashion to the stairs of his house. He’s an old, beaten down man who quite honestly has had enough of what people commonly refer to as living.

A trembling hand brings a mug of hot coffee to Carl’s lips: lips that first press against the rim of the mug, slowly waiting for a small taste of the liquid to make sure it is of a tolerable temperature. Carl jumps back as the coffee hits his tongue, startled by the alarming heat of the beverage. A drop spills down the side of the cup, making its way past the faces of the two children pictured.

As Mr. Ellington attempts to clean the small mess he has made of his morning cup-o-joe, the large, black beast previously resting by the shoes comes walking in, slowly, as all of his movements are.

“Hey, Buster.” Carl says, snapping his fingers towards the dog with what he hopes to be a smile, but what is actually a miserable attempt at such an expression. “Ya wanna help me clean up my mug? What mug is this…” Carl’s miserable attempt at a smile turns to an obvious frown that would be unsurprising to him, given the sudden burst of morose emotion he started to feel.

“Oh, Buster, this is daddy’s favorite mug. You remember Charlie, Kate? They visited us, oh, how long has it been now…” Carl closed his eyes, thinking rather long about a response to a creature that won’t understand him. “Oh, uh, yes, they came to visit around seven years ago. It was a year after ‘ur mum left us.” Carl begins to choke up. “Off to that place I told you about the other day, where they have all of the bones you could ever want.” A pause. “And big fluffy pillows, perfect to snooze on, all day, long as you like.”

A tear begins to creep its way down Carl’s face, in a similar fashion to the drop of coffee down his favorite mug.“What are we doing, Buster? What the hell are we doing?”

Buster simply looks at Carl, with an emotionless face that couldn’t be less interested.

“I don’t know what else God wants me to do on this planet. Laurie’s gone with Him, my babies are all grown up, living their own lives. I wake up and have my coffee. I’ll spend the rest of my day watching my programs, or listen to the radio, dozing off half the time. I’m not in the game anymore, and I think I may have just grown tired of playing.”

The dog’s apathetic face turned to a different one. It did not change due to further understanding of the old man, but because the dog wanted a treat. This face was accompanied by one of his paws scratching at the old man’s pockets.

A smile, finally, shows up on Mr. Ellington’s face, after a sniffle containing the sobbing he is now done with. “Heh, oh, poochy.” Carl pats the dog on the head. “Maybe He’s keeping me here for you.” The old man takes a treat from his pocket and feeds it to Buster, who complies with a comically large lick that practically just shoots the cookie straight down his throat.

Buster is smacking his lips, satisfied with the treat, as the old man sees a colorful blur outside of his window. A further inspection at the window, after a process of getting up and walking over that was very much unnecessarily slow, shows Carl that the blur was a blue ball that most likely came from the tiny, nearby park in the middle of the little neighborhood.

“Look like God’s sending me a sign, Buster. Maybe I’m not completely useless after all.” Carl says, as he makes his way over to his door.

Aside the bottom step is the ball: Carl moves forward to the first step from the top.

He takes another step.

And another.

And one more. This fourth step is his last.

There are a total of 12 steps.

SNAP!