Sean might not have approved of how Mitch took care of his dog Reginald, but at least Sean always paid him his money up front. This, actually, encouraged Sean to take a slightly longer course through the mini-mall near the housing development where they lived. Taking this path allowed Reg to unwind more of his energy, deposit 'fertilizer' on the Mathews' lawn, check for cheap used games at the pawn shop, buy himself a couple of snacks for gaming later, maybe talk with some friends, and all the while killing time and letting him think.
"Hey, Sean!" Mr. Hendrik smiled as the young boy entered his pawn shop. "Glad to see you today. I know you've been looking for a used copy of Mass Effect, and I just so happen to have one," he smiled, bringing it up over the counter, still in a box. "It's lightly scratched, to be sure… but the previous owner assures me that it works," he nodded.
That was always the downside, Sean thought. Buying stuff from the pawn shop doesn't always mean that it'll work when he gets it home… But I really have been looking for a cheaper copy, he thought to himself. "I'm just in to look today," he said, smiling to Mr. Hendrik, "But I might get a little bonus for taking care of Reg today… maybe I'll come back," he lied, knowing full well he had the money in his pocket. The thing was… he just wasn't sure he wanted to risk the sixteen dollar price tag he saw on the game versus his twenty dollars in his pocket.
"Oh, hey. What's that?" Mr. Hendrik asked, motioning to Sean's chest and the Amulet that was tied around it as the boy walked up to the counter. "You find that?" he wondered, a gleam in his eye. Sean knew that look. That was the 'My, that looks valuable… but I'm going to offer less than it's worth' look. Still, Sean had never seen Mr. Hendrik give that look towards anything Sean had ever owned.
"It was a gift," Sean explained. "I kind of like it, though. Why do you ask?" he wondered, waiting on it a reply, glancing outside the front window. Reginald was tied up to the bike rack out front, but he still didn't like to leave the dog waiting too long. Sometimes he would get loose and run home and Sean would get a dock in pay the next time he took Reg for a walk.
"May I?" Mr. Hendrik asked, but reached for the Amulet without waiting for a reply. Sean looked back to him, watching him pull out his little magnifying glass. The design in the front was quite detailed, the quality was good if dirtied by years without cleaning. What intrigued Mr. Hendrik the most, though, was the Latin (at least it looked like Latin) etched into the back. It had been a few years since he had bothered to read any of it, but he was sure he could find a translation in his books back home.
"Quite a gift," Mr. Hendrik noted. "I don't mean to be a bother, boy… and I know whoever gave this to you must mean a lot to you," he said, looking him in the eyes. "But I would be willing to hand you… fifty dollars for it," he smiled.
Sean's eyes went wide for a moment at the prospect of fifty dollars, but he quickly looked towards the window again as he tried to compose himself. "I dunno," he said. "That's not even enough to buy a new game," he added with a bit of a smile, wondering where Reg was… Must have ducked beneath the window, he decided, thinking the fifty dollars was great, but that he knew Mr. Hendrik was underbidding the real value.
"Well… I might could go as high as eighty dollars," Mr. Hendrik noted, and Sean quickly turned his head to look at him. Shocked again, the boy didn't know what to say. Just as Mr. Hendrik thought he might, the door to the shop opened up in a hurry, ringing the bell there violently. Even before the woman there could say anything, there was a distant squealing of children that could be heard from outside down the street. As he looked out the window, he could just make out the form of Reginald, collar and all, vanishing way down the street towards the neighborhood. "Is that Reg?" he asked Sean.
Sean looked back over his shoulder and sure enough… Reginald was two blocks away already. "Reg!" Sean yelled out and ran for the door, just missing hitting the lady there in the ribs. A second later, his head reappeared at the door, and looked over at Mr. Hendrik, "I might be back for your offer, sir!" he said, then vanished back out the doorway.
It was two whole hours before Sean had found Reginald. He had already begun to formulate the story of how he met up with some friends and took Reg to go play in the park and so on and so on. Maybe that would be good enough for Mitch as an excuse. After all, Reg never went missing for very long. Sean always found him near home… it was just a question how upset Mitch was about the other chores not getting done by now.
Reginald was in Miss Hutchinson's yard when Sean found him, though. Truly, a feat of dog-kind as the old hag had a full wired fence to keep her own dog safe from the likes of neighborhood mutts. A good precaution, to be sure, but there was a giant dirt hole dug at one side of the fence where Sean had to assume Reg had made his way into the yard.
"Reg!" Sean called out to the dog, but he did so in a quieted voice, to which Reginald looked up from where he lay beside Flonne. "Reg, get your butt over here," Sean commanded, but also begged. Reg rubbed his muzzle in Flonne's fur as he stood up and away from her back and made a quick departure towards the sound of Sean's voice. His head was down like he'd known he had done something wrong.
"Geez, Reg. I wish Mitch had whatever you'd found so interesting about Flonne. Maybe then he'd be more likely spend time with you," Sean said, frowning a bit as he looked back towards the fenced in yard where she still laid. "Let's get back before he chops my next pay-day into nothing," Sean said, looking to see that Reg's leash had been chewed through. He sighed, "Geez… What game with your friend was so important you had to dash back across town in such a hurry," he asked with a frown. "Maybe I outta sell this thing just to have the money to replace your leash," he took a deep breath, looking down at the Amulet. "C'mon," Sean said as he lightly tugged the broken end of Reg's leash to have the dog follow him.Little did Sean suspect… that the part of Flonne that Reginald liked the most had to do with her being in heat. Back across town, Mitch was just finding that out for himself… and needless to say, it was quite a shock to him.