Matty was struggling with a very squirmy backpack and talking to it out the side of his mouth, "banana twinkies AND coconut donuts? What am I made of money? It's one or the other, Oobis. Not both."

The backpack's top flap bulged and a whiskered nose popped out, "get both."

The cat had sounded so reasonable that all the fight went ouf of Matty and he just nodded. Oobis usually got what he wanted. Especially when it came to food. There would be treats at the meeting, sure, but they had been discussing the post meeting snack and that was a whole other thing.

He was all paid up on rent which meant, beside saltwater taffies, he had ten whole bucks in histhe pocket until he picked up his next odd job. His landlord, the old man running the curosity shop usually found something for him to do. Lask week it was repainting the windows and trim on the exterior of the building. Oobis had, uh, supervised from their bedroom window. Telling Matty he missed a spot, all too often, and at one point, dangling a dripping paint can out the window and above Matty's head.

He dropped the paintcan when the shopowner stepped outside and Matty had been drenched in red paint. The owner of Needful things had turned a suspicious eye up to the window, then looked at his lawn in distaste. Matty spent the rest of the day with a hose and really only succeeded. In spreading the paint around. It slipped off the grass, into the dirt and started bleeding out into the sidewalk. Thankfully it looked nicely creepy and added to the ambiance of the town. Still, the shop owner had been less than willing to assign Matty any other tasks and money was beyond tight.

Speaking of money, Matty snapped back to the present as he rounded the corner into Ella's neighborhood. He readjusted the weight of his backpack and cat. Ran his free hand, rather pointlessly, through his messy hair and ran to catch up with his friends on the steps.