Annotated 33-22
Picking up from yesterday…
Confronting the half-empty lot where Diamond Comics Distributors was supposed to be, I finally walked into the supermarket (I was jonesing pretty hard for some orange juice, anyway) and asked the first clerk I saw.
“Oh, yeah,” she said. “It’s behind the Dollar General.”
And so it was. I could tell because of the piece of paper that said “Diamond” they had taped next to the steel door on the otherwise featureless white brick wall.
Nevertheless, once I got the attention of a helpful employee inside, she let me back my car up and place all 201 books into a waiting carrying cart. 20. 60. 100. 140. 160. 180. 200…
Wait.
No.
The last box had been opened already, before I put it in the car, without my realizing. It only contained 17 copies. There were three extras I’d left in the car, which I’d thought meant I had 203. But… 200. I was one short.
No.
I was one short.
No.
I did what anyone would have, of course: set fire to the car and drove it directly into the side of the building.
Tomorrow: the somewhat more prosaic conclusion!
Ahhhhrgh!
…but on the other hand: What’s the problem with being one book short? If some comic book store was going to get one copy a little later, would that result in any penalties? I mean, if the original shipment had been insured, it wouldn’t have arrived in time, either, wouldn’t it? And I suppose that the distributor is used to dealing with delayed shipments, so it stands to reason they’d have a tried and tested way to solve such issues.
Worst case, I’d asked them for the address of one of the book stores and sent them them a signed copy directly. Yeah, it might arrive a tiny little bit later, but it’s special!
Mind, if this had been my story, it would have involved noticing at this stage that all of the books were missing a page, or something had been printed in the wrong order or somesuch…
….Personally, I’d be a bit nervous that a random featureless building with a piece of paper on the door was a scam or something, but it’s hard to see how they could have been targeting you directly.
Last panel should show everyone yelling at E-Merl “THAT’S ENOUGH OF THAT @#%$! LET US THROUGH ALREADY!”