Chapter 1b: Fear
Monday, February 10th
The Y Superstore in Chrome Valley’s east side. The beautiful, olive-skinned forty-something Ophelia Johnson made her way across the parking lot with a bunch of empty grocery bags in her hands.
“Dolphin, sweetie?” she called to a bunch of boys milling around outside the entrance to the superstore. “Come and help your mother, now. Go get a cart.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Young Randolph Carter, not a day over eighteen-years-old, and not a pound over his recommended weight, felt a pang of embarrassment as his friends chuckled.
“Naaa-aaah,” they goaded. “Dolphin, Dolphin, Dolphin.”
“Shut up, man.”
Among them, Dean Brayker, seemed to be heading the chuckles of embarrassment.
“Whoa, whoa, talk about busted, man,” Brayker said.
“Man, f**k you.”
“Okay, okay, t
