Chapter 5

With the posting of this chapter is the finishing of Volume 1, which means from now on no more freebies :).  Chapter 5 is about one of the worst days possible I ever had at the cheese, and yes all those experiences I have wrote about in this chapter have happened to me in the past.  So please read, laugh, and enjoy my painful experiences from the past as now I can :)

Chapter 5

In an undisclosed location underneath an abandoned bread factory two hulking figures are staring at a screen.  On the screen is the video of Topher Thompson's exploits of last night, and on the side of the video that keeps running on repeat is a government military dossier of Topher Thompson explaining every little detail about his life.  Where he went to school, who he married, where he married, where and who he lost his virginity to, anything and everything the government would want to know, or wouldn't.  It was in that file.  The two figures who are watching the screen so intently are the Basher Bros, at least that's what they are called when they are in the field.  The Basher Bros are identical twins, in fact so identical they don't even have names, just numbers 1 and 2, and even sometimes they forget which one they are. They have the same brown hair shaved look, brown eyes, 8 feet tall, 350 pounds of pure muscle, and look like they could bench press an elephant if asked.  Long story short when something big needs broken, and fast, they call the Basher Bros in.
1 turned to his brother 2 and said, "Good to see the switch still works after all those years.  But any idea when we are going to go get him, because you know she's watching him too.  And if she's as smart as the General says, she has seen the same video, and put two and two together."
2 just looked at his brother with stupified amazingness , and wondering why his brother would want to defy a direct order from the General.  2 finally said to his brother, "You of all people know how big of a D-bag the General can be if you don't follow orders and do EXACTLY what he says!  Remember when Tommy brought the General a white mocha when the General ordered a regular mocha.  Before Tommy could even blink the General had Tommy's ass in a space suit sitting on the moon staring at Earth, and left him up there for a good thirty minutes to think about what he had done to the General.  If you wanna be the moron who messes the plan that was hatched thirty years ago, go ahead!  But you're not dragging me down with
you!"
1 forgot about the Tommy incident, and how much of a prick the General can be.  1 replied to 2, "That's right I spaced the Tommy incident.  Get it spaced!  Anyways Tommy deserved it everyone knows you don't mess with a man and his coffee.  But in our defense we don't know how long the General will be.  He was called into space two weeks ago, and before he left he told us to go on as scheduled with Topher.  The General more than likely thought he would fly up to the planet Nejo, kick some Nejoan ass, or what ever those aliens have, and be back in time for dinner!  The General is never gone for two weeks without contact.  The longer we wait to make first contact..."
2 had enough of listening to his brother plead his case.  1 had a point, but 2 didn't want to be an accomplice of ruining the plan that has been set since day one.  Project Ultra was and is one of the General's top priorities.  2 always thought of himself the brains of the operation, so he knew he had to interrupt his brother's thoughts before they became more than just thoughts.  2 simply said to 1, "We wait for the General, or I have a feeling our fate will be worse than just sitting in the corner on the moon.  We wait!"

Topher was sitting in the office counting the money from the token machine to get the bill changer sales from the previous day, letting his mind wander, and get the best of him, like he always does.  Here he was with two degrees under his belt, one in drafting and the other in multimedia, and he still works at Prehistoric Pizza.  Why the reasons are simple Topher thinks, if he took a job in drafting it would be a major pay cut and there's no way his family could afford that, and if he wanted a job in multimedia, they would have to move.  Moving was out of the question for a few reasons, first everyones family was in Idaho Topher's and Anne's, next the kids just started school and Topher loves the school they go to, and lastly Anne just started her job and it would be unfair to ask her to leave, just so maybe he could get a job in the cut throat multimedia field.  Topher knew he was born for greater than things being just a manager at Prehistoric Pizza, and the sudden emergence of his powers finally proved that to him.  He became the world's first superhero, but he also didn't want to be the only superhero and charge an arm and a leg for the heroing, so Topher made a finaly decision.  Don't quit the day job, and do the night job pro bono.  The way a true hero would do.
Since 9:05 people have been in the building at Prehistoric Pizza, in fact they were lining up like it was Black Friday and Prehistoric Pizza was giving away big screen televisions for dirt cheap.  That meant constant monitoring of the cameras so no children escaped, because even though parents are required to watch their children while they are there, few rarely do.  They treat Prehistoric Pizza as a walk in day care that serves pizza.  Topher knew that this day was going to be one straight from hell, and was actually wishing he was still in that burning building from last night.  Being killed in a burning building while saving people is more heroic, than going psycho in a children's entertainment restaurant Topher thought to himself.  Topher went back to counting money and separating it when his defender sense went off, in all actuality he heard about thirty kids waiting not so anxiously at the front door, thinking he was hearing things glanced at the camera, and confirming his suspicions.  The daycare was an hour early so Topher rushed out to greet them, before the situation got even more ugly.
"Hi guys welcome to Prehistoric Pizza are you guys from the Little Tike's daycare?", Topher asking the group fully expecting an overjoyous scream from the kids.  What he got was the exact opposite.
The little overweight middle aged woman who was wearing a name tag that Susan just stared at Topher dumbfounded, and Topher had no idea why. "Umm...no.  We are from Tiny Tater's Daycare.  Are you guys open because we have been standing out here for like ten minutes waiting to be let in.", Susan said angrily to Topher.  Topher knowing it wasn't near ten minutes, maybe only two that they were standing out there apologized, because Topher knows the customer is always right, even when they are a lying.  Topher stamped all the kids in and Susan, but not without Susan shooting Topher another dirty look.  He was really missing that burning building right about now, to maybe run Susan up there and leave her there, but that wouldn't be very heroic of him, so he would go save her a a minute later once she realized she was over exaggerating.  He apologized once again and gave Susan time to go find tables for her thirty children she brought in, there goes at least six tables Topher thought, and by the looks of the children they were going to be trashed if they ordered food.  Topher made a silent prayer for them only order tokens.
   Susan comes back up to Topher ready to order and says, "Do you guys have any coupon deals?  I left mine at home.  I think the deal I saw was a hundred tokens for 10.00.  Can I have that one.  Like four of those would be good."
Topher looked at her apologetically and said, "I'm sorry that coupon is no longer valid.  In fact it hasn't worked for two years now, our current best deal is a hundred tokens for 20.00.  I can do that for you, because I know the coupon code."
Susan looks at Topher and then menu.  Noticing that you get ninety tokens for 20.00, and doing the math in her head.  Topher swore he saw smoke coming out her ears trying to do the math in her head.  "So you're saying I get an extra 10 tokens if I use that coupon! What kind of crap coupon is that!", Susan practically yelled at Topher.
Topher said to Susan, "I'm sorry I have no power over our coupon deals, but currently that is the best deal we have on tokens.  If you want I can throw some extra tokens in for the trouble at the door."
Susan reluctantly agreed, "Fine I'll take three of those deals then!", and slammed her debit card on the counter to pay.  "And make sure I get a receipt!"  Topher rings her up and puts her tokens in the cup, plus the extra five he threw in for her wonderful attitude, hands her thirty token cups so she could divide them, and she was on her way.  At least she didn't order food Topher thought, at least she didn't order food.  After she dropped off the tokens at the table and the kids scurrying like bugs when the lights go on, she headed back up front before Topher could disappear to the back again to finish his deposit.  "Can I get thirty water cups", purposively leaving off the please Topher thought.  Topher smiled and counted out cups, knowing full well that there was going to be soda filled in them instead of water, and just said here you go.  Susan smiled with her mini victory of procuring free soda for her children, and Topher smiled because he was able to return to the office to finish the deposit.  What a start to this day Topher thought to himself.  What a start.
Not even a second passed when Topher sat in the chair that he looked up and saw another group of kids at the door, Topher knowing full well that this must be the Little Tike's daycare, jogged out there to greet the daycare that was nice enough to book a group party, but still shows up fifteen minutes early.  "Hi welcome to Prehistoric Pizza are you guys from Little Tike's Daycare!", Topher said with as much enthusiasm he could muster up after his last encounter at the door a few minutes ago.  The kids shouted yes they were, and Topher looked up, thanking the restaurant God's for allowing one thing to go right this morning.  He stamped them all in, and led them to the back, completely forgetting he never checked to see if their party was setup last night.  It wasn't.  He walked them back and sat them in the middle of showroom, and ran to the back to grab cups for them, and their tokens.  He could still salvage this one he thought.
Mandy was the girl in charge at Little Tike's. and was a lot nicer than Susan Topher found out right off the bat.  But in Susan's defense Mandy wasn't waiting for ten minutes at the door waiting to be let in, but in Topher's defense it was only two Susan waited.  Mandy smiled at Topher and introduced herself, "Hi I'm Mandy and I'm the one in charge of all these little rascals."  Topher was a little amazed that people still liken children to little rascals, even in this day of age.  "We have twenty four kids, instead of thirty.  I hope I counted right, because I am teaching these kids how to count also", Mandy says while letting out a little chuckle. Topher unsure how to react chuckles along with her.
"No problem, I'll just grab twenty four token cups so you only pay for the twenty four, and with twenty four kids you get five pizzas so the kids each get two slices.  Do you know what kind you would like.", Topher asked Mandy.  Topher was hoping she would  say just cheese and pepperoni.  
"Those would be fine.  What kid doesn't like cheese or pepperoni!", Mandy tells Topher.  "Also can you grab us our sodas. two rootbeers, two sprites, and a water please?", Mandy asked Topher.
Topher thanking the restaurant Gods once again for the easiness of this party.  Topher said to Mandy, "Not a problem I'll be right back with your tokens and your drinks."  Topher went and grabbed the pitchers and tokens.  He dropped the tokens off with Mandy because Topher knew how patient kids are, and went and filled up the pitchers of soda.  While Topher was filling up his second pitcher of rootbeer a child from the first daycare came up to him.
"Mister, Mister!", the boy said to Topher.  Topher looked down and saw that he was wearing his name tag, and wondered why the ten year old boy coudn't read his name tag when he turned around. "Do you work here?" The boy asked Topher.  Once again Topher just thought to himself no I like to wear nice dress shirts, a tie, and a nametag that says manager on it for fun and walk around.  Topher nods to the little boy.  "A few things.  One there are no skeeballs in the lanes. and I put like thirty tokens in it to work."  Topher knowing full well that there is no way that this boy had thirty tokens, since Susan didn't buy that many to give out, knew right away he was lying about the number of tokens he lost.  "Also my teacher was playing air hockey and the puck wouldn't come out!"  Topher not wanting to see Susan again till the end when they were leaving out the door was dreading fixing that game, and getting stared daggers in the back of his head from the ray of sunshine she was.  "And also is Timmy going to be out soon! I wanna see Timmy!"
Topher knew his luck was to good to last for a little bit.  The rule at Prehistoric Pizza is when someone asks to see Timmy that person who was asked is the lucky soul who gets to go dress up in the T-Rex costume, roam around giving hugs, high fives, and being very photogenic.  "I'll be right there buddy to fix those games", Topher told the boy and handed him a handful of tokens to they boy, a small handful because he knew he was lying.  Topher dropped off the sodas at the table and went to go fix the games.  He walked by the air hockey and hit the bottom where the puck comes out.  Susan glaring at him the whole time.
"We tried that!  The puck didn't come out!", Susan just barked at Topher.  Topher went to the other side and hit it.  The puck came falling out, along with a little ticket from another game.
Topher just smiled at Susan and handed her another token and simply said, "There you go next game is on me."  Then headed off to go fix skeeball.  Topher looked at the lanes and noticed that one lane had all the balls in it.  Topher spent a few good minutes fixing all the lanes, and saw his tech manager fixing a game right next to the skeeball.  Topher wondered why the little boy just didn't get Gabe his tech manager when he was standing right there working on a game.  Topher walked over to Gabe and asked him, "Can you watch the front?  There was a little boy asking when Timmy is going to wake up and you know the rules."
Gabe laughed at Topher, "No problem man I'll watch it go and wake up the dinosaur!"  Topher heads off to Timmy's room and gets dressed in no time.  Topher has it down to being able to get changed into that suit in less than thirty seconds if need be, and sometimes due to the intelligence of some of the showroom girls they have, that skill is a necessity, but others take minutes to get dressed.  Topher used to wonder why it took so long for them to get dressed, until he spotted them slyly pulling out their cell phones on the way back to check their twitter feed, their facebook wall, message whomever, or play a quick game of Candy Crush.  Sometimes Topher hated the ease of cell phones.  Topher went out as Timmy and walked to Mandy to give her a high five, because every guest must see Timmy. It was one of the many rules of Prehistoric Pizza.  Timmy also high fived Susan, but then got punched in the back by a little kid. "You are not real Timmy!", a little boy screamed at Topher.  "You are just a guy in the costume!", the little boy screamed again.
Topher turned around to look at the little boy, and realized it was the little boy who asked for Timmy to come out.  Topher just put two and two together, he was set up by this little kid, and that did not make Topher happy one bit.  The little boy continually followed Topher around the whole store punching him periodically, or stomping on Timmy's foot.  The whole time Susan watching, and not saying anything to the little terror.  Topher finally having enough turned around and caught the little boys fist in mid air before it could annoy him again while trying to hug other children in the store.  Looked down to the boy and squeezed his fist a little bit and shook his finger at him with the other hand, signifying stop hitting Timmy or he might just give in to his carnivorous ways and eat the little brat.  The little boy went crying off heading to Susan to tattle on Timmy more than likely Topher thought.
"Can you go down with the slide with me", a little girl pleaded to Timmy while grabbing his hand.  Topher felt sad, because he wanted to tell the girl that he was to big, but Timmy can't talk, so Topher had to improvise.  Topher pointed to the slide, then himself, showing how tall he was and that he was too big to fit in the slide.  Topher felt bad for crushing the little girls dream of going down the slides with Timmy.  "What about those ones?", the little girl said to Topher while pointing to the toddler zone slide.  Topher looked at the slide and thought it was big enough to fit Timmy's head through went up with the little girl into the slide.  Well she went up first and down, and waited at the bottom of the slide for her new best friend Timmy, to come sliding down after her.  Topher somehow managed to get inside the small crawl area and started going down the slide, until he realized something that made him panic.  His body was going down, but the head was still stuck behind him.  Topher quick thinking stopped his body from going down the slide, and used his weight to climb back up backwards, right back into Timmy's head.  Topher panicked that he almost ruined a little girls childhood by finding out that Timmy was just a guy in the suit, tried to crawl out of the tiny play area.  Topher lurched forward towards the exit, but couldn't because he felt his back was heavier.  Topher thought that was odd, and just thought that is was the mixture of fear, and adrenaline in his body at the time.  He pushed again towards the exit but got stuck once again.  This time Topher was starting to get mad, he got in here he must be able to get out.  He pushes forward to all the might he could gather at heard a smack and then a a little boy crying.  Topher turned around and saw the little boy that had been terrorizing him the whole morning crying inside of the playground.
Topher then figured out that the boy was the extra weight on his back in the playground and that was why he couldn't get out.  He almost felt bad for what he did to that little boy. Almost.  Timmy shrugged his shoulders at the boy, completely dodging the ice queen Susan's stare at him.  Topher overheard Susan say to the little boy, "It's your fault!  You picked on him all morning, and then you crawled on his back in here.  I watched you so don't say you didn't!  It's karma!"  Topher laughed almost loud enough for people to hear when he heard Susan say that, and headed back to put Timmy back to bed.

At home Anne was having a day like Topher's but a lot more damaging to their marriage.  Anne went to go do the laundry for Topher trying to do him a favor when she noticed that his gym clothes were not in the laundry basket from last night.  She thought that was kind of odd, then remembered when she woke up in the middle of the night around midnight, he still wasn't home from the gym.  Anne didn't believe that Topher was at the gym that long for three plus hours and came to a conclusion in her mind.  He must be having an affair, and his clothes are at his mistresses house.  That would be the only logical explanation.  She headed towards Topher's office to gather evidence to prove her story true.
She went through all his drawers, and didn't find anything until she found a shoebox pushed to the back of the closet he had in the office.  Not knowing what to expect she opened them and saw a bunch of cards with little notes such as, happy birthday, congratulations, i miss you all signed with only a crudely drawn red heart.  No name.  It must be a mistress Anne thought to herself.  She took the box downstairs so she could confront her husband when he got home when the doorbell rang.  Anne wiped away the tears that were forming and put on her mom face.  The one that could be screaming at a child one second, and be pleasant a second later.  She walked to the door and saw the UPS guy walking away and there was a package dropped off, and it was addressed to Topher.
Anne feeling utterly violated of trust from her husband opened up the package. Inside the package was a box wrapped with birthday wrapping.  Anne let out a sigh of relief until she looked at the card attached to the present.  Once again there was a crudely drawn heart with the words happy birthday on it.  Anne ripped open the box and inside was a pink dress shirt and a matching tie.  Anne then threw it across the room yelling, "You wear that for that whore you are seeing, because we are done!"  Butter's looks at her like she's crazy because she just threw clothes across the room, and yelled. But there was no one there but him.

It was a little after one when both the daycares left, leaving a few of the day families in Prehistoric Pizza which was the way how most Friday's were at this time of the day.  Topher called in the eye of the storm, and it usually came right before the shit hit the fan.  Topher was at merchandise helping a little boy pick out his prizes, he had a 1000 tickets and was only picking form the ten and twenty bins.  "Ummm...I....wannntt....a car", the little boy tells Topher.  Topher grabs the blue car for the little boy thinking to himself only 900 more tickets to go, and this kid will be done. "I want the red one not the blue one!", the little boy says to Topher.  Topher goes back and switches the color.  Only 900 more he thinks to himself.  Only 900 more!  "And two smarties, and a sticker please", the boy continues to tell Topher.  Topher grabs the item the boy asks for subtracting the tickets from his total.  "Now...I...want....ummm...can...I....get...a..sword."  The boy finally stammers out.  Another hundred down Topher thinks to himself. Only 800 to go.  That's when he looked up and saw a grandmother heading his way with a game is broken face on.  He thanked God for the reprieve of merchandise and had his front check take over.  Going over to meet the lady before she got to him.
"Are you breaking my games Miss?"  Topher jokingly asks the grandmother.  Topher always tried to joke because it would help break the anger if they had continually had game trouble.
"Well we were playing skeeball, and there were no balls", the grandmother tells Topher.  Topher has her lead the way to which lane it is and notices there are no balls in her lane, but next to her this a lane with all it's balls and also all the lost balls.  Topher waits for the little boy playing skeeball next to the grandmother to finish before he can jump in to grab the balls from the other lane.
"Excuse me buddy can I get in here real quick", Topher says to the little boy.  He steps back and Topher puts in his keys and gets the extra nine balls out of the lane and puts them in the grandmothers game so she can play, and gives her three tokens for the hassle of non-working games.  When Topher was suddenly tapped on the shoulder.
"What are you doing!", a very large angry man yells at Topher.  Topher didn't have time to get his name.
"The lane your son was playing had the extra balls in it, so I asked him if I could get them out she could play her game, because somehow all here balls were in the lane he was playing", Topher told the large man politely.
"You don't fucking know me!", the large man screams at Topher once again.  Topher shocked and wondering why this guy was so pissed off has chosen to drop the F bomb in a childrens place automatically went to the defense.
"Sir, that language is not appropriate for a kids place so please don't use it", Topher said sternly to the man.
This angered the man even more because he didn't like being told what he can say and what he can not say. "You don't know me!  You don't fucking know where I come from!  Who the hell are you thinking...", the man yells at Topher,
"Sir either stop that language right now, or leave.  I will call the police because right now you are on borderline verbal abuse with me, but I do not want to do that.  I want you and your son to have a good time.  So please stop using that language.  I'm sorry if I offended you, but let's just move on with it and go play some games with your son."  Topher tells the man with a very pissed off look on his face.  Topher fully knowing now he could take that guy out in an instant if he wanted to, but then it would be on camera, and the police would question him, and worse possibly get sued.  So Topher decided to take the high road apologize for God knows what and appeal to the father inside the very large man that was pissed off at Topher for some reason.  And it worked because the man let out loud guff and went to go play basketball with his son.  Missing every shot which Topher laughed at silently.  With great power, comes the control of not punching every asshole you meet in life, Topher thought.  And with that thought had his new motto in life, and he would need it because there were a lot of assholes to be dealt with as Defender and as Topher.
Topher headed back up to the merchandise counter and noticed that boy from before still picking out prizes and went and took over for his front door person so she could go back to helping people in and out at the door.  Topher thought the boy must be done by now, because those last few moments felt like hours due to all the tension that was brewing between him and the large man.  "He has 400 tickets left still", Mary the front door person tells Topher as she walks back up front to let the newest family in.  Topher groans silently.
"I....want....a...giant sword!", the boy says excitedly pointing at the wall.  The sword that is worth 1000 tickets.  "Can I put all my prizes back and get the sword?", the boy asks Topher.  Topher just nods grabs the sword and trades the prizes for it.  Shoot me now Topher thinks to himself.  Shoot me now.

In New York is the headquarters of Titan Comics the largest comic book company in the world.  On the top floor is the office of the chairwoman, Melissa George, the woman whose family had single handedly ushered in superhero comics, and each year brought something more exciting to comics.  Whether it be a new event, a heroes death, a new character, or the announcement of a new movie or video game based off their products.  Titan comics is the comic company that other companies strived to become but always fell short, and for one reason, they didn't have Melissa George.
Melissa sat in her office staring at her computer smiling, watching the video of a man jumping out of window on repeat.  This is exactly what she was looking for that day, because that meant that Project Ultra still went ahead on as planned even though the General was not on Earth.  She arranged the General's Earth absence by giving the Nejoians an overactive warp drive that could double as a bomb, and told them to hold an orphanage, hospital, or whatever was close by  hostage, and demand the General to come make the deal.  Knowing full well that the General would never postpone Project Ultra even if he wasn't there himself to flip the switch.  She knew his ego would love the stroke of being a hero being demanded light years away to help an interstellar hostage situation.  She knew the General all so well.
Melissa watched the video one more time, when a call came over the intercom. "Viper you have incoming."  Viper is how Melissa has been known for the last thirty years, because she's the head of the Snake corporation which acquires all of their fundings by selling stories about super heroes.  The ones they fight secretly and have convinced the world that they don't exist.  That was the Viper's master plan all along, she was inspired by the Devil's greatest trick to humanity, convincing us that he doesn't exist.  So she used her exploits for stories and created super heroes so the world would belive in them, but knew that they could never exist.  She single handedly showed the world super heros, and at the same time had the whole world that is was all fake.  Just like the Satan did.
On the call was the Viper's mole in the hero's camp a very loyal mole.  One that knew all the secrets of the heroes because they thought of him as one of their own, having no clue that the mole has been working for the Viper since day one, sent to infiltrate them, and pass along information that the Viper might find useful.  "The switch has been pulled and the results are amazing Viper!  How shall we procced?  The General has still to yet make contact, so we can still snatch up Topher", the mole pleaded on the phone wanting to earn brownie points with the boss by coming up with a good plan.
The Viper had other plans though she wanted to see more of what Topher could do.  One video was not enough for her, sure it was fun to watch him jump out of a window, again and again, but she truly wanted to test him.  "I have another approach will be more fun for everyone involved.  That will be all", the Viper says then hangs up the phone.  Melissa picks up her phone and sends a text to her loyal Lieutenant who has been undercover since the day she trained them and set them off on this long period mission that would hopefully pay off.  She simply sends a text saying, "you didn't tell me he got his powers!".  A second later Melissa's phone vibrates with a response, "i didn't know he did".  Melissa smiled at how fast and loyal her Lieutenant was after being so many years without any communication.
Melissa has found out while being a villain there are two types of helpers in this world.  The special ones that will die for you, or avenge your death if need be, and there are the lackeys in the world.  The disposable ones.  The ones you hire to make random killings to instill fear, set off a bomb here or there, or rob a random bank.  She thought the third option would be best because Topher has already proofed his merit with fire and burning buidlings, but he's not sure how he would fare against bullets and there's only one way to find out.  Melissa then picks up her phone again and sends a simple text, "bank job is a go".  Five minutes later she gets a response, "you got it boss!".  Melissa makes a mental note to kill them after they commit this robbery, because they are loose ends.  Lackeys.  And lackeys are easily replaced.

Topher couldn't wait to head off to the bank to drop off deposits, because that meant one step closer to having this day over and done with.  He got in his car and just sat there for a few minutes soaking in music that wasn't lame 80's covers sung by barely robotic dinosaurs.  Songs he heres a thousand times each month.  He drives to the bank which is not even a mile away and parks.  His phone vibrates, it's his wife. He gets the dreaded text that every person hates to get, "we have to talk".  Topher not sure what is up texts back, "about what?".  Topher sits in his car waiting for a response from his wife, wondering why the sudden text.  Fearful of what it implied.  Maybe she saw the video and somehow realized it was him jumping out that window, but then Topher realized there is no way you can tell it was me.  He looked at his phone again and still no answer.  He trades his phone for the deposits on the car seat and starts to head in.
Halfway through the parking lot he notices a car parked at the front of the bank with it's window down, and a half lit cigarette, and a pile of cigarettes next to it.  The classic signs of a bank robbery Topher thought.  Then he looked inside and saw two men in masks holding shotguns up to the teller faces.  A bank robbery.  Can this day get any worse Topher thought.  Can it get any worse.  Just then his phone vibrated it was his wife finally answering.  "We will talk when you get home."