An original fictional #Kvamers memoir, inspired by Eric’s account of his first mascot and his Gary Gorilla tattoo in 2016.
Gary rested his broad hands on the counter. Mary sat beside him while Larry argued with a chair that refused to stop wobbling.
“2016,” Gary said.
Mary turned. “What about it?”
“That was the year Eric chose to carry me with him.”
He let the words settle.
“People see a mascot and think about a name on a truck. A face on a shirt. Something printed large enough to recognize from the road.”
“And you?” Mary asked.
“I think about that tattoo.”
Across the room, Eric looked up.
Gary nodded toward him. “We bonded that day. Me and Bossman Eric.”
Larry stopped testing the chair.
“Before all this?” he asked.
“Before a lot of this,” Gary said, looking around the room.
Mary followed his gaze: the walls, the stories, the places people had made for one another.
“You could tell it differently every time,” she said. “Make it bigger.”
Gary shook his head.
“Doesn’t need much help.”
Eric approached the counter. “You telling stories about me?”
“One.”
“Good one?”
Gary smiled. “Still finding out.”
Mary laughed, and Eric pulled out a stool.
For a moment, Gary looked at him without a joke ready.
“2016 was a long time ago, Bossman.”
“Yeah.”
“You kept me.”
Eric rested his arms on the counter.
“Of course I did.”
Gary nodded once. From the corner came another small scrape as Larry finally steadied the chair.
“There,” Larry announced. “That’ll hold.”
Gary glanced toward him, then back at Eric.
“Good,” he said. “We’ve got more stories to tell.”
Enjoyed Gary’s first memory? Share this chapter with someone who has an old friend—or a favorite character—they never let go.