Page 96 of Griz Rides Tall

“Oh my God, this is going to be so exciting!” Becca said, clapping her hands together, and then, as Benny turned his back and disappeared into his trailer, she shook her head at Kate to indicate that no, actually, this was not going to be exciting at all.

The inside of the trailer looked like the indecent love child of a tech wizard and an out of control hoarder. Circuit boards and motherboards and some other sort of techy boards were piled on desks, along with innumerable wires, cables, and other doo-dads that Becca couldn’t have identified to save her life.

Empty bags of chips were scattered here and there, and dirty dishes were piled in the sink. There was one section of the trailer, though, that was absolutely immaculate.

Shelves upon shelves of neatly organized, perfectly presented Star Wars toys of every description, from the action figures to the ships and everything in between. The shelves were even dusted, Becca noticed as she looked the collection over.

It was a dizzying array, a perfect shrine to Star Wars. It looked as if the entire trailer had been built around it.

What she said was, “This is so great!”

“Those are just the displays,” Benny said. “I keep the boxed originals in a sealed case. Need to protect them from the elements.”

“Benny, have you been taking your meds?” Kate said.

“Katie,” Becca said, “don’t be boring. We’re talking Star Wars here.”

She turned to Benny and whispered conspiratorially, “I don’t think she even watchesThe Mandalorian.”

“I just,” Kate began to say, but Becca didn’t let her finish.

“Gosh, this brings back so many memories,” Becca said, gazing over Benny’s collection and acting as if she was enthralled. “I wanted so bad to be Princess Leia.”

“Really?” Benny said.

“I used to practice the lines in the mirror,” she said, putting her hands together like a prayer position and saying girlishly, “Help me, Obi Wan, you’re my only hope.”

Benny’s mouth moved a little, but no words came out. Becca decided it was time to pour it on.

“I used to dress up in the slave girl bikini from Jabba’s palace all the time,” she said with a shy smile. “That was my favorite.”

Truth be told, that costume was most definitely not her favorite. Becca’s memories of it were mostly centered around random hard edges digging into the sides of her boobs and weirdly-smelling vinyl pieces that made her sweat even though she was half-naked.

Still, that costume always delivered on its intended effect… rendering men completely idiotic and drawing their attention like moths to a flame… and even just mentioning it was doing the same to Benny. He swallowed down hard on a dry throat and stammered a bit, clearly looking for something to say and failing miserably.

It was the perfect time to bring up the cell phones. Wandering over to a desk covered in electrical components, Becca picked one up and turned it over in her hands.

“So, you know a ton about all kinds of tech stuff, hunh?” she said.

“I, uh, yes, yes, I am very familiar with these sorts of things,” Benny said.

“Well, I have a question,” Becca said. “Kate and I were talking about this earlier and maybe you can sort this out for us.”

“I would be happy to,” Benny said, nodding vigorously. “Happy to.”

“If we found someone’s cell phone and wanted to look in it, you know, to see who they called, or maybe read their text messages, could somebody unlock it and do that?”

“Of course,” Benny said with a shrug.

“Really?” Becca said, trying to sound as impressed as possible. “Wait, is that something you know how to do?”

“It’s easy,” Benny said.

“Oh, my God,” Becca said. “You are like a technical Jedi.”

Benny shrugged, and even smiled a tiny, shy smile. “It’s really not that difficult.”

“Maybe for you. For me, that is like a magic power,” Becca said. “Wait. Could you do that for us?”

---