#dh001

bob had walked into the palace arcade half an hour ago with the intention of talking to will, but when he couldn’t find the youngest byers boy anywhere in the building, he’d planted himself in front of pacman and played a couple of rounds. the first quarter only earned him tenth place, but by the second round, he was top 3. this latest round bumped the number one player to number two. with a grin, bob keyed in his first name and abandoned the machine in favor of strolling along the rows with his hands in his pockets, marveling at some of the new machines they had since 1984. there were entirely new games in here, too. it was so fascinating how quickly technology could move. bob still felt the same, but that might have been because he had little to no memory of his forest commune days.

he was just about to move along to the second row of consoles when someone familiar caught his eye. well, sort of familiar, anyway. the people bob remembered from hawkins all had little differences. joyce’s hair was different, hopper’s a little grayer, but the kids? the kids had all shot up like beansprouts and had gotten haircuts, but something about the bright t-shirt and baseball cap reminded him so strongly of one of will’s friends that bob just had to stop at the counter and say hi. it would be rude not to. “dustin henderson? are they putting something in the water here or what? you’ve all gotten so tall.” he shook his head and tipped his head slightly as he studied him. “which of these do you recommend for a guy who’s mastered pacman but hasn’t played anything new since 1984?”