47 Acquisitions

Annie took the money from the can on the refrigerator and tucked it into her purse, then she, Arnold, and Kelly climbed into her car and drove to the electronics store that Kelly had checked on her cell phone. It was a Saturday, so it was a little crowded with weekend shoppers when they went inside and Kelly walked right to the back of the store to the customer service desk there.

“Only products warrantied by the store can be replaced without having to send it back to the company.” A slightly overweight guy said automatically without looking up from the electronics thing he had on his desk.

Kelly rapped her knuckles on the desk to get his attention. “I need a hand with something. Are you busy?”

The guy looked up from his desk. “That depends on if you're going to waste my time.”

Kelly chuckled and leaned on the desk. “Is it a waste of time to build a custom computer from parts you have in stock?”

The guy gave her an appraising look and then a hint of a smile touched his lips. “Standard parts?”

“Bite your tongue.” Kelly said and the guy smiled. “I've got a few specifications here.” She took out her cell phone and brought up the things she had looked for.

The guy took the phone and swiped at the screen quickly and started to nod his head. “Okay. Good choice on the processors. You need a different motherboard if you want the extra memory slots and the dual video cards expansion.”

“I wanted the motherboard because it allows for the VR upgrade.” Kelly said.

“Hmm.” The guy flipped through the rest of her choices. “We're getting a new add-on for headsets next week.” He said and then whispered. “It's only a money grab, though. The memory chips coming out in three months won't be compatible with older machines.”

“That sucks.” Kelly said and the guy laughed.

“Not for us. People are going to be swarming in here for new machines.”

“Maybe we should wait.” Kelly said, a little sadly. “We were going to pay in cash, too.”

The guy's eyes almost flashed dollar signs at her words. “You're not going on a payment plan or a credit card?”

Kelly shook her head, and the guy leaned around her and look up at the front of the store. He saw the two clerks were occupied and he smiled.

“I'm not really supposed to bring people back here.” He said and opened the small wooden half-door that was beside his desk. Kelly quickly stepped through and waved for Arnold and Annie to follow.

“I'll wait over there.” Annie said and pointed to the bank of televisions. “That's a good movie.”

Kelly nodded and she and Arnold followed the guy into the back room with all of the parts and inventory of the entire electronics store.

“How do you find anything in here?” Kelly asked and couldn't make sense of it.

The guy chuckled and led them into what he called his 'build room', where he assembled anything that was needed for the store and also repaired anything that could be repaired to save money on replacements.

Arnold's eyes took in all of the little bits and tiny packages and small racks of everything that a person working with electronics would have at their disposal.

“Amazing, isn't it?” The guy said. “I have so much fun back here.”

“How did you learn it all?” Arnold asked.

“About eight years in college and five years actually working.” The guy said with a chuckle and started to grab the wrapped parts for the computer they wanted. “I'll be paying it off for another ten years, too.”

“Yeah, I'm not looking forward to that part of college.” Kelly said.

“Hey, I didn't say it wasn't worth it.” The guy said and picked up a really nice large case. “This can lay down or stand up, depending on where you want to put it.”

Kelly nodded and watched as he grabbed two hard drives, two video cards, the VR adapter, a different motherboard, a handful of memory chips, the disk drive for loading programs and games, and a huge power supply with more wires on it than she thought was necessary.

“I want the extra cooling fans, too.” Kelly said.

“That's what the larger case is for.” The guy said and added two extra fans and the mounts for them. “I'm tempted to try and pawn off a liquid cooled system on you; but, that's overkill even for a full dive VR system.”

“I knew it was too good to be true.” Kelly said.

“They work well and do the job... at first. As it gets older, moisture starts to build up as it loses efficiency. Plus, it's not really a good idea to have dampness around electricity.”

Kelly nodded and the guy kept grabbing different things to add to the pile. She could see the dollar prices on the things and she managed to keep her eyes from bulging at the total as it kept rising and rising. After about five minutes, the guy sat down and started to swipe the parts under what looked like an item scanner and they beeped.

The guy tore open the plastic bags and to her surprise, he had the motherboard assembled with the microchips attached with a huge heat sink on top, put it in the case and added the power supply, then put in all of the accessories and things Kelly had asked for. She hadn't seen a motherboard with eight memory slots before and she thought about asking about it as the guy filled them with memory chips.

“It's custom made.” The guy said with a smile when he saw where she was looking. “You won't have to worry about compatibility when the new memory comes out. If you change it out, it's just a quick bios update to alter the memory recall functions.”

“I assume you do them?” Kelly asked and he nodded.

“I'll send it out in an email about a week after I get the chips in my hands.”

“Thanks.” Kelly said.

“Don't install it without the new memory, because the system won't work with the new bios.” The guy warned her. “Only install it if you get the chips.”

Kelly nodded and after about twenty minutes, the main base was completely assembled and had the VR expansion installed.

“Let's get this puppy on the tester.” The guy said and took it over to another desk and hooked everything up. He started the diagnostics and let it run. “We've got a few minutes before that finishes.” He said and looked at Kelly. “I guess you already have a computer like this.”

Kelly nodded. “I looked at the pre-built ones you have and they won't do for Arnold's work.”

The guy chuckled. “You don't need a VR rig for work.”

“He will.” Kelly said with a smile. “His work almost demands it.”

“Then you came to the right place.” The guy said and pointed behind her.

Kelly turned around and looked at the VR gaming gear on the far shelf. “No way!”

“They're going out for sale tonight at midnight.” The guy said, proudly.

“Full dive gaming headsets.” Kelly whispered. “Did the price drop on the old versions?”

“They only cost an arm and not an arm and a leg now.” The guy joked. “As technology gets better and smaller, it also gets cheaper the longer its out.”

“Even an arm is too expensive right now.” Kelly said and turned back to the guy.

“What if it's someone else's arm?” Arnold's voice asked from nearby and the guy laughed.

“It's a euphemism for money, not actual body parts.” Kelly clarified and looked where she had heard his voice. “Arnold? Where are you?”

“In the next aisle.” Arnold said and walked around the end of the large rack of damaged equipment. “There is a lot of things here.”

“More than there should be and not enough for everything I need.” The guy said and the computer beeped at him. “Looks like the newest gaming system passed.” He said and checked the display results. “Nice. I don't need to overclock the main processor. That'll definitely cut down on the heat generation.”

Arnold stood there and didn't understand anything the guy said. He used terms and expressions he hadn't heard before and he would ask Kelly about them later.

“Now the stress test.” The guy said and brought up a performance program and ran it. “This tests how well it performs multiple tasks, including video rendering, reading from the read only memory, and writing and rewriting to the memory, hard drive, and temporary files.”

The three of them watched as the new computer out-performed the benchmark and nearly hit the top of the program's allowable range.

“Ha ha! Nice.” The guy said and started the basic operating system installation while he wrote everything down, including all the parts, adjustments, and configurations he had used for the hardware. It took a little while. “I'll keep this as a main assembly guide, so I won't have to figure it out the next time someone comes in looking for something similar.”

Kelly understood what he meant and that this configuration was the very first one he had done. “If anything goes wrong...”

The guy chuckled. “Just bring it back and I'll fix it. Store warranty and all that, like I said before.” He said and turned it off and unhooked it. “It's only for a year, though. You know how fickle computer parts are.”

Kelly nodded and she and Arnold followed the man out from the back and to his desk.

“You're definitely going to need internet access for all the software updates to the basic operating system.” The guy said and put it on his desk. “They update it every day sometimes.” He reached over and grabbed a basic keyboard and a mouse, then pointed to the rack of flat screen computer monitors. “Grab the ninety nine dollar one there. Nineteen inch size.”

Kelly walked over and picked up the box and came back over.

“I know it seems cheap, but the refresh rate is top notch and the quality can't be beat for the size.” The guy said and picked up a little scanner and scanned the keyboard, mouse, and monitor. “Are you getting the VR headset and controllers, too?”

“That depends on how much this is.” Kelly said, a little sheepishly.

The guy chuckled. “Go grab them and we'll see.”

Kelly went right over to the display and grabbed two of the gaming controls and the VR headset the same as hers and came back. The guy grabbed a mid-range printer and added it to the stack and scanned everything in and sat down at his desk. He typed a few things and there was the sound of something being printed.

The guy reached into a mass of wires and cables and picked up a piece of paper that was the size of a postcard, pulled off a sticker, and placed it right on the side of the machine. He scanned it and nodded when the display changed to reflect what he wanted.

“Congratulations.” The guy said and held a hand out for her to shake. “You've been approved as an alpha tester for the store's new VR base system.”

Kelly's mouth dropped open in shock and the guy shook her hand.

“You're not an official employee; but, you do have to submit weekly reports on the performance and quality.” The guy said. “In other words, run the same diagnostic tool you just saw and email me the results.”

“But...”

“You also get first pick of anything new coming in, both for testing and for purchase.” The guy said. “So, are you ready to buy this beast?”

“Yes.” Kelly turned and waved to Annie and she came right over. “How much is it?”

“Including the VR rig...” The guy said and reached under his desk and took out a handful of VR games. “No. Yes. Yes. Gotta keep that one.” He said and sorted them, then put six of them on the machine and put the rest back under the desk. “You're looking at a whopping sixteen hundred and fifty-five dollars, taxes and electronics deposit included.”

Kelly just stared at him and couldn't respond to the ridiculous price. She had mentally added up most of the internal components of the computer and they had been at least that much, which meant they got everything else for free.

“I forgot to mention the discount, didn't I?” The guy said. “As an alpha tester, certain items qualify for a discount, anywhere from twenty to fifty percent off, as long as you send in the reports every week.”

It took Kelly a few moments to recover. “Um... do... do we need to write a review, too?”

The guy chuckled. “I'll send an email with the details if you want to excel at it.”

Kelly nodded and the guy grabbed a big box, then carefully added foam and packing peanuts, then put in the computer, the keyboard, the mouse, the printer, the VR headset, and the controllers and games. He printed off another sticker and put it on the box and placed the monitor on top.

“There you go. Have a nice day.” The guy said with a huge smile.

“Th-thank you. Thank you very much.” Kelly said.

“See you later.” The guy said. Maybe I can get her number later from the receipt. He thought, then he was surprised by what happened next.

Arnold picked up the box with the computer inside and it still had the monitor on top of it. He followed Kelly and his mother to the front of the store and held the heavy box as they waited in line.

He took it before I could offer to roll it out on the dolly. The guy thought. He's also not putting it down. Everyone puts it down.

It took almost ten minutes for their turn at the register and Annie paid for it. They left the store and Arnold carried it to the car.

“That's not going to fit in the trunk.” Annie said and opened the back door to the car.

Arnold placed the box in the back seat and it barely fit. Kelly took the monitor off the top and put it on the floor, just so it wouldn't slide around and get damaged. They all climbed into the car and drove back to Arnold's place.

Annie thought about stopping somewhere to eat, then dismissed it as not a good idea with almost seventeen hundred dollars worth of computer in the backseat. She stopped and grabbed fast food instead and they drove home with the smell of cardboard and greasy food filling the car.

Kelly felt like she couldn't have been happier. She got Arnold a fantastic deal on a new computer system that actually had a VR rig, she was spending the day with her boyfriend after two weeks of only getting to say hello, and his mother was one of the nicest people she had ever met. She hadn't even blinked at spending so much money in one shot, and that was a surprise, considering Kelly knew that they didn't have any income at the moment.

Now I'm wondering how much Arnold is getting paid for the summer job at the college. Kelly thought, then she shook her head. No, it doesn't matter what he makes. I just love being around him. She caught her breath at the thought. I... I love... being around him. She thought in surprise and looked at the back of his head in the front seat. Am I... in love with him?

Annie parked in the driveway and went to the front door of the house and opened it, then held it for Arnold as he carried the large box inside. Kelly was reserved as she came in with the monitor and Annie noticed.

“Take them upstairs and come back down to eat.” Annie said.

Arnold and Kelly took the items upstairs to put them in his room and came back downstairs to the kitchen. The food was already divided up and the three of them sat down and had a quiet meal together. It wasn't really an awkward silence and when the meal was over, they washed up and cleaned off the table.

“Should we bother getting the internet?” Annie asked a slightly surprised Kelly.

“What? Yes. The guy at the store said you would need it for the computer to update.”

“Don't you think it's a bit of a waste? Arnold's going to be working at the college all summer and most of his days will be spent there. Since he needs it for work, he will be taking the computer with him.”

Kelly thought of several reasons to still get the internet, mainly to stay in touch, then it hit her what Annie had said. “I... I'm not going to see him... all summer?!?” She exclaimed and started to cry.

Annie immediately took her into a hug and held her and Arnold sat there and watched them.