We’ll call him Ray Borson. And while you’re reading this story, you can pretend my name is Sal Mindy.

Ray had lived in this town for about twenty years or so. I’ve had a place here for at least eight years and I know he’s been here a good while before that. Never talked to him much. Only a handful of interactions over the years, but that’ll happen in a smaller town. He never made any trouble, don’t know if he did much of anything, but there was one summer where he was all anyone could talk about.

**From here on I will refer to Ray Borson as Victor Sardine. You can now pretend that my name is just Sal.**

Victor sucked at school when he was a kid, he didn’t have too many friends as a kid or an adult, he went to war after highschool and didn’t like it one bit, then when he got back after four years he got a job at a tv repair store in town and mostly focused on ducks at the park and tvs and meals for the next twenty something years. 

Lately the tv repair store had been a bit of a letdown, Victor thought. He didn’t really want to do anything else, but no one needed tvs repaired anymore. His hours had been cut and his money was running out. His meals were becoming less and less enjoyable. The tvs that did come in often had to be put down because the store couldn’t provide the proper care anymore. And the ducks that Victor would visit at the pond would get less and less bread. 

I don’t think they like me anymore, Victor thought. He had stopped at the park before work as he did everyday. The ducks had shit all over the bench he always sat at. A few times, one would swim up to Victor, honk, and then return to the others huddled together on the far side of the pond, and then they’d all honk together. Victor was really sad. It was the new tvs and the new people. 

Tv’s weren’t machines anymore, they were just like vapes. You threw them away. If the tv broke. Fuck it, just get a new one its really cheap. Victor didn’t like this trend he had noticed among consumers of tech. Tech was the one thing that made sense to Victor. Tech is really cool and also its always interesting, Victor thought. This sucks.

Victor got up from the bench and left the slices of bread he brought for the ducks there on the grass. The gravel path lay before him. From there a short walk and he’d be at the store. He looked once more at the ducks and then walked away. His pants were disgusting because of all the bird shit on them. 

As he approached the door, he heard his employer talking to a loud customer. He opened the door and the talking sounded even louder. Victor’s employer looked at him as he walked through the door. He didn’t say anything but there was a brief lapse in his frustration as he looked wide-eyed and confused at Victor’s super messy pants. 

“I got a tv repaired here, but I could’ve just bought a new one for cheaper, so I want a refund now or else!” spoke the customer.

“Shut up!” Victor said. “It’s because of people like you that my meals are less enjoyable! It’s people like you that don’t realize how cool tech really is! And it’s people like you that make it so ducks don’t even want to be friends with me anymore!”

Victor had never raised his voice in all his years of working there. The customer was so confused because they didn’t know that Victor worked there and his pants were covered in shit and also he was yelling!

“There’s too many tvs! And there’s too much money to buy ‘em,” Victor continued. “Tvs used to be machines! They were impressive and powerful and they brought people together! There’s so many different kinds now just so everyone can have a share of the money. Back in my day you had one kind of tv and one kind of illness! And you died from it!”

As those last words left his mouth, Victor collapsed on the floor. He was dead. They never figured out why and it was a very disturbing experience for those that witnessed it.