Round Peg in Tiny Rectangular Hole

So That Guy and VHS Guy became BFFs, united by the fact that they were both pariahs in the community, for Saladolsa is a small town and word of misdeeds spreads quickly. Fernando has no idea what they do during most of their day, but not having a job probably affords much free time for porn and sleeping.

That Guy also makes his regular pilgrimages past the front of the store with his dog in tow. Once in a great while an imp spawned of malfeasance stabs the tines of its pitchfork into That Guy's ass, and he encourages the dog, a husky, to leap up onto the exterior windowsill of Fernando's office windows while a punchable, shit-eating grin spreads across his face.

Oh, did I say there was a windowsill? I misspoke, as there isn't one. So he encourages the dog to lurch at the Dominion's wall, scrabbling at and scratching up the glass with its claws.

VHS Guy, meanwhile, pretty much vanished off the face of the planet, and that was more than okay by Fernando. The last time Fernando had seen him was about half a year prior, and for all Fernando knew it was quite like the time that a gentleman rented a couple of movies back in Fernando's days of playing cashier jockey. He had failed to return them, and, when an inquiry was made, it turned out he had died suddenly at home.

Awkward. One supposes that's as good a reason as any for allowing one's movies to go unreturned, though.

One evening in early January, around five, Fernando sat at his computer. It was a slow and boring day and so there was little else for Fernando to do than to play The Binding of Isaac. He looked up from his task when he heard the shee-klak of the drop box being opened followed by a series tinny blows. He saw That Guy and his dog standing in front of the store, using his frumpy bulk to block Fernando's line of sight from his chair to the area in front of the drop box.

After four or five metallic timps, the drop box swung back into its closed position. That Guy shifted, turning to address someone else. His face carried the same shit-eating grin that always accompanied the instances when he goaded his excitable dog into damaging Fernando's property. Then he moved, crossing Fernando's windows at a stilted, unnatural pace.

That Guy did his feeble best to coordinate his movements with the individual he attempted to shield, but it accomplished jack-shit because Fernando could clearly see VHS Guy skulking behind him. He held an aluminum can of some sort in one hand, not in the way normal people hold such objects when they drink from them, but by enveloping one end in his palm.

Fernando watched the pair go by. Neither of them met Fernando's gaze.

The Dominion had successfully repelled the first assault.