The princess is going to need the help of the dolphins.

I click on Dolphin Princess. I’d bought this game earlier in the day while I was working cuz I’d gotten an email saying it was on sale for about 15 dollars and now I was going to try it.

DOLPHIN PRINCESS BY NICHOLAS FOLDESI 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 108

I’m at the 7-Eleven down the street from my aunt’s house picking up two cans of Pepsi, a bag of sour gummies, and a black and mild. Ron is working the register. He’s this skinny kid who’s probably in his early 20s and always super-nice. I only know Ron by name because one time he was wearing a Tool shirt and I was like, “Nice.” He grew up in this town and has lived here his whole life like me, except I’m 32. When I was his age I worked some shitty jobs like his so I can relate to him in a way. He has thin, sorta reddish hair and a bit of an overbite and I saw him talking to some girl with acne in a purple hoodie once who I think might have been his girlfriend.

When I bring my gummies and sodas to the counter he says, “The regular?” I n…