"Back of the line, then."

"My friend can’t stand out in the sun like that," said Jay. "He has really sensitive skin. See?"

Jay lifted the hood of Doug’s poncho just slightly.

"Christ," whispered the man. He lifted a walkie-talkie to his mouth. "This is Craig at D stop. I got a situation."

The walkie-talkie squawked something only Craig could understand. He said, "Copy" and returned it to its holster, all the while staring fixedly at Jay.

"It’ll just be a minute."

"Okay," said Jay. "Thanks."

Craig nodded. "So…he likes comics?"

"Yeah."

"He speaks English, too," said Doug.

Craig was joined by another big man in identical clothing, apart from a black baseball cap that said HEAD. Doug thought it seemed awfully literal.

The man said, "I’m head of security, boys."

Oh.

"What’s the problem?"

"These two want in early," said Craig, "on account of this kid can’t be out in the sun."

"Oh, yeah," said the head of security, looking under Doug’s poncho. "He’s got some kind of skin thing, right? They can wait in the lobby."

"You’re not surprised?" said Craig.

"Surprised? Hell, no. This is the big comic book weekend. If the freakin’ boy in the bubble rolled up here, I wouldn’t be surprised. Hey, watch this."

He called out to the queue. "Anyone lose an inhaler?"

About one in ten checked his pockets.

"See?" said Head, loud enough for anyone to hear. "Look at that lineup. It’s like all the kids picked last for every kickball game in America."

"Hey, screw you!" shouted a boy in a Gorillaz T-shirt. "I’m on my high school swim team!"

"Ooh." Head laughed. "Swim team."

"We went to state last year! What’d you ever do, fat ass?!"

"Hey!" said Head. "Watch your mouth or I’ll watch it for ya!"