I WAS SURPRISED WHEN WE PULLED UP TO AJ’S STORAGE. I knew this was one of the many businesses that Jason’s dad owned, but I couldn’t figure out what it had to do with the surprise that he was so eager to show us.
“Isn’t this your dad’s storage facility?” Howie asked as Jason stopped his SUV at the front gates.
“Brilliant deduction, Detective Howard,” Jason quipped as he let down the window and punched numbers into a nearby keypad.
Howie rubbed his chin and pondered. “Detective Howard. That actually has a nice ring to it.”
We drove around the massive storage facility for a few minutes before Jason finally stopped the SUV at the very back of the lot.
“All right, boys! This is it!” Jason exclaimed, as his face flushed with excitement. The equally excited Howie was out of the truck before Jason could finish his sentence. I wanted to be just as excited as them but I simply didn’t have the energy. It had hit me during the ride over that skipping school also meant skipping the only two opportunities that I would have to eat that day. My friends had no idea, but my family was extremely poor. So much so, that the breakfast and lunch provided by our school were the only meals my older brother PJ and I ever ate.
I tried not to focus on my growling stomach as Jason led us to the last storage unit. From the outside, the unit appeared to be easily the size of a three-car garage. I knew that whatever he had planned had to be huge if he was keeping it in there.
Jason punched a code into the keypad to the right of the storage unit and turned to Howie and me as a low hum began to emanate from the door. “This is it, boys!”
As the door retracted, Howie and I stood frozen in disbelief. From the outside, the storage unit looked like just an average unit, however, Jason had converted the inside of it into what appeared to be a fully furnished apartment. The right half of the room was lined with several plush chairs and an oversized couch that sat in front of a monstrous flat screen television. To the left was a beautifully crafted glass conference table along with an enormous projector screen mounted on the wall in front of it.
Coming to his senses, Howie sprinted into the unit and went straight for the sleek computer positioned against the wall to the far left. I don’t think I have ever seen Jason smile as brightly as he did on that day. Making people happy was sort of a hobby of his. He always said he got that from his father, who apparently spared no expense when it came to charity. Jason and his family had moved to our small north Florida town from California back when we were fourteen. I had never met Jason's family but I figured they must have been perfect given how well-mannered and upstanding he was. They were obviously rich, so I always wondered why they had decided to move from California to a tiny east coast town like Lexington, Florida and enroll their son in a public school. Jason never really mentioned a reason, and Howie and I never asked. At the end of the day it didn't matter; we were both simply happy to have him as our friend.
“I must say, Jason,” I said as I admired the entertainment system in front of the couch. “You really outdid yourself this time.”
“How long have you been working on this?” Howie asked, as he powered up the computer system.
“This has been in the works for a while. Believe it or not, I got the idea from that superhero movie we all watched last summer,” Jason said as he sauntered around marveling at his masterpiece. “I’ve even come up with a name for it.”
“Oh yeah?” Howie said as he finally looked away from the 65-inch computer monitor.
Jason smiled but remained silent for a bit in order to build suspense. “Gentlemen… welcome to the Third Dimension.”
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