Slap: Part II

The pair woke up cozy and relaxed. Lori, a human, was Beth’s best friend in the world. Beth, a giraffe, was the best home Lori had found for her precious slap bracelet collection. Dozens of glittery colors, all on one long, luxuriant neck.

The best part is all the bracelets were both on display, and too high to be reached by thieving hands. Lori would walk Beth around town showing off her graceful friend and her collection at the same time. One day, she left Beth tied to a post while she bought some fresh fruit.

But when she returned, Beth the Giraffe and her collection were gone! There was nothing but a hole in the ground where the pole used to be. Lori was extremely distraught, and decided to go on an epic quest in search of her friend and her collection.

Lori reached into her backpack and pulled out a thin strip of cloth with Chinese characters and a big red circle. She’d won it at a Chuck E Cheese prize counter. “Ninja time!”, she said, incorrectly conflating Ninjas with China and headbands. “Like, let the quest totally begin!”

She then Naruto ran and jumped onto chucked cheeses creepy face, and threw up like the girl from the exorcist into the ratscot’s mouth. She then started doing silly fortnite dances, until

there were no more pop culture references to be made. Exhausted, she flopped to the floor. The pizzeria's carpet was surprisingly soft. She lifted her arm to block the ceiling lights' glare & saw it—the lime green slap bracelet on her wrist. It had all been worth it.