Random Doobings

Captain Doobie, Goodtime Slim, and the Merciless Merchandiser of Morphett Vale.

Captain Doobie popped his head around the door of Goodtime Slim's room. "Can I borrow your engraver?" he asked brightly.

"What engraver?" asked Goodtime Slim, sitting up in bed and blearily wiping the sleep from his eyes.
"You remember, the one you got when the dog from up the back kept jumping the fence and you said you were going to change whatever was on it's tax disc into a rude word."

Goodtime Slim remembered now. "Oh, that one," he said, "It's on top of the wardrobe."
"Ta," replied Captain Doobie, reaching up, grabbing it and leaving.
Goodtime Slim was slightly troubled by all of this. He had no idea of what might be about to happen, and this worried him a great deal. If sharing a house with Captain Doobie were compared to cruising on a yatch, then Goodtime Slim spent a lot of time being swept over the side.

His sense of unease was only deepened when he heard the engraver fire up in the dining room. Goodtime Slim lay in bed for several minutes until curiosity and a fart best described as a Breakfast Maker caused him to venture out into the kitchen. There he found Captain Doobie hard at work with the engraver in one hand, and a jar full of small metal things beside him.

Goodtime Slim made himself a cup of milo rather conspicuously, but Captain Doobie didn't turn around. Goodtime Slim took the drastic step of boiling an egg and making some toast soldiers, but even this extraordinary activity didn't make Captain Doobie look up. Finally, Goodtime Slim had to resort to poking his nose in.

"What's that then?" he asked, settling himself down at the opposite end of the table from Captain Doobie. As he cut the end off his egg he heard a piece of metal shaving plop into his Spiderman mug. He sighed pointedly. Captain Doobie looked up. "They're cotter pins," he told him.

"I can see that," replied Goodtime Slim, "What on earth are you doing?"
"This is my new job. I was thinking how much money there is these days in merchandising for television, so I thought i'd create some of my own."

Goodtime Slim did a small doubletake, flicking egg around. "How?"
"I'm engraving 'Welcome back' on all of them."