"Make the Bear Be Nice"

By Stephen St. Franicis Decky

A homeless teen working nights cleaning movie theaters at a South Jersey cineplex forms an unlikely friendship with a former high-school classmate and his sister. Their relationship—as well as his relationship with his estranged father—culminates with a chaotic uprising during a screening of an annoyingly ubiquitous summer blockbuster kids’ movie.​ #6 in the Street Smart Series of short fiction from Frayed Edge Press.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Frayed Edge Press
• Release date: Aug 24, 2022
• ISBN: 9781642510386

Book preview

Make the Bear Be Nice

Stephen St. Francis Decky

Frayed Edge Press

Philadelphia, PA

Copyright 2021

Illustrations by Bruce Orr

Published in print by Frayed Edge Press in 2021

https://www.frayededgepress.com/

Published by Frayed Edge Press at Smashwords, 2022

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author and publisher.

Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Decky, Stephen St. Francis.

Title: Make the bear be nice / Stephen St. Francis Decky.

Description: Philadelphia, PA : Frayed Edge Press, 2019. | Series: Street smart

series ; 6 | Summary: A homeless teen who works cleaning movie theaters has his

life turned upside down by a couple of unlikely friendships and a chaotic

uprising during a screening of an annoyingly ubiquitous summer blockbuster

kids’ movie.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021944728 | ISBN 9781642510379 (pbk.) | ISBN

9781642510386 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Fathers and sons -- Fiction. | Friendship -- Fiction. | Motion

picture theaters -- Employees -- Fiction. | Young men -- Fiction. | BISAC:

FICTION / Coming of Age. | FICTION / Friendship. | FICTION / Humorous

/ General.

Classification: LCC PS3604 E25 M35 2021 | DDC 813 D43--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021944728

Make the Bear Be Nice

My job is cleaning the theaters at the Deptford Super-6 Multi-Plex Cinema in Deptford, New Jersey. I do it seven nights a week because I’m trying to save enough money to get my own apartment. Right now, I am not living anywhere.

Cleaning theaters can be gross but it’s kinda neat being alone in such a huge place all night. Plus, I actually like cleaning. When I was still living at home, I spent at least an hour every night cleaning something—the bathroom or the living room or the kitchen, which was always a mess because my dad is such a slob. I didn’t get paid anything for cleaning at home, but at the movie theater, I get nine dollars an hour. Because there’s nobody to supervise me at night, I get paid for eight hours no matter what, even though I usually finish everything up in less than four. I spend the rest of the time sleeping on one of the couches in the lobby. They’re very soft and way more comfortable than the backseat of my car.

In the daytime I drink coffee and drive around. Sometimes I buy CDs to play in the car but I’m trying not to spend too much money so if I can, I just steal them. I also steal food.

***

It was three months ago that I got kicked out of my house. The last night I was there, my dad grabbed my neck and slammed me against the wall in my room. He was only wearing his underwear when he