„May I help you, sir?“
Kenneth tore his eyes away from the wing he had been absentmindedly stroking. With difficulty he focused on the diminutive stature of the sales person that had crept up to him.
“Um...sorry?”
With a minimal effort, the sales person pasted an insincere smile onto his face.
“Ah, yes. The first set of wings. Always something special.”
He fingered the set of wings on display, which were approximately twice his height.
“This is actually last year’s model. Quite a bit of power for the wingspan-to-weight ratio. Look at this workmanship along the seams! Perfect overlapping of the primaries and the secondaries!“
The sales attendant noticed the puzzled look of his customer.
„Sorry, I forgot that this will be your first set of wings. You see right here,“ he pointed at the lower, outer part of the wing, „these are the primaries - that’s the main flight feathers. The secondaries are these smaller flight feathers on the upper part of the wings, right above the primaries.”
Kenneth caressed the transition line with a faraway look in his eyes.
The sales attendant smirked inadvertently. This was going to be an easy sale.
“We can get them grafted onto your shoulders under local anesthetic in a simple one hour operation. At the same time we would boost the shoulder and lower back musculature to accommodate the increased strain and power demands. Within a week or two you could start basic flight training.”
He paced around Kenneth’s back, prodding at muscles and using a grey simfit-tool to take measurements.
“So, what color do you want?”
“Pardon?”
Kenneth was jolted out of his reverie.
“What color do you want? They don’t have to be just plain white, you know. Also a bit of a problem keeping them looking spiffy-clean.”
The sales person slowly rocked forward and backwards on the balls of his feet.
“We’ve got maroon, aquamarine and steelblue on stock also. For a small additional charge we can also get you gradients, starting at the scapulars (that’s the feathers on the shoulder right here) and then spreading either horizontally or vertically.”
The phony smiled appeared once again.
“So how about it?”
“Um... I think I would prefer white.”
“Excellent choice!”
The sales attendant pumped his hand enthusiastically, then reached into a pocket to produce a calculator, a small calendar and an order book.
“Okay, let’s talk actual costs.”