“Koenig,” I said, flipping through the A section of the used CDs, “tell me which of these AC/DC reissues I need to buy, keeping in mind…”

”’Back in Black,’” responded Koenig, not looking up from the latest issue of The Big Takeover.

”...keeping in mind,” I continued, “that I already have ‘Back in Black,’ ‘Dirty Deeds Done Dirty Cheap,’ and ‘Highway to Hell.’”

”’Fly on the Wall,’” he suggested, again without shifting his eyes in my direction.

“I’m fucking well not buying ‘Fly on the Wall,’” I said, grumpily. I stopped looking through the discs and looked helplessly around the store, which was – as ever – devoid of any other customers. “In fact,” I added, “I don’t know what I’m doing here.”

“You’re here because you hate your 9-to-5 job,” he responded, still reading Jack Rabid’s rave review of the latest New Model Army album, “but you don’t hate it enough to admit that you want to get your band back together.”

“You’re wrong,” I said, knowing full well he was right…and hating him for it.