'Mr. Barney'

Barney's shift was just ending after an especially long day. The trainstation was dead, the Watermelons' for Dr. Kleiner arrived late and he had to pry Lamarr out of his helmet during his break. The wet and musty stench of Headcrab would permeate that thing for days.

"If I didn't know better I'd have squashed that little bastard by now."

He checked the timer in his helmet, "God that stench." It was past 5:30, time to head home. As he briskly walked towards his apartment he noticed two children playing in the courtyard. Kids were a rare thing these days. "Wow actual kids, must have been born right before the suppression fields went up." he though to himself. As he walked toward them they immediately looked up and stopped what they were doing. Barney felt a bit guilty having inadvertently broken up their free time. Civil Protection weren't exactly "friendly" with the locals.

Barney smiled. "Hey guys, what are you doing around here so late?"

"Playing police and rebel." The little girl chimed in.

"That's a bit mature for kids your age. What about hide and seek?" Barney asked.

The little boy gave Barney a strange look, the old pot on his head made barney stifle a grin. "What's that?" he said with a cocked eyebrow.

Kids these days.

"Heh, it's an old game. Something I played when I was your age."

"Can you teach us mister?" The little girl asked.

"Maybe. You guys better get home. It's getting late, you don't want Civil Protection to bust you."

The little boy looked nervous. "B-but what about you?..."

Barney smiled again and gave him a thumbs up. "I think I can overlook this one."

The two children grinned and then walked off into a nearby tenement building. Barney resumed his walk back to his apartment. "I'll have to check lost & found tomorrow, maybe I can find them a jumprope or something" he thought.