With another hectic Halloween season in the books, local Halloween Express employee Billy Watkins can finally get back to doing what he does best for 11 months out of the year: completing his Sudoku puzzles while on the clock.

“When most people think of all the great Japanese art forms, they think of things like origami, kirigami, or Dragon Ball Z cartoons. But not me,” said Billy. “I’m well-versed in the ancient Japanese art of time-wasting number puzzles known as Sudoku.”

Billy’s passion for the very confusing and seemingly unnecessary game began by accident. His normal November through September routine involved browsing Facebook on his phone for a few hours before using his laptop to catch up on Netflix shows, but that all changed last year when Halloween Express had to make the tough decision to disconnect its WiFi during slow months. Demoralized, Billy found a dust-covered, half-completed Sudoku book discarded by former employee Mark Miyagi.

“I was pretty bummed at first,” Billy told us, “because I only had one episode of Daredevil left when they cancelled the internet. But then I found Mr. Miyagi’s Sudoku book, and after a long montage of tough training and a pretty nasty bout with carpal tunnel, I was able to master the art form. I owe everything I know about Sudoku to Mr. Miyagi.”

There’s one person who isn’t too thrilled with Billy’s workplace activities, and that’s Mike Barnes, manager of Halloween Express.  He thinks Billy should spend his time being a more productive employee.

“A lot of people may think this store makes all of its money during the month of October,” Barnes told us. “And that’s absolutely true. But still, I have the attitude that there’s no offseason here at Halloween Express. There’s always the chance we could actually have customers outside of October, so you have to be prepared for that. Earlier this year, Southern Elementary had a Founding Fathers Speech day, and we had an influx of customers that day. I bet there were at least three people who came in. They all wanted Ben Franklin costumes. We only had two on display, but there were a bunch in the back. Billy was too busy with his puzzles to go to the back and look, so some poor 3rd grader had to dress up as the Quaker Oatmeal guy instead.”

Barnes also shared some secret information with us about the store’s WiFi situation.

“Don’t tell Billy this, but I never really cancelled our internet service. I just made the WiFi password protected and changed the name to ‘Weird Subway With A Drive-Thru.’ I thought it might motivate Billy a little, but it only motivated him to become the best Sudoku player in Fayette County.”