Poisoned LIght

Chapter 2:

Jack and I decided to meet at a Tim Hortons in the nearby mall on Saturday. I put the event in my phone and went about my day. I thought about taking the ads down but I wasn't completely sure if I got or wanted the job, yet. That would be based on Jack's opinion of me and the pay. The bills had to get paid somehow.

If only I could manage a normal job as a retailer or cashier. But I hated messing orders up or ringing things up so I opted for something else. I also didn't have to remember to ask the customers 3 billion things. Would you like to donate to this charity? Would you like to sign up for our rewards system? What about a bank card, you get free reward points with it? I'm sure if people wanted these things they would inquire about it themselves.

At least watching Oliver would be fun and interesting. One thing I learned about kids, they are never dull.

I had afternoon classes to get through today and tomorrow was morning classes. I wanted to go back to sleep honestly. I had pulled a late-night to finish a project early so I wouldn't have to pull a bunch of late-nights later. My work-ethic was good but I was productive at the worst times, like midnight.

Maybe having to chase a kid around would fix my sleep schedule and late-night habits. Maybe it would also prepare me for fatherhood. I shook the idea away, it was way too early to be thinking about that. I wasn't in a meaningful relationship and well I was twenty-seven, I didn't want kids anytime soon.

Jack didn't sound that old, I wonder how old he was when Oliver was born. That thought stuck a cord, where was the boy's mother? Wasn't she concerned who would be watching over her son? Maybe she was out of the picture, divorced or something. It was really none of my business, I was there to watch Oliver and that was it.

I got through my afternoon classes and went home, cooked dinner for myself and sat down to watch a movie. I wonder if this was what I would be doing for Oliver, granted we'd probably be watching Thomas the Tank Engine rather than The Shining.

I wonder what had happened to Oliver's last babysitter, why didn't Jack have a grandparent or nephew looking after Oliver rather than some stranger? He said the people he hired had a habit of either being irresponsible or wanting him more than the job which he was not interested in.

I was too curious for my own good. I wanted to know all the reasons for the things Jack was doing. When all I really had to do was watch out for Oliver. I turned the movie off and decided to turn in early to catch up on my sleep from the previous night. I'd probably wake up early and still be tired, maybe I had insomnia. It felt like I could only ever sleep six hours straight without disturbance. Otherwise, I would be under-slept or over-slept either way I would have a hard time concentrating if I had morning classes.

I rolled around in bed trying to sleep, eventually, I put my earphones in and tried to fall asleep to music but nothing was working for me tonight. I glanced at the clock, how had I been laying here for two hours already? I needed this sleep or I'd crash Friday night and be late for coffee with Jack on Saturday. I always crashed eventually, normally I wouldn't care on a weekend unless I had work.

Being late would not be a good first impression at any job especially when it wasn't even to watch his kid it was just to meet him and have coffee. I could call him and reschedule for later in the day so I knew I'd be up but it was late, he'd probably be sleeping by now and I didn't know what his day job entailed so I wouldn't know when he'd be available to answer the phone. I could just leave him a message. Maybe I'd do that tomorrow so I wouldn't disturb his and Oliver's sleep.

I fell asleep a little while later and jumped up with a start the next morning. I rolled over to look at the clock, 7:00 am. I was going to be late for my morning classes if I took the train now. I guess I was catching an uber, why did they have to be so expensive? And why hadn't my alarm gone off at 6:00 like it was supposed to? I couldn't afford to drive every day and it was cheaper to take the train.