Wildfire

Chapter 3: The Job

Friday night, May 28th

With each number I phoned, a numbered ticket went stacked into the ashtray along with the butts that my Dad smoked behind. Some part-time jobs were in search of a cashier. Others wanted a full-time retailer gig. The rest of the managers made up excuses, like alleged they have already found staff or the job offer was not available.

In the end, I got three upcoming interviews this week to which I was not looking forward to at all. One was to work at a convenience store, nine minutes from where I live. The other two were at a mall, Suncoast and a nearby Walmart.

Saturday, May 29th

Before my Walmart interview, I got out of my bed and hurried towards the computer. My inbox mail revealed two blinking messages. Jennifer and Jeffrey.

Jeffrey asked if I was down tonight to crash some frat party near Santa Barbara beach. "Feel free to invite Jen this time. Lisa and I won't be there for long." Underneath was the address. Bending my squeaky office chair, I confirmed my assistance and replied to him about the upcoming gigs I had.

A big part of me wished that my job would consume half my life, with only enough sparring time for gym and sleep. Hopefully, I could use my work hours as a pretext to avoid attending sermon with my parents. Or anywhere near them. And Jennifer? As soon as I hit send on Jeffrey's mail, I clicked her inbox to which I named: Jen.

She wrote to remind me of our anniversary. Petrified, I began to reminisce the first time we met. We started as friends, but it wasn't until the beginning of summer in freshman year that we started dating. I remember our first kiss on the County Fair on top of the Ferris wheel, just not as vividly, nor romantically as Jennifer does. She's always bragging this to her girlfriends— to provoke them— of how unforgettable our night was. She replays the night to me every chance she gets. Otherwise, I would've finally forgotten.

But our anniversary came as a surprise. My hands hovered atop the keyboard, thinking what should I say after Happy Anniversary babe, I love you! She would want a gift, along with a night out to the pier, or a fancy dinner night, or just a regular night out. Jennifer is not materialistic, she'd invent anything to leave her house and be with me, like so.

I wrote, only to stop to delete and rewrite. This has to give the impression that I remembered our anniversary, despite forgetting to remember our first kiss. I'll come over to your house. I stopped. Deleted the message and ended with an I love you! I wanted to surprise her, in her home, right now.

After I hit send, another message from Jeffrey pops up. "Congratulations man! And hey, don't worry, all jobs are demanding as hell. Why? You trying to escape from something? I'm just messing with you, Heath." After skimming my mouse for a full minute, I shut my monitor down, leaving Jeffrey and his question in limbo.

I stopped at Walgreens and got those oversized, overpriced baskets with a teddy bear, bright helium balloons, candies, chocolates, and shreds of paper. Also, I bought a bottle of Gatorade for the road. Dousing on the beverage, I drove carefully to the humble Bungalow and got to her door as I struggled to ring the bell, balancing the basket with my other hand.

No one responded after the second ring. There were no cars nearby, so I assumed Jennifer just left. I placed the gift on the porch as I bent over the doorstep, lifted the welcome mat, and grabbed the spare key. It wasn't breaking and entering if it was Jennifer's house, right? I thought

I unlocked the door and took my basket inside. It is when I visualized from Duncan's point of view the other day. It must have been a shock for him to see his younger sister in the kitchen with her boyfriend in such crude behavior. (Nearly getting it on in the kitchen.)