Graceful Disaster
Chapter 4
The next time I woke up I found papers littered all over the bed. And a Post-It stuck to my forehead. When I woke up and saw the world in a neon pink haze my first thought was that Kara had somehow blown up a huge pack of bubblegum, but then I heard the papers shuffle and pulled the Post-It from my head.
Found lots of jobs that work for you. Out to get pancakes
Bbl
Kara
I looked closer at the papers on my comforter and found that they were job descriptions and the numbers of the companies were scribbled on each paper. I smiled and shook my head. I don’t know how I could survive without my freak.
A glance at the clock told me that it was a better time to wake up and get ready for the day. My back froze mid-stretch when my mind flashed on the fact that I had nothing to get ready for and my little black rain cloud came back when I felt the cotton bandage on my hand. I sat heavily back onto my bed and heaved a sigh. What was the point of getting up today? I could just wallow in self-pity.
Then again, the last time I had tried to do that I had almost drowned. I needed something to busy myself, something that would be mind-numbing and take up a lot of time and energy. The papers on the bed caught my eye.
I puffed my cheeks out and narrowed my gaze at the sheets of jobs. “I guess you’ll have to do.” With my good hand, I made a pile of all the papers (because Kara must have thought it would be wondrous if I woke up and saw all the jobs that were open to me spread everywhere) and got to work.
One pile for “Good”, another for “Maybe”, and the last “Get Kara for later”. It was a good hour of my time that was spent thinking of myself in the job positions. I could see what I could do and what I would have a panic attack trying to do. Mostly secretarial and assistant positions took up the “Good” pile while the “Maybe” pile consisted of jobs that I would take if I couldn’t get any of the “Good” ones. I took a clean sheet of paper and wrote down all the numbers and a short description of the job next to them when Kara came in with Styrofoam containers.
I settled myself into the couch with my cell phone and the sheet of paper. Kara got the message and stayed in the kitchen to eat her strawberry-chocolate pancakes while I munched on my crepes and dialed numbers.
“Hello, I’m calling about the secretarial position and—oh …mhm…ok, well thank you for your time…yes…Good-bye.” Well that had been an old ad. A few more failed tries later, I was able to snag a job as a sort-of receptionist at an upscale animal shelter. It was famous around town for the best care for strays and it was financed by an animal loving celebrity that had grown up in our small town. Go figure.
I wrote down what time they wanted me to arrive the next day (I was happy to have a job, so I didn’t complain). Now, I said “sort-of” receptionist because I still got to interact with the animals on a daily basis as a way to familiarize myself with the animals and better help people looking to adopt an animal. Kind of like a matchmaker for humans and animals.
Kara seemed happy about the fact I was going to work with animals since she always wanted a pet.
“You know, I’ve always wanted a ferret.” I looked at her in shock. “What? Did you think I wanted a tarantula or a snake?” She shivered. “Those things creep me out, like they’re gonna eat my insides one day when I’m asleep.” Her eyes suddenly got bright and she turned to me excitedly. “You remember Henrietta?”
“You mean Hazel?”
“Yeah, whatever, anyway, do you remember she had a boa?” I nodded. “Well I was talking to her a few weeks ago and she told me that she would let it sleep in bed with her. So one night she noticed that it wasn’t sleeping in a ball, but instead it was stretching next to her. So she mentioned it to her vet when she took the demon spawn in for a check-up and he looked really horrified. He said that she should get rid of that snake ‘cause it was trying to stretch as tall as her so that it could eat her.” She smiled widely while I looked at her in horror (and I’m pretty sure I had a bit of crepe hanging from my mouth).
“That’s horrible!” Kara nodded in agreement. “Why are you smiling? That’s scary shit!”
“But pretty cool stuff to know!” She bit into a pancake and chewed on it, her cheeks stretching like a hamster shoving a whole carrot in its cheek pouch.
I sighed and shook my head. “It’s still a little early. Wanna go check the place out?”
Kara swallowed her bite and smiled, “Hells yeah!”
Found lots of jobs that work for you. Out to get pancakes
Bbl
Kara
I looked closer at the papers on my comforter and found that they were job descriptions and the numbers of the companies were scribbled on each paper. I smiled and shook my head. I don’t know how I could survive without my freak.
A glance at the clock told me that it was a better time to wake up and get ready for the day. My back froze mid-stretch when my mind flashed on the fact that I had nothing to get ready for and my little black rain cloud came back when I felt the cotton bandage on my hand. I sat heavily back onto my bed and heaved a sigh. What was the point of getting up today? I could just wallow in self-pity.
Then again, the last time I had tried to do that I had almost drowned. I needed something to busy myself, something that would be mind-numbing and take up a lot of time and energy. The papers on the bed caught my eye.
I puffed my cheeks out and narrowed my gaze at the sheets of jobs. “I guess you’ll have to do.” With my good hand, I made a pile of all the papers (because Kara must have thought it would be wondrous if I woke up and saw all the jobs that were open to me spread everywhere) and got to work.
One pile for “Good”, another for “Maybe”, and the last “Get Kara for later”. It was a good hour of my time that was spent thinking of myself in the job positions. I could see what I could do and what I would have a panic attack trying to do. Mostly secretarial and assistant positions took up the “Good” pile while the “Maybe” pile consisted of jobs that I would take if I couldn’t get any of the “Good” ones. I took a clean sheet of paper and wrote down all the numbers and a short description of the job next to them when Kara came in with Styrofoam containers.
I settled myself into the couch with my cell phone and the sheet of paper. Kara got the message and stayed in the kitchen to eat her strawberry-chocolate pancakes while I munched on my crepes and dialed numbers.
“Hello, I’m calling about the secretarial position and—oh …mhm…ok, well thank you for your time…yes…Good-bye.” Well that had been an old ad. A few more failed tries later, I was able to snag a job as a sort-of receptionist at an upscale animal shelter. It was famous around town for the best care for strays and it was financed by an animal loving celebrity that had grown up in our small town. Go figure.
I wrote down what time they wanted me to arrive the next day (I was happy to have a job, so I didn’t complain). Now, I said “sort-of” receptionist because I still got to interact with the animals on a daily basis as a way to familiarize myself with the animals and better help people looking to adopt an animal. Kind of like a matchmaker for humans and animals.
Kara seemed happy about the fact I was going to work with animals since she always wanted a pet.
“You know, I’ve always wanted a ferret.” I looked at her in shock. “What? Did you think I wanted a tarantula or a snake?” She shivered. “Those things creep me out, like they’re gonna eat my insides one day when I’m asleep.” Her eyes suddenly got bright and she turned to me excitedly. “You remember Henrietta?”
“You mean Hazel?”
“Yeah, whatever, anyway, do you remember she had a boa?” I nodded. “Well I was talking to her a few weeks ago and she told me that she would let it sleep in bed with her. So one night she noticed that it wasn’t sleeping in a ball, but instead it was stretching next to her. So she mentioned it to her vet when she took the demon spawn in for a check-up and he looked really horrified. He said that she should get rid of that snake ‘cause it was trying to stretch as tall as her so that it could eat her.” She smiled widely while I looked at her in horror (and I’m pretty sure I had a bit of crepe hanging from my mouth).
“That’s horrible!” Kara nodded in agreement. “Why are you smiling? That’s scary shit!”
“But pretty cool stuff to know!” She bit into a pancake and chewed on it, her cheeks stretching like a hamster shoving a whole carrot in its cheek pouch.
I sighed and shook my head. “It’s still a little early. Wanna go check the place out?”
Kara swallowed her bite and smiled, “Hells yeah!”
♠ ♠ ♠
The snake thing is also a real life experience, but from one of my friends. Scary stuff.~Caitlin