My Summer's Dilemma

I’m awoken by an excited Amunet hovering over my face. I laugh and she moves as I sit up, combing through my hair.

“Today is a big day,” she grins.

“Really? What is it?”

“You start work today!”

“No,” I groan and pull my pillow over my face.

“Dad wants you there in half an hour, you should go get breakfast and I’ll walk you over to the shop.”

She marches out of my room and closes the door behind her. Great, first day on the job with Michael. I sigh and get out of bed, looking around my new room. I had totally forgotten that I came here, it almost felt like a dream, well, a bad one. I slip on a pair of flip flops, grab some clothes, and then run out to the bathroom. I hop in the tub to take a quick shower and wash my hair; you never know who I’m going to see. I get out and dry myself, then get dressed an walk over to the house.

When I get in I head to the kitchen and take a seat at the table. Amunet serves me a glass orange juice then places a plate of bacon, eggs, and waffles in front of me.

“Where’s your mom?” I ask as I take a forkful of waffle and egg.

“She’s sleeping in today; she’s taking off from work today since you’re taking her shift,” Amunet says as she takes the seat across from me.

“Wait a minute, your parents work together?” That sounded so weird to me; how do you spend practically the entire day together and not get tired of each other?

“Yeah, they thought it would be nice. But don’t worry about it, mom is looking for another job so she wont have to get in the way of yours. Isn't she sweet?” She asks as she takes a bite of her bacon

“Absolutely,” I smile, a bit of sarcasm in my voice.

After breakfast she walks me to the shop down the road where we find Michael waiting out front. I looked up at the awning and read it out loud: “Makruver Hardware.” Corny.

“Hey son, ready for your first day?” He clasped my shoulder as if we were pals or something.

“Nope, but have no choice so let’s get it over with,” I say as I walk into the shop

“That’s the spirit,” he mumbles as he follows me in.

I look around to see all the tools and materials that surrounded the place. This doesn't look too bad. There were a few customers, but you could tell the store wasn't really busy.

“This is your boss for now, I have to run out and go food shopping with my daughter, so I’ll check in with you later, have fun.” He leaves the store and gets in the pickup truck out front with Amunet.

She waves as he drives away, and I turn around to meet my new boss.

“Well look who it is, Kenneth; the boy who needs to get in touch with the countryside.”

Giselle comes from behind the counter to greet me, sticking her hand out to shake mine. It’s nice to see her in broad daylight; I get to take in all her features. She has dirty blonde colored hair down to her waist, and any friend of mine knows that I like girls with long hair. She’s a little bit on the tan side, but her skin color is still pretty light. Her lips are plump and salmon colored, which looked nice on her skin tone. Then her beautiful hooded chestnut-colored eyes nearly close as she smiles. She’s kind of short, which I find cute, but her pear shaped body didn't exactly say cute; it said woman. Her overalls slightly hugged her body and covered her red shirt, my favorite color. It’s meant to be. Ha, just kidding…

“Hey,” I smile, taking her hand.

“Ready for your first day of work? Ever, I’m sure.” She giggles and lets go, then walks over to her work bench.

I shake my head and walk behind the counter, “I’m looking forward to working with you.”

She puts on a welding mask, then flips up the lens and says “ditto.”

After a while I got bored with the lack of customers, so I decided to play with the register. I try to open it, but it won’t budge. I start smashing all of the buttons to see their functions, eventually bashing multiple at one time. I thought that if I would bang on it like they do in TV shows that it would pop open, but it didn't work.

“Ugh,” I groan, “how do you work this thing?!” I bash all the buttons with anger and comb my fingers through my hair.

Giselle raises her eyebrow at me then joins me behind the counter. She presses a square shaped button on the tip right corner of the register, which says ‘open’, then slides the money in the cash drawer and closes it. She looks up at me then crosses her arms.

“Oh uh, thanks.” I scratch the back of my neck.

“Mhm,” she hums, walking back to her workbench.

She continues to drill a hole through an uncompleted shelf. I don’t know what it is about a women and power tools that made then so much more attractive. The girls back home wouldn't even look at one, but Giselle knew how to handle her work. I like that.

I guess I was staring at her for longer than I thought because a customer clears their throat to catch my attention. I snap out of it and look in front of me to find an attractive young woman who looked to be my age.

“Oh, hello.” I give her a quick smile to contain my cool.

“Gee, what does a lady have to do to get some service out here?” She says in a playful tone.

She had a southern accent which made me nearly drool. There’s something about girls with accents, even if they’re from the same country as you.

“Sorry, lil’ lady,” I play along, “how may I help you?”

“Well first off, I was wonderin’ if I could get myself one of those little doohickey’s over there.” She pointed to a box cutter, which had the name on it by the way.

“You mean the box cutter?” I grab it off of the wall and place it on the counter.

“Yes, thank you.” She flashes me a big smile with dimples and pulls out her wallet. “How much will that be?”

“Five bucks,” I say, still eyeing her. Was this girl serious?

“Cool,” she pulls out a bill and hands it over to me.

I take it and put it into the register with my new found knowledge of how to open it. She puts her wallet back into her back then looks up at me.

“Secondly, I’d like to have your number,” she winks at me as she lays her hand on mine.

“Ha,” I chuckle and slip my hand away from hers. “I’m flattered, but my girlfriend is standing right over there, so I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Oh,” she pulls her bag strap over her shoulder, quickly glancing at Giselle then back at me. “So are you saying that when she’s not here you can give it to me?”

That’s actually not what I meant at all, I guess it didn't come out right.

“No,” I shake my head, “I’m saying that you should get out of here because it’s not going to happen.”

She scoffs, “wow, rude.”

“Yeah well, I’m a rude kid,” I shrug. “It wouldn't have changed if I gave you my number. Now have a nice day.”

“Ugh,” she rolls her eyes, “I’m never coming back to this place.” She starts to walk away, but I respond anyway.

“I didn't expect you to; I bet you don’t even know the difference between a wrench and a screwdriver!” She turns around to stick her tongue out at me before leaving. How childish. “Doohickey,” I mumble under my breath, “are you kidding me?”

I snort as an angry looking Giselle approaches me.

“Way to lose us a customer.”

“We didn't lose her, she still bought something.”

“Yeah, but I heard her say she wasn't coming back.”

“She didn't even know what a box cutter was called, why would she come back in here?”

“She could have been a potential ongoing customer. Maybe she came here for her dad or boyfriend or whatever. That wasn't nice, what you did.”

“You’re right,” I sigh, “I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.”

“It better not,” she points a finger in my face, “because when I’m in charge around here, I don’t lose customers. And I’d like to keep it that way, thank you very much.”

Jeez, this girl is tough.

“Okay, okay,” I say, putting my hands up as if to retreat.

“First day on the job and this kid is already losing me customers, ridiculous,” I hear her mumble to herself.

She gives me a look before returning to her post and opens a fresh can of paint. I lean on the counter and huff, blowing a few strands of my hair up. This is going to be a long day.