A Song of Change

Chapter 35
Partners:
I was in the kitchen, just finishing packing up Julian's lunch when he walked out in his work clothes, a white button up shirt under a sleeveless, grey blazer with dark jeans and black penny loafers. He looked so much different dressed like this, he didn't look like the teenage boy he was but a grown man instead.
I handed Julian his lunch and was about to say something when I was interrupted by a knock at the front door. "I'll get it," Julian said with a smile as he walked in the direction of the door. I followed him and by the time I reached his side the door was open, revealing a man who looked to be close to our age, maybe 23 or so.
The man had dark hair that stuck up in the front and tan skin. He was dressed in khaki pants and a white button up with the sleeves rolled up and a light yellow tie. "Is Annabell Rosenfeld here?" he asked looking at Julian. "Yes and may I ask who is asking for her?" he said with a polite curiosity.
The man caught my eye before looking back at Julian and answering, "My apologies, my name is Nole. Nole Tyler ," Mr. Tyler said with a wide smile. "Hello Mr. Tyler," I said stepping up to the doorway, "if you don't mind my asking how did you know my name and where I live?"
Mr. Tyler laughed a little bit, scratching the back of his neck as he did so, "Again my apologies. I was sent here to pick up an Annabell Rosenfeld from this household and take her to work," he said motioning to a sleek, black car that sat parked in front of our house, "It seems that I am going to be your partner at work."
"Oh, then I'll go grab my things," I said as I turned back toward the kitchen to retrieve my lunch and identification tag, leaving the boys to themselves. I was clipping my tag onto the collar of my dress when I had arrived back in front of the door. "Yes, of course," Mr. Tyler was saying with a nod of his head. I looked between the two, trying to look for any suggestions as to what that was about but found absolutely nothing. I shrugged it off as small talk.
"Are you ready?" Mr. Tyler asked, turning his attention back to me. "Yes," I said with a nod of my head before turning to Julian and placing a goodbye kiss on his cheek. "I'll see you after work," he called to me as I was walking out the door. I turned around with a small wave of my hand before closing the door behind me.
I followed Mr. Tyler down the small pathway that led out to the road and he stopped outside the passenger door, opening it for me. "Thank you," I said as I climbed in. He gave me a small smile before shutting the door behind me and jogging around to the other side.
I was looking around the interior of the car when he climbed into the seat next to me. The inside of the car was just as nice as the outside. The seats were a dark leather material with carpeting in the same shade. There were so many buttons in the center console that left me wondering just what all of them did. "So Mr. Tyler," I said as he was pulling out into the road, "what should I be expecting today to be like?"
He chuckled at that, taking a quick glance in my direction before looking back at the road before us, "Oh sweetie you don't have to call me Mr. Tyler," he said the name with distain, "I'd much rather you call me Nole." I was startled to say the least by his word choice but at the same time his attitude and the way he held himself seemed more natural and carefree like this.
"Now as for the work day you are not going to be doing any real work today, you might possibly reach that tomorrow but for now you will just have to wait. Today I am going to be showing you around the building so that you can get a feel for how everything is set up and get to meet all of your co-workers. Tomorrow we will go through the supply rooms and then we might possibly get to meeting our patients," he said looking at me in the corner of his eye to see if I was caught up.
"When you say we are partners what exactly do you mean?" I asked. While we were going through our schooling I had always just assumed that we would be working alone in most cases. "Oh that. Well this is a new thing that happened just over a year ago. The officials thought it best that we work together with at least two people total to get better results on patients and to help keep us less bored, I'm guessing on that last one though," Nole said with a smile. His eyes would curl up even more when he smiled, giving a cat like feel to him.
"How long have you been working as a Caregiver?" I asked trying to keep away from awkward silences. "Hmmm, let's see. I'm thirty-seven now so that would make it nineteen years now. I'll tell you this now from experience. There are never any boring days at work unless you make them boring yourself. Just don't ever think of it in terms of time and it'll feel like there hasn't been a day that has gone by."
"Thirty-seven! I mean no offense by this but you look so much younger! I thought you were about twenty-three," I said turning to face him. Even though I know his real age he still looked to be only twenty years of age. "Really? I've been told I look younger than my age but a full ten years! You sure know how to make an old man feel young again," Nole said with a full laugh.
Nole made another turn into a huge parking lot that was already a quarter of the way full. There were two separate buildings in front of the parking lot, the only thing separating them was a small courtyard with picnic tables precariously placed within its confines.
The two buildings were complete opposites to say the least. The one to the left was a round building that was short compared to its neighbor. It had windows that almost completely encompassed the exterior. Its neighboring building was extremely tall and rectangular in shape. It jutted out in a point at the top. This building was made out of a dark metal with very few windows from what I could see.
"We're here," Nole said now standing outside of my door after having opened it, "now just follow me." He backed up, giving me room to exit the vehicle before making his way toward the two buildings. I shut the door before catching up to him. I followed him through the maze of cars to a sidewalk that looked to go all throughout the outside of the two buildings and the court yard.
Nole took a right toward the dark building, "We will be working in this building," Nole said pointing toward the building which we were walking toward, "and the
other building is for meetings, patients, and such. We wont be working in there for a while though so I wouldn't give it too much thought."
By then we had arrived at the front doors of the building, they were in a wide and tall frame with thick glass and doors that looked much to heavy for me to open without a lot of force. "You'll need your identification tag to get in," he said digging through his pockets.
I unclipped my tag from my collar and watched as he waved his tag in front of a device that hung to the side of the arch way. There was a beep and then a noise that sounded as if air was being let out and the door opened. Thomas stepped in and the door shut behind him. I could see him standing in front of the doors waiting for me.
I stepped up to the small device and waved my tag in front of it. The same thing that had happened for Nole happened again. I stepped inside and the door closed behind me automatically. "Its cool isn't it?" he asked with a wide smile in place. I nodded my head with a small smile on my face. "Now let's start with the tour shall we," Nole said with a glint in his eye.