12.06.2015
“I was last a cashier at a grocery, but the chain got bought out by another one and they made all sorts of cuts to the staff. And they replaced nearly all the cashiers with automated checkout machines. One person to handle all of those things.” She sipped on her coffee and looked out the window.
Tern let her sit with her thoughts, and he sipped on his coffee as well.
“I been looking for another job,” she said, “but it’s rough.”
“Really rough,” he agreed.
“All the jobs seem to be in putting someone else out of theirs.” Christy took another long sip and her eyes looked at something far off.
“And that’s shit for us when we’ve been in the business of making people’s lives easier in a way,” Tern said.
“What’d you do before?” Christy asked.
“Here comes our food,” Tern nodded toward their waitress who made her way over with the food.
Judy sat the burrito in front of Christy, and the eggs and breakfast meat in front of Tern.
“Anything else I can get you?”
“I think we’re good,” they both replied.
Tern unrolled his silverware from the bone white napkin as he answered Christy’s question. “I’d bagged groceries for a while, but most recently I did construction for some of those new, tall apartment complexes going up.”
He took a bite of a sausage link as he watched Christy cut a few bites off her burrito. Little pork pieces in the chili.
“And why aren’t you still doing that?” Christy asked.
“I got fired for stealing supplies like nails and copper wiring.”
“You do it?”
“No, but I think my manager was, and he let me take the fall.”
“What a jackass.”
“Yup. And it’s not been easy to find a job when labeled as a thief.”
“I’m sure not,” Christy replied as she chewed another bite of her burrito.
“How long ago did you get laid off?” Tern asked.
“About eight months. My aunt has an insurance agency, so I help out there sometimes. Or do some babysitting for the neighbors. How long for you?”
Tern bit off a piece of bacon and as he chewed he saw the three pulsating lights above Christy’s head that he had also seen this morning on the mountain range. They started off in white, pure sparkles, but gradually changed colors as he chewed, and after he’d swallowed they bacon. Red, to purple, to green, to red again, to blue, and back to white. All part of slow transitions.
Tern realized he hadn’t answered Christy yet. He reached for his coffee and lied, “Sorry, I was trying to add up the months.”
Christy’s light laugh rippled out from the table and through the restaurant. “So it’s been a while!”
Tern nodded, “At least a year and a half. I’ve also done some odd jobs, but nothing stuck. I tried to do door to door oil changes, but I’m not a good salesman. And it’s getting colder too.”
Christy smiled at him. “I know I would feel a little weird giving my car keys to a person like that. Even though it’s convenient as hell!”
“And a lot of people said the same thing. If I’d been with some auto shop, maybe it would have been an easier sell.”