Forever lasted about a year. At least it was a formative stretch. Despite the long shifts, slim wages, and after-hours tumult at home, working alongside Lucius offered Henry a shred of steady ground over the course of that rocky year. His new and only friend had served two back-to-back, decade-plus sentences, and was three times Henry’s age. Lucius had a face like an armadillo’s back, its craggy ridges wrinkling around amber irises and cataract clouds. The agility of his fingers and the precision of his handiwork betrayed his unrushed, bum-knee gait. He possessed a hardened air of seen-it-all wisdom that he imparted via anecdotes and aphorisms over styrofoam cups of coffee. Later, when they got around to trading conviction tales, it was impossible for Henry to reconcile Lucius’s double feature of grisly attacks with the levelheaded old man in the break room. Until, of course, the afternoon the plant announced its move across the border.

Whereas Lucius’s reaction got him a third strike for aggravated assault and destruction of property, Henry had cowered, ignored his only friend’s pleas. When it was over, he took his paycheck. Walked away. Only lost control once home. Later, desperate, he caved, emailed his old PO asking for job leads, anything, please. No reply, never a returned phone call for nearly six months, which was why the email about tomorrow’s job interview—so out of the blue last week—had come as a welcome, grovel-worthy shock.

He has to get ready. Focus. Can’t afford any more mental meandering. The bottom ridges of the note cards have gotten wet in the motel tub. He wags them dry before reading the first: What are your three greatest strengths?

“Well, sir, if I’ve got to narrow it down to only three—no, no. Too cocky, you douchebag.”

“Who you talking to, Pa?”

“Nobody—I’m not talking.” Henry stretches for the bathroom door. “Watch your movie.”

This time, even with the door shut, he keeps his voice measured and low.

“Perseverance, loyalty, and, and hunger, as in, like, ambition … ?”

No. The online job forums detail the ideal, entry-level profile, and naming ambition could give the impression he’s using this job as a stepping-stone. They want someone who’ll stick around, stay put, someone complacent and—

“Dependable. I’m perseverant in that I never give up, no matter the odds. You see, sir, things haven’t exactly been easy for my son and me these last couple months.”

Stop. No sob stories. He’s got to earn this stranger’s trust and respect, not pity. Go back one, to the second.