BooksBarbecue
Back At Dawn
Chapters (39)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Dedication
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  39. Copyright

I went to the kitchen, made a bowl of raisin bran, sat at Jeff ’s desk to eat and check my email. I could hear the soft hum of his iMac. I jiggled the mouse and the screen popped up asking for a password. I shook my head and sighed, then finished eating and placed the bowl in the sink and took a long hot shower.

2

I left the apartment at three. I passed a Verizon store, and upon being informed that my contract was up, I renewed it for another two years and received a basic flip phone for free. I had been without one for two and a half days. I had no new messages.

I found the library the man at the Verizon store had told me about and settled into a terminal while dreading what I had to do. I’ve always hated the monotonous task of applying for jobs, filling out the same forms, answering the same questions or, even worse, new questions, for they required time and well-thought-out answers I was certain wouldn’t be read, anyway. Submitting my résumé and writing cover letters and if I was lucky I’d receive a response from one out of every ten positions for which I applied, and sometimes less than that. Such was the state of the economy. A surplus of workers competing for a shortage of jobs. The laws of supply and demand.

It was three thirty. I promised myself I wouldn’t spend a second under a half hour reworking my résumé, which I had already done several times over the past few weeks. I inserted the flash drive containing everything of electronic importance to me and began making myself glow. My GPA increased a few points; I made the dean’s list a few more semesters, volunteered to help the homeless, stayed at my first job, which was by far my most meaningful one, a few extra months. I must have looked at the clock every minute until my time was up, but when it was, even I had to admit that I finally shined on paper, which seemed to have eluded me up until then for the simple fact that I had adhered to the facts. But I was desperate, and the truth had no place in my job search. Not then.

I stood, stretched my arms to the ceiling, and convinced myself that the time would pass regardless of how it was spent so I might as well make the most of it. I took another deep breath, sat back down, and committed myself to an hour and a half of submitting my résumé to open positions, promising that God himself couldn’t tear me from the seat before that hour and a half was up.