“Um … something like that.” Dana groaned, and I laughed. “I’m kidding! I’m going to write him, tell him I’m moving out there, and would he happen to have any advice as to where I ought to look for a place to live? And California is desperate for teachers, so I’d actually be able to use my college degree. Novel idea, eh?” I smirked wickedly at Dana; I took every chance I could to rub in the fact that I was at least marketable. I hadn’t been in a classroom since my student teaching days, but I knew I could find a job if the market was as wide open as California’s seemed to be. The Chicago suburbs were saturated with teachers; my only option had been Chicago public schools, and those kids would have eaten me alive.

Dana was silent for a minute before speaking again. “I’m not going to be able to talk you out of this, am I?” She knew the answer as well as I. “Well … you’d better let me sleep on your couch when I come to visit, then.”

“Of course!” I laughed. “We’ll hang out on the beach, drive into LA and Beverly Hills, and go celebrity hunting.” We snickered until one of the other administrators walked by and plopped two massive stacks of invoices on our desks, at which point we decided it would be best to earn our paychecks and get back to work.

My body may have been working, but my mind was sorting out details for my move. I had five weeks before I’d be homeless, which meant I had five weeks to get myself out to and successfully settled in California. I’d never made a major move like this before, and I didn’t have the foggiest notion where to start planning, although getting the California end of things figured out seemed pretty crucial.

Over my lunch break I composed a letter to my “California contact,” Gary Rosebaum. He was supposedly my godfather, although our interactions over the years had had nothing to do with God. When my parents had divorced at the end of my high school years, he’d made me promise to come to him if I ever needed anything. I had a feeling he was just trying to make up for the fact that my father had pretty much abandoned us, but throughout college he sent birthday and Christmas cards, so I felt like I could at least ask him to help me find a roof to live under.