Fred answered the door with his crazy, yellowed eyes, as per usual.
He said nothing, but simply took a long drag on a cigarette, and opened the door for Gonzo as he came in with his suitcase.
For his part, Gonzo found himself unable to stop monologuing. It was unlike him, but he’d had a rough day, and didn’t know how to cope.
“Fred, thanks so much for taking me on such short notice,” he began. “I feel terrible, but I guess it is what it is.” He started to set his stuff up in the spare room Fred pointed out to him.
“Who would’ve thought I would quit my job and get broken up with on the same day, huh?” Gonzo called over to Fred, who was completely zoned out and not listening to a thing Gonzo was saying. “This is crazy! I mean, I never thought I would’ve ever had the courage. I’m really not the type! I’ve been working there since I graduated college—it was my dad’s business, and I had to take over since he died.”
Fred calmly pointed the remote at the tv, and clicked it over to a bargain busters.
Not realizing he had no audience, Gonzo continued jabbering.
“And then Michiko—aw, man! Who could’ve seen that coming?”
Fred’s eyes flickered, ever so slightly, toward Gonzo. He squinted hard, and then shook it off. Let somebody else tell him, he thought to himself.
“We’ve been together 6 months! I guess I didn’t expect her to be my soulmate—she’s a pretty exceptional girl, and I don’t even know who I am. But I also didn’t expect her to dump me quite that quickly!” Gonzo suddenly realized he was hungry. “Hey, do you have any food around here? I didn’t quite get to finish my dinner before Michiko kicked me out.”
In response, Fred simply looked at his coffee table, where his Chinese carry out sat.
He had only ordered enough for himself.
“Aw, hey, man, thanks,” said Gonzo. “I totally owe you one. Anyhow, as I was saying,”
He chowed down on the chicken lo mein as he continued to talk. Fred’s eyes bulged just slightly as he watched Gonzo devour his dinner.
“…super crazy, right? And now I don’t have a job, or a girlfriend, and I just sort of feel like life has gone crazy all at once, you know what I mean? Like I guess I should be freaking out right now, and I guess in some ways I am, but in other ways I’m definitely not, and it’s all just so new! I honestly can’t believe how fresh I feel! You’d think this would be the worst day of my life, but in a lot of ways, it feels like the best!”
Fred got up off the couch. He rustled in the pantry, found himself some ramen, and threw it in the microwave. He waited for it with his arms crossed, playing on his cell phone. Intrigued, Gonzo wandered over to see what he was up to.
Fred pulled the ramen out of the microwave, and Gonzo burst out laughing. “Oh my gosh,” he said, “I haven’t had ramen since…since college! Man, Fred. You take me back, buddy. Would you mind if I had some?” Without asking twice, he grabbed the plastic fork from the Chinese, and took a big bite of ramen.
“Ow!” he yelped as it burned the snot out of his taste buds, and then grinned. “Good ole ramen,” he said.
He looked over at Fred, whose eyebrow had begun to twitch.
“So, what’s up with you?” he asked. “You know what, Fred, we don’t talk enough. How have you been doing, man? How are you lately? What’s going on? I’m embarrassed to say I’ve been your boss for five years now, but I barely know anything about you.” He took another small bite of ramen and twirled it around the plastic fork. “How can I better support your life?”
Blinking twice, Fred merely shook his head, grabbed his ramen, and headed off to his room.
“Ah, weird guy,” said Gonzo, chuckling at Fred’s bizarre antics. “What can you do? Best mechanic I ever had.” He shrugged it off. “Some people just aren’t social, and that’s ok.”
Heading to his room, he laid back on the futon, and stretched out.
“Ah!” he said out loud. “Just feel all that freedom! I can finally start to take hold of my own destiny!”
He laid there for half an hour, and almost fell asleep as the Chinese settled. But just as he was almost asleep, his phone dinged again—another rent reminder.
Well, he wouldn’t have to worry about that rent anymore, he supposed. But now he might have to worry about a different rent. He wasn’t sure how long he would be with Fred, but he couldn’t just expect him to let him stay there rent-free—could he? It wouldn’t be right.
Feeling stressed again, Gonzo sat up and got out a piece of paper. It was a thing his mother had taught him to do anytime he didn’t know what to do. Mostly, his life was boring enough for it to be irrelevant. Today, however, it would come in handy.
What did he need? A job. How was he going to get one? Dante, probably.
He shuddered. Hesitantly, he wrote down “Dante,” on the sheet of paper.
Great. One possibility.
His mom had always told him that the more possibilities he had, the more likely he was to be able to solve his problem.
Well, better think of more than one, then.
Where could he work?
Where did people go to find jobs?
He didn’t have a father to call and square him away anymore.
There was a diner down the street…maybe he could work there.
Skeptically, he wrote “Diner” down on his paper as well.
Now he had two possibilities.
…what about Walmart…? Could he…?
No, not Walmart, he decided. He had heard horror stories about that place.
He thought and he thought. Was it possible that Fred knew of anyone who was hiring? No, he reasoned. Fred seemed to know very little about anything except cars.
What about Michiko?
The idea seemed brilliant, initially. Michiko was good at this sort of thing—right? She would help him find a job—right?
But the more he thought about it, the more he realized he was probably barking up the wrong tree there, too.
Which brought him back to—
Dante.
The word loomed over his head, threatening to crush him.
Dante.
Dante.
How did such a small word feel like such a huge weight?
Well, he reasoned, it was 1am now. He certainly wasn’t making any calls at this hour. Whatever it was he needed to do, it would be something he could do tomorrow.
Sighing, he shrugged his shoulders, laid back on the dilapidated futon, and fell into a deep sleep.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqNJridkDKl
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