Flight of Life (Essence Series #1) (16 page)

“
Don’t get used to it,”
Breccan said.

When they finished putting the dishes
away, Easton turned to Aunt Grace. “Thank you for dinner.” She
smiled. “And for welcoming me into your home.”

Aunt Grace hugged her. “You’re always
welcome here,” she said. “Please come again soon.”

They walked her to the entryway, and
Breccan opened the front door for Easton. She stepped outside and
walked to her car.

“
Aren’t you going to walk
her out?” Aunt Grace asked Breccan.

“
She’s not my girlfriend,”
Breccan snapped.

“
Well, she isn’t going to
be any time soon if you keep this up,” Uncle Scott said.

“
Good night,” Easton
yelled from her car.

They all waved at her and shouted
goodbye. Calloway shut the door and bolted the lock.

Aunt Grace touched Calloway on the arm.
“Your boss called from Togo’s earlier today,” she said. “Your shift
starts at eleven.”

Calloway nodded. “Thank you for telling
me.”

“
I didn’t know you applied
for a job,” she said with a suspicious look.

Calloway shrugged. “I have too much
time on my hands,” he said. “I need to find a hobby.”

Uncle Scott nodded. “Good luck
tomorrow.”

“
Thanks,” Calloway said.
He walked upstairs before Aunt Grace could question him further
about his new job or his plans for the winter formal. When he got
into his room, he fell on his bed and fell asleep
immediately.

Customer Service

The next morning, Calloway rode his
bike to his new job down the street from the high school. He was
nervous to begin his first day of training but he forced himself to
remain calm. He already killed two Hara-Kirs; this should be easy.
He locked his bike in the rack then walked inside.

The employees stared at him for a
moment but no one spoke to him. Calloway smiled at them all as he
walked behind the counter and approached his boss, who was standing
at the register, counting money in the drawer.

“
Good morning, Joe,”
Calloway said as he shook his hand. “Thank you again.”

“
Hello, Calloway,” he said
with a smile. “Clock in on your time sheet and have one of these
guys train you.”

The workers glanced at each other and
frowned—no one wanted to teach him. Calloway advanced to the
backroom where the time clock was mounted on the wall. There was a
large sink to wash dishes and a meat slicer on the counter, along
with a walk-in freezer. Calloway clocked in and returned to the
front of the store.

One of the girls trained him for a
while, and Calloway learned the steps quickly. After one hour of
instruction, Calloway was helping customers on his own and was
making the sandwiches without any mistakes. Calloway noticed the
employees didn’t seem so irritated with him since he was a good
worker. They made him help everyone in line while they had personal
conversations in the hallway. Calloway didn’t mind. He was just
happy he had a job.

After the lunch rush was over, Calloway
saw his two friends walk inside.

“
Hey,” Easton said as she
walked up to the counter. “How’s your first day?”

Calloway nodded. “It’s been good. I
don’t have any complaints.”

“
You never have any
complaints,” Breccan said sarcastically.

“
Is it okay if we talk to
you?” Easton asked as she glanced at the employees standing behind
him, watching the TV mounted on the wall in the lobby.

Calloway looked over his shoulder then
back to Easton. “Yes,” he said. “There are no customers so I don’t
see the issue.”

“
So, when do you get off?”
Breccan asked. “We still have decoding to do.”

“
Not that you help at
all,” Easton snapped as she looked at Breccan. “You just sit there
and eat.”

“
Well, I would help if I
knew how,” Breccan said angrily.

Calloway rolled his eyes. “I thought we
were past this.”

Breccan turned back to his cousin. “So
when is your shift over?”

“
At four,” he said.
“That’s only a few hours away.”

“
We’ll pick you up then
head to the Headquarters,” Easton said.

“
No,” Calloway said as he
shook his head. “I have to complete my college applications and
finish some homework.”

Easton stared at him with
an incredulous look. “Calloway, none of that matters anymore—don’t
you get it? If we don’t succeed in this there won’t
be
a school to go to.”
She lowered her voice and leaned closer to him. “I know you want to
make your aunt and uncle proud but college is irrelevant at this
point—we have other things to worry about.”

Calloway grabbed the knife that was
sitting in the lettuce container and played with the handle. He
refused to believe he had to sacrifice his entire future to save
their Life and After-Life. “I don’t see why I can’t do both,” he
said quietly.

“
When you commit yourself
to a project you have to exert all your effort toward it—not some
of it,” Easton said.

Calloway sighed. “We have all day
tomorrow,” he said. “And you don’t need me all the
time.”

Easton stared at him for a moment then
dropped her hostile look. “Fine,” she said. “Call me when you’re
finished. We’ll come get you.”

“
And we’re going to
Weston’s,” Breccan said. “Neither one of us feel like killing
anything today.”

They both turned from the counter and
walked out of the store. Calloway watched them go with a saddened
expression. He had no desire to work a job while he was in high
school but he couldn’t let his aunt pay for his mistake. Now he was
watching his friends drive away to enjoy their Saturday, leaving
him behind. Calloway felt horrible for lying to his aunt when he
told her he wanted a job because he was bored. He was surprised
they didn’t catch him in his lie. The knowledge made Calloway feel
even worse—they trusted him to tell the truth.

His boss walked behind the counter and
placed a stack of ones in the register. “How are you doing,
Calloway?” he asked.

“
It’s been a good day,”
Calloway answered. “I think I got everything down.”

“
That what the kids were
telling me,” he said. “I’m very impressed.”

Calloway shrugged. “Thanks.”

“
Are you going to college
next year?” Joe asked.

“
I hope so.”

Joe chuckled. “You’re humble—I like it.
Where do you hope to attend?”

“
I applied to Fresno
University,” Calloway answered. “I hope I’m accepted.”

“
And what is your study of
interest?”

“
I don’t know,” Calloway
answered. “I really like English.”

“
That’s a good choice,”
Joe said as he turned around. He leaned against the counter as he
looked at Joe. The front door opened and Joe looked at the
customers. “Everyone says you’ve been doing a great job and I want
to see your progress.” Joe nodded to the customers that were
waiting in line.

When Calloway turned around he felt his
heart drop. Hawk was standing in line with his arm wrapped around
Beatrice’s shoulders. When he saw Calloway’s face, he smiled and
started to laugh.

“
This is just too
perfect,” Hawk said as he walked to the counter. Beatrice said
nothing as she stood beside him. She didn’t look at Calloway and
focused her gaze on the menu mounted on the wall behind
him.

Calloway swallowed the anger he felt
rise in his throat. His boss was watching him and he had to prove
he was competent in his abilities. He couldn’t just walk away and
have another employee help them without making Joe angry. And he
couldn’t hit Hawk because he would be fired on the spot. Calloway
knew this interaction was going to be agonizing.

“
I can help you whenever
you’re ready,” Calloway said pleasantly.

“
Obviously,” Hawk said as
he rolled his eyes. “So what’s good here, Poverty Boy
#2?”

Calloway ignored his comment. “What can
I get for you?”

“
Are you deaf?” Hawk
snapped. “What’s good here?”

Calloway took a deep breath. “The daily
special is the turkey and cheese sandwich. It comes with a chip and
drink for five dollars.”

“
I’m not poor like you,”
Hawk said. “I can order whatever I want.”

Calloway saw Marquan, the worker that
he spoke to when he applied for the position, and watched him pour
a bag of fresh lettuce in the container next to Calloway. Calloway
hoped he would walk away so he wouldn’t hear Hawk harass him. He
was already embarrassed as it was. Joe leaned against the counter
and watched Calloway help his biggest enemy, oblivious to the anger
erupting in volcanic fire inside him.

Calloway played with the hilt of the
knife as he waited for Hawk to decide what to order. He imagined
stabbing Hawk through the throat but he forced the thought from his
mind. Even though Calloway hated his classmate, those fantasies
were wrong—no matter how much he enjoyed them.

“
I’ll take a number
seven,” Hawk said.

Calloway was relieved he made a
decision. The quicker he made the sandwich the sooner Hawk would be
out of the store. “What size?”

“
A large.”

“
What bread?” Calloway
asked.

“
White,” Hawk
answered.

“
Everything on it?”
Calloway asked.

“
Sure.”

Calloway made the sandwich and was
putting the produce on top of the meat when Hawk looked down at the
sandwich. “That’s not what I ordered,” he said loudly. “Are you
deaf?”

Calloway sighed deeply. He should have
expected Hawk to pull something like this. He probably realized
that the middle-age man standing behind him was his boss and he
wanted to make him look bad—get him fired. “You said you wanted a
number seven.”

“
No,” Hawk said as he
shook his head. “I ordered a number seventeen. What’s wrong with
you? You can’t even make a sandwich?”

“
I’ll remake it,” Calloway
said. He dumped the sandwich in the garbage can and grabbed a new
piece of bread and started to make the new sandwich. He placed all
the produce on the sandwich and was about to wrap it up when Hawk
spoke again.

“
I didn’t want everything
on it,” Hawk said.

Calloway rolled his eyes then opened
the sandwich. “Then what did you want?”

“
I don’t want the onions
or peppers—I already said that.”

“
I apologize,” Calloway
said as he picked off the produce.

“
How do you have a job?”
Hawk sneered. “You’re completely incompetent.”

Calloway felt his hands shake in anger
as he cut the sandwich in half. He didn’t deserve to be treated
that way. His only crime was trying to protect someone who needed
help and now his life was being made into a living nightmare.
Perhaps Breccan was right; not everyone was a good
person.

“
What can I get for you?”
Marquan asked as he stood next to Calloway.

Calloway didn’t even notice he was
standing there until he spoke. His face was stoic and
expressionless, but at the same time he looked angry and
intimidating. Hawk became quiet when Marquan addressed him, clearly
frightened of the diamond studs in his earlobes and the angry look
in his eyes.

Beatrice met his gaze. “I’ll have a
turkey sandwich,” she said quietly.

Marquan turned to Calloway. “I got
this,” he said. “Can you add cheese to that dell?” he said as he
nodded to the small refrigerator that housed the meat and
perishable produce.

Calloway nodded, grateful that Marquan
intervened before he said something that would have gotten him
fired, and grabbed a package of cheddar cheese and placed it inside
the refrigerator.

Marquan finished her sandwich and
placed it into the bag then turned to Joe. “Can you ring me,
Joe?”

“
Sure,” he said. “What do
you have?”

“
A seventeen and a three,”
he said as he stepped away. Marquan glared at Hawk for a long
moment. “Have a good day,” he said in a deep voice. He tore off his
gloves and tossed them in the garbage.

Hawk paid for their lunch then they
walked out the store. Calloway watched them climb into Hawk’s new
jeep and drive away. He turned to Marquan. “Thanks, man,” he said.
“I didn’t know what to do.”

Marquan nodded. “You’re a cool guy,
Calloway. I got your back. We all have each other’s back
here.”

Calloway sighed. “That’s a
relief.”

Joe clapped him on the shoulder. “I
think you handled that well,” he said. “If you can deal with that
kid’s attitude, I know you can handle any customer. Keep up the
good work.” He walked to the lobby and entered his
office.

Marquan turned to Calloway “What’s that
kid’s problem anyway? What’s his beef with you?”