~ William Shatner
As she counts out all of the bills that I have handed her, I have to keep in mind that not everyone is a mind-reader. I also (as I often do), have to remember that people will often judge things by how they look and not as they really are. That being the case, it's no strange wonder that as she counts out $1,076 in twenties, tens and ones, she looks at me as though something illegal is taking place. It doesn't help that I drive a relatively nice looking vehicle, dress "upscale-hip" and am covered in tattoos. I mean, even I can see why she's doing it, I just...hell, I don't know. I dislike it.
This all started with Erica and I being flat-ass broke and wondering how in the hell we were going to survive a month without food or bill money. As is often the case with poor people, we get so far behind in our daily lives that when we get money, we either spend it on a bunch of dumbass shit, have a ton of bills that need paying, or somehow owe money to the aforementioned "nice looking," yet completely worthless vehicle (once again, not to be judged by it's appearance). Which (no surprise there), leaves us flat-ass broke all over again. Ah, the wonderful wheel of whimsy. As fate would have it, amidst all of the chaos and sore muscles of stress and worry, we were surprised by a payment of $2,012 (har-har-har) in her favor. The unfortunate thing about this is that A: the vehicle is making odd sounds and B: that debt that I mentioned is creeping back in again.
As we come up with a way to make this money last, however, life, in all of it's grand design and would-be-wisdom, decides that now is the prime time to destroy the water pump in our vehicle. Well, as if that weren't bad enough, the water mixes with transmission fluid, which in turn starts dripping on the belts, which (of course) causes one of the belts to start stripping itself as it spins, throwing up smoke and making the most wonderful of smells. This means three things to me:
1. I have to miss class....again.
2. Whatever the cost of getting it fixed will be multiplied by the cost of cab rides.
3. Money that could be spent elsewhere will now go to this goddamned devil's tool of an automobile.
Surprisingly, everything goes off without a hitch, costing less than $500, combined.
The issue now is getting access to all of the money at once. Seeing that this payment was made to an electronic card that isn't tied to a bank account in way, we have to rely on ATM's, which have limits on how much cash you can withdraw at once. And the fun starts.....
Three days, four ATM's, a full tank of gas and several hours of stress later, here I am looking into the eyes of a woman who clearly thinks I supply marijuana to the local high-school crowd and am making a deposit of my home-grown funds. I'm a person that hates having to explain myself (which I find myself having to do more and more these day, as it turns out), so I don't, more often than not. As it turns out, people are even more bothered by silence than they are with whatever bullshit that they can concoct in their own depraved imaginations, so...I'm not sure which one is worse.
As this thought runs it's course, she hands me my slip, tells me to "have a wonderful day," and I walk out into the awesomely majestic daylight.
A wonderful day indeed, I think with a smile.
Yeah, when the transmission starts sucking in coolant, that certainly sucks.
ReplyDeleteJust teasin.'
Trying to figure out what we have here, though maybe it's a fool's game. Maybe I should relax for a minute. If not a vignette...well, wait, it starts and ends with a vignettish scene that frames the backstory or flashback--nice technique to do that, and in fact we'll be working on alienating techniques like time jumps and framing material very soon.
I can't tag it with a label, but that frame works nicely to set up boundaries you, the writer, don't cross, and that's good. Reads like a short personal slice of autobiography, material under writer's control and driving toward a conclusion.