The Strange Life of Jonas Marks - 6. Chapter 6

My third morning at Jenny’s and already I felt like a moocher. Granted, I cooked when I was home, and did whatever need to be done for the family, but it still felt like I didn’t contribute. It also sucked living out of bags. My day got worse when I went to get gas on my way to work. I pulled into the station and spotted Dad filling up his tank. I hoped that with some time he might reconsider how his feelings toward me. I know really stupid of me, but he is my father.

“Hi, Dad.” I was keeping the car between us. “How are you?”

“Don’t learn do you, fag.” The venom in his voice made me step back. When I looked into his eyes, I saw no recognition there. It was like looking at a stranger.

He turned away and our meeting ended. I walked back, paid for my gas, and drove to work.

I sat in the car feeling miserable, but I had to push this out of my mind. I needed to start getting my life together and it appeared that my father would never be a part of it.

“Morning, Mr. Marks,” Christopher greeted me.

He was the guard I met on the day I came for the interview. He always seemed in a good mood.

“Morning, Christopher.” I smiled as I greeted him. “Call me Jonas.”

“Okay, Jonas.” Christopher smiled and nodded his head at me. “So glad you got the job. I didn’t think anyone was ever going to end up in that position.”

This was the first I’d heard about the others who applied for the job before me.

“Really? Were there that many applicants?”

“Um, I probably shouldn’t say anything. Look, let’s just say you would be surprised at the amount of people who applied and left moments after meeting your boss. Takes a special kind of person to work with Mr. Openseter,” Christopher said shivering.

I smiled and headed toward my office. Knowing I might have what it takes to work at Krogers really brightened my mood.

Heading down the hallway to my office gave me a surprise. The walls were still being painted, the rug was rolled up on the desk, and all the things I ordered were piled up outside the door. The whole office was a disaster and there was no way I could move in. Three guys stood inside trying to paint, and with everything a mess the office seemed really crowded.

“Oh shit.”

The janitor I’d met yesterday turned and found me standing in the doorway.

“You have to be Mr. Marks.” The poor guy looked genuinely upset. “Sorry, sir. We didn’t get the order till late last night. No one told us it was a rush job. We will work on it till it is done.”

“Relax. Don’t stress on my account.” I tried my best to smile and show I wasn’t mad. “I’ll let Mr. Openseter know I forgot to write rush on the order. I’m sure he can find me a temporary place to work till the office is done.”

“Or I could simply let you know it isn’t a problem,” Mr. Openseter’s voice behind me made me jump.

The janitor shook looking at Mr. Openseter.

“Daniel, it is Daniel isn’t it?” Mr. Openseter nodded and looked at the janitor.

“Um, yes sir.” I could see the guy trembling from where I stood.

“Daniel, just relax and finish up Jonas’s office. We have some other things we can take care of. Don’t worry. No one’s in trouble.”

“Thank you sir.” The other guys just nodded nervously and kept on painting.

“Come on, Jonas, I’ll show you what you will be dealing with,” Mr. Openseter led me away to his office.

First Dad, then the office. It was going to be one of those days.

“Have a seat.”

I sat down in the same seat I’d taken when I interviewed for the job. In my head I started calling my new boss “Opie.” It allowed me to humanize him a bit, with him being so different from anyone I knew. Besides, I still didn’t know his first name.

“So, we have a number of things to get done today. Want to start off by telling me what has you so upset?”

His comment caught me off guard. How did he know I was upset? “Um.” Yes, I am not exactly the fastest when put on the spot like that. Wrestling I am in control, life, well it sort of can get away from me.

“I see,” Opie stared at me. When those purple eyes of his focused on you, well it was unnerving. He just shook his head and pulled a file off his desk.

I sat and squirmed a bit in my chair. My palms were getting sweaty and I had no idea what the hell was going on, but I figured my day had to get better.

“These are the forms we will be using for our department. These are being offered out to the store’s clients. The more, shall we say, adventurous have already asked if they can be more specific in what they want, so I added a box to the back of all our sheets where they can list details. Anyway, here is the first so you know what we are dealing with.”

I looked over the sheet and noted immediately it was for our department. There was the embossed Kroger Emporium banner followed by Department of Fantasy Procurement. The first order was outrageous. I read down the list and just tried hard not to laugh. I am used to seeing catalogues where you write shoe or shirt size, or hell even a ring size but none of that was on our order list. I mean there was a list of items that began under the title item to be procured. Below it was were the options for a sword, ring, cup, clothing, or shoes. Then instead of the usual size it asked for the aspects that the item was to have.

Just reading the title I thought it was a joke till I seen what was listed, then I knew it had to be. I mean listed under aspects were invisibility, sharpness, forces truth, forces lies, brings bearer lost items, protects, and speaks. There were a few other things clients could fill in including listings for size, how often it must be able to reproduce said effect, and the time needed to procure the item. I felt like I was reading something out of a fantasy book. I mean magic swords, rings, and the like just didn’t exist, did they?

“All the merchandise will be sent to your office for storage and pick up.” Opie leaned against his desk, his eyes never leaving me. “You will just have to check some to make sure they’re what the client actually ordered. A few will be marked to be sent directly to me. Don’t even bother trying to check those.”

“If you say so. I have no idea what these things will be like anyway.”

“Well here is the first order.”

I looked it over and nearly laughed. The order read for a cup, able to produce the most delicious of soups, repeated a minimum of six times a day – preferably never ending. The item must be procured within a month.

“Um, that is unusual.” I handed the paper back to Opie. “I mean the office isn’t even fully set up.”

“I believe this is another test by the owners. They still don’t believe I’m able to produce the things that might be on our client’s lists.” Opie stopped and flexed his hand. “I’ve explained that we might not always be able to produce everything requested which is why we don’t receive payment until they see their items, and determine if it is what they desired. However, I’m growing tired of these things. This is the fifth time they have tested me.”

“How do you know it is a test?”

“Because on official orders, there is a tag on the corner identifying what the customer has ordered. Our order sheet for items begin with an 'I', and the personal search begins with a 'P'. That paper is another proof sheet without any designation for the order.”

I glanced down and noticed the top corner was empty of anything.

“Anyway, so the day hasn’t been a total loss, have you learned about the Kroger ordering system?” Opie strolled behind his desk and clicked on a fairly expensive looking computer.

“I figured it would be fairly simple.” Actually, I hoped it would. Besides my email and downloading music, I really only used the computer for gaming. Jenny was the real computer nerd.

“Computers and I … well we don’t get along so well. However, I do have this one and it is open to the ordering system. Why don’t you try to enter this form in and then we’ll talk.”

I was lucky. There hadn’t been anything in the training videos or the handbook about the computer system. It was pretty much fool proof, lucky for me. I filled in everything and then it asked for the id code to enter it for processing.

“Mr. Openseter, what is the id code?”

“Ah, yours is squire.”

“Squire? I wasn’t expecting that.”

“Well I can have you change yours later if you don’t like it.”

I noted the odd smile he had on his face. Somehow I knew keeping it squire was just going to be easier.

We went over basics of what was going to be needed. I realized that all the cabinets that were ordered really might be used as Opie explained what was going to happen. The morning seemed to fly by and I hadn’t realized how hungry I was till my stomach growled in protest. It was already after one.

“Wow, we did get into it. Go grab your lunch. I’ll see you in an hour back here at my office.”

“I, ah, have to go out for lunch. Did you want me to bring you back something?”

“No, that is okay, Jonas. I have my lunch. Go enjoy yours.”

What he brought for lunch, I had no idea, but with my rapidly dwindling funds, lunch for me came from the dollar menu at McDonalds. Ever had to make a burger and diet soda stretch? I mean I was skipping the fries both to keep down on the starches and to save money. What really bothered me was knowing that I hadn’t been ready for this to happen to me. I mean seeing Dad this morning had really killed my mood. At least this time I didn’t get grease on me and could go back looking the way I did when I left.

Mr. Openseter was sitting behind his desk when I got back. I’d barely sat back down when someone knocked on the office door.

“Come in.”

“Hi, um, Mr. Openseter, Sir.” Daniel stood twisting his hand through his hair. He looked nervous as he kept switching his weight from foot to foot.

I took a good look at Daniel from where I was sitting. There were specks of paint all over his uniform now. The dark green uniform of the basic staff was now speckled blue. There was a smudge near his chin made him look sort of cute. I mean he couldn’t be more than twenty or so. Okay, so he was older but I could look, couldn’t I.

Opie looked up and nodded.

“It is all done sir. The paint is going to need a bit of time to dry before we can hang the pictures and set things near the walls though.” He didn’t seem to know where to put his hands so he stuffed them in his pockets. “I messed this up so I’ll be here extra early tomorrow to make sure Mr. Marks' office is ready for him.”

“Glad it’s all done. Jonas why don’t you go with Daniel and make sure it what you wanted? If it is then you might as well call it a day. Without your office you can’t get much done today. Just be in again tomorrow at nine.”

Opie just seemed to forget we were there as he began going through the papers on his desk.

I stood and followed Daniel out of the office. Once the door closed he turned and stopped walking.

“You really are going to work for him?”

“Yup.”

“He doesn’t make you want to wet yourself?”

I laughed. The way people reacted to him you would think he was a real ogre or something. Granted he looked a little different, but so far I’d been damn happy to get the job.

“Guess I haven’t gotten on his bad side.”

Daniel walked ahead of me again and I couldn’t help but notice his small waist and bubble butt. The man was cute.

He stopped at my office and opened the door. The carpet had been laid, which helped to make the room less of an airplane hangar and more comfortable. The walls were soothing and I liked the color. Some furniture had been positioned on the rug but nothing was pushed back to where it would really go because the walls weren’t dry yet.

“It looks really good. It shouldn’t take us long in the morning to put it together.”

“Are you really okay with this?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

“Your department is the talk of the store. People would kill to get your kind of pay and benefits, but none of the regular crew could make it through the interview.”

“You mean the whole store applied for my job?”

“Well everyone on the floor did. They might sell that stuff, but none of them could afford any of it. Your job’s starting pay is more than nearly any of them. However, the company agreed to put a little more into that salary if it meant that Mr. Openseter could really deliver on what he promised them.”

I couldn’t believe this. It seems everyone knew about my job.

“You make me feel like everyone is watching me.”

“Well they sort of are. Some just want to know how you got the job, and others are waiting to see how long you hold on to it.”

Hearing that made me feel special. People were basically waiting for me to fail. Yeah, what a great day. Oh well, at least today couldn’t get any worse.

Getting back to Jenny’s house I figured I would cook dinner. I needed to do something to earn my keep. I set out chicken I found in the freezer to thaw. I was trying to figure out what to make when Jenny’s voice boomed through the house.

“Yo, Jo. Where are you?”

“In the kitchen,” I called back as I dug through Mrs. Meyer’s cabinets for inspiration.

“Guess what?” Jenny bounced back and forth like a ball of energy. She rushed up and grabbed me.

“Whoa,” I turned to face her. “You’re in a good mood.”

“Yes.” She smiled and cocked her head showing off her dimples. Most people would say she was being cute but I knew Jenny too well. She was up to something.

“What did you do?”

“Me?” She stood fluttering her eyelashes and stepping away from me.

“You! What did you do now?”

Jenny grabbed an apple out of the bowl on the table.

“I didn’t do much,” she began taking a bite of the apple. She started down the hallway and then stopped. “I just got you a date.”

“You what?” I couldn’t even think straight at the moment. She couldn’t have done that to me.

“I got you a date for tomorrow night. Call me when dinner’s ready,” she said as she flounced down the hallway.

I was wrong. My day could get worse, much worse.