The man stood alone on the subway platform at ten thirty in the morning and considered where his life was going.\u00a0 He had just been laid off at the office and now was trying to work out how he was going to break the news to his wife.\u00a0 She was home with their three small children and the dog and had been hoping that the Christmas bonus he had been expecting today would pay for them to move to an apartment in a nicer town where the schools were decent.<\/p>\n
Now all of that was in the wind and he\u2019d have to start looking for a job in a not-so-great economy with a not-so-great resume to sell.\u00a0 Suddenly getting home seemed like a really bad idea.\u00a0 He looked behind him at the cardboard box sitting on the bench.\u00a0 There were some books, a coffee mug, some desk toys and a few papers that his boss had watched him take and which were considered \u201cnon-proprietary.\u201d\u00a0 No company secrets sneaking out the door, not even a Swingline stapler.\u00a0 Suddenly looking at this pathetic flotsam representing five years of his life, he picked up the box and dumped it in the nearest trash barrel.\u00a0 The coffee mug made a satisfying tinkling sound as it smashed against the metal barrel.<\/p>\n
And just like that he felt considerably better.\u00a0 He opened up his brief case and started lightening the load.\u00a0 He got rid of anything he didn\u2019t think would ever be of any use in the afterlife of corporate separation.\u00a0 Most satisfying, he ripped apart his safety lanyard with its annoying multi-colored slogan about reducing risk to zero.\u00a0 That seemed the most pathetic part of the corporate culture that he had had to endure at work.\u00a0 How exactly had the never-ending safety dance protected him from the danger of losing his job.\u00a0 He had to admit that the culture had saved him from earthquakes, lightning and tornadoes but it had been useless against unemployment.\u00a0 He stopped for a second when he found the free roast beef card from the company cafeteria.\u00a0 He had nine out of the ten spots stamped.\u00a0 He was a week away from the free sandwich.\u00a0 He had to admit that one burned.\u00a0 But he chucked it away too.\u00a0 There was nothing left in the brief case so for good measure he chucked that too.\u00a0 Now he felt giddy.<\/p>\n
He walked up out of the subway station into the cold, bright light of a December morning in Manhattan and thought, \u201cOkay, Odysseus, now what?\u00a0 Instinctively, he started walking uptown.\u00a0 By noon he realized he wanted a cup of coffee and a snack so he stopped at a coffee shop and bought a very overpriced coffee and doughnut and sat near the front window and looked out at the city.\u00a0 He was in the middle of a block that was mostly expensive five story walk-ups.\u00a0 Remarkably there weren\u2019t any homeless tents on the sidewalk so the illusion of pre-COVID, pre-George Floyd New York was almost perfect.\u00a0 As he drank his coffee and ate his doughnut a feeling of happiness washed over him.\u00a0 But when the snack was finished, he realized that it was time to decide how this day would end on a better note.\u00a0 He needed a path forward.<\/p>\n
He took out his phone and looking in his contacts he saw the name of a guy he worked with at the job before this one.\u00a0 They had been friendly but the somewhat odd personality of this guy had always kept things a little off.\u00a0 But he had been pretty well connected.\u00a0 They both were inside-sales guys for large industrial equipment manufacturers and he had heard the guy was doing alright.\u00a0 So, he called him up and heard, \u201cJim!\u00a0 Wow, I haven\u2019t thought about you in a million years.\u00a0 What\u2019s up?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDave, my boss gave me the boot today.\u00a0 I\u2019m looking for any leads for something right away.\u201d\u00a0 The speaker went silent for a few seconds and then, \u201cYou know, it\u2019s a damn funny thing.\u00a0 I know you\u2019re a local boy and never set foot outside the northeast but there\u2019s a very nice opening I just heard of in Missouri that is probably right up your alley.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now it was Jim\u2019s turn to go quiet.\u00a0 Missouri, how the hell was he supposed to move there?\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know anything about living outside of New York and he didn\u2019t want to try.\u00a0 But he decided not to shoot it down right away, \u201cWell, I guess I\u2019d like to hear a little more about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now Dave’s voice sounded a little annoyed, \u201cYou know this is a pretty sweet deal.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t wait too long before coming in.\u00a0 Can you meet for lunch tomorrow?\u00a0 I\u2019ll bring along the hiring manager and you can impress him with your sparkling wit.\u201d\u00a0 Deciding quickly, Jim said, \u201cI\u2019ll be there.\u00a0 Where should we meet?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The man stood alone on the subway platform at ten thirty in the morning and considered where his life was going.\u00a0 He had just been<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1289,1263],"tags":[76,1290],"class_list":["post-29114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction-by-me","category-stuff-that-personally-interests-me-miscellaneous","tag-fiction-writing","tag-my-fiction"],"yoast_head":"\n