Here And Thereafter (4)
"Chris, that was so hard to do. I could feel myself imploding. All I wanted to do was to get all in his face and state my case. But I'm probably better off because of it." "Yeah you are. Trust me." While they were talking, a golfer had pulled up into the bag drop and the two of them hadn't noticed. Moe Schmo came out of the caddy office and was visibly upset that neither Chris nor Gregory had seen him pull into the bag drop. "You guys, there's a car in the bag drop. Stop talking and get to work." Chris and Gregory stood up and got back in the groove of their job. Another thirty minutes of taking golfers golf bags out of their trunks and placing them with their partners and it was time for the shotgun to start. The voice of O' Mally rang throughout the range, the caddy office and shack, and also the tournament grass and chipping green. His voice was projected off a bull horn that was hooked up on the roof of the pro shop. "Gentlemen, I'd like your attention please. The 5th Annual Lear Corporation Golf Outing will now begin. Please make sure to pick up your score cards at the pro shop. I repeat, the 5th Annual Lear Corporation Golf Outing will now begin. All players are now instructed to head out to their assigned holes." Christopher and Gregory stood near the chipping green as they watched golfers come from the almost depleted range over to their carts. Players who were taking practice shots on the chipping green began heading toward their carts and then drove off toward their assigned holes. Schmo was talking to Stan near the first hole. The first hole was easily visible from the chipping green and Chris and Gregory could see them. It was 12:15. It was around this time when the players had for the most part thinned out that one of the closers showed up for work. His name was Jarius Barnett and he was quite the character. He often would say things that would make a person's heart drop and he would say these things with little or no regard for the feelings of said person. He had only been on the staff for about six months but Jarius and Chris had gotten into it a good deal. Chris felt, that with Jarius, he always had to be on guard in case he'd say something that would upset him. "What's up, doggies?" said Jarius with a sly smirk. It perhaps should be noted here that the term 'doggy' was invented by Chris. This added even more insult to Christopher. Christopher thought that if you were going to use his term that you should at least treat him with a little respect. "What's up, Jarius?" said Gregory. Jarius then went into the caddy office to clock in. Chris saw this as his opportunity to leave for the day. "I think it's time for me to go," said Chris to Gregory. Gregory produced an awestruck look on his face and began to ask Chris why it was that he didn't take heed to his own advice. "Aww doggy, what's this I hear? You don't like Jarius, he shows up, and you leave? Where's the sense of right and wrong?" "Don't get me started, Gregory. I'm not leaving because Jarius showed up, I'm leaving because we don't need this many people on the clock at one time. It has absolutely nothing to do with me liking or disliking Jarius." "Ok, doggy. If you say so." Gregory was smiling. Chris tried to produce one but it was difficult. Really difficult. Just then he was reminded of the conversation he had with his wife about asking Stan for a raise. "But before I go I've got to talk to Stan." Chris walked up toward the pro shop. Stan was standing on the paved road that stood alongside the first tee, watching players tee off. Schmo was in the pro shop, probably talking to O' Mally and the other pros. Chris came alongside Stan and spoke softly to Stan, so as not to disturb the players. "Stan, there was something that I wanted to talk to you about." "Shoot." "It's like this, they've increased my rent at the apartment complex, and I don't make enough money to cover it. The rate increase starts this month, and I've managed to borrow enough from my dad to pay for it, but I need a raise to pay for next month's rent. Do you think that I could maybe get that raise?" Stan stroked his chin and looked into the sky. Chris stood there, wondering what was going through his mind. He'd soon find out. "How much do you make now?" "$7.50." "And how long have you been making that amount?" "For about a year and a half." "Hmm--I think I could give you a two dollar raise at the least. You do good work here, Christopher. I'd like to keep you here as long as I can." "Thank you," said Chris. "You won't regret it. I won't slack off because of it or anything." Stan just nodded his head and smiled. "Oh, there's was one more thing. Jarius just arrived and I was thinking that I could maybe leave now, since I know you don't like it when so many people are on the clock at the same time and with there being nothing to do and all." "You could leave now if you wish," said Stan. "Just tell Gregory to wait until someone else shows up before he leaves." "I will," said Chris. And he left. *** When Chris got back home he saw Larry leaving his apartment. "Hi, Larry. How're you doing?" "Oh, I'm making it." "That's good to hear." Chris pulled out his key and let it rattle inside of the keyhole. Upon entering he saw Medina sitting on the couch. "Hi, sweetie," said he. "I just saw Larry walking from our apartment. What did he want?" "Oh, he just came by to make sure we didn't throw away the flyer that he put in our mailbox and that we knew about the rate increases for this month's rent." "I see," replied Chris as he sat down beside her. "So," began Medina, "did anything noteworthy happen at work today?" "What do you mean by that?" said Chris with a sly smirk on his face. "You know what I mean," said Medina. "Tell me about what happened at work today." "Well, there was one something that I could perhaps share with you," said he as he flipped through the channels. "Start sharing," said Medina. "I asked Stan about that raise, and he said that it was a done deal. So now you don't have to worry about where we're going to get our rent money from." "So it's all taken care of?" asked Medina. "It's all taken care of." Medina let loose a sigh of relief. At least she had less to worry about, now that she knew they'd be making enough money to pay for their rent. "And how was your day today, sweetie?" "Oh, I saw a roach today!" "A roach?" "Yes! And I got so mad that I threw my oatmeal at the television screen." "My, my," said Chris. "We just have to do something about those roaches. Anything else happen today?" "Well, my mom called. And she's going to the grocery store for us." "That sounds swell," said Christopher who was now watching Starz! "At least we'll have something in the fridge." "Yeah. That's true. But then baby cockroaches will just crawl up and down the television screen and ruin our appetites." Medina was so distraught over the entirety of their situation that even the news that they were able to pay for their rent didn't completely lift her spirits. The next few hours went predictably enough. Christopher watched his favorite premium channel, Starz!, while Medina waited downstairs in the lobby for her mother to arrive. It can perhaps be mentioned here that Christopher had secured an unheard of deal with Comcast Cablevision to pay the paltry sum of one hundred dollars a month for complete access to all of the premium channels. When he and Medina had first gotten cable, the bill was somewhere in the one hundred and fifties range, but then he stopped paying the bills and they shut off the service. That is when Christopher got a call one day and it was during this call that the operator mentioned that if he wanted he could get all of the channels for just one hundred dollars a month. Well, Chris--being wise beyond his years--couldn't let this opportunity pass and he signed up for a renewal of his cable service. Chris--as perhaps should be noted--was quite stricken with the way Starz! promoted their programming. He was so stricken in fact that he had committed to memory a good many of the Starz! specific phrases and he would repeat them whenever they'd be broadcast on the channel. For instance, at the very beginning of the transition to show a new movie (and after the credits would be shown) the announcer would say regarding the next movie, "Here's what's coming up next, on Starz!" Christopher would repeat this phrase as it was broadcast on television. Similarly, whenever Starz! would broadcast the next four movies to be premiered on the network, Christopher would repeat this phrase outloud: "Starz!, premieres a new hit movie, every Saturday night, only on Starz! Saturday Premiere!" He just simply loved the way they promoted their movies. There was, perhaps, a streak of advertising genius lying dormant within his cranium for him to recognize the brilliance of how the channel plugged itself. There was too perhaps a good deal of his childhood still left inside of him, which is a somewhat strange occurrence considering he was twenty years old. But then he was only recently removed from his teens and perhaps thus could not be wholly blamed for his actions. But getting to the core of the matter, if you were to confront Chris with this outlined scenario he would probably downplay it as insignificant as there was plenty of grownup idiosyncrasies inside of him and this was to him just a bit of fun. Chris was watching Finding Nemo when Medina and April came into the door with grocery bags in hand. Christopher stood up and offered to take the bags. But April declined. "We've got these taken care of. Why don't you go into the car and pick up some of the bags that are in the trunk. All of the bags that are in the trunk are yours." "Ok," said Chris. He went down to the lobby and then out the door onto the sidewalk. April drove a beige Mercury Sable. It was a fairly recent model, 2003 to be exact. Chris saw that there were groceries not only in the trunk but also in the backseat of the car itself. Those must be for her and her husband, he thought. He grabbed the remaining four grocery bags from the trunk and slammed it shut. When he made it all the way back to the apartment he saw that April and Medina were putting up some of the groceries. "Ok," said Chris, "I got all of the bags out of the trunk. That's what you wanted, right?" "Yes," said April as she took the bags out of his hands. "Now go have a seat while we put up the groceries." "Can I at least get an idea what we'll be eating today?" "Probably just lunchmeat sandwiches with cheese," said Medina. "I really don't feel like cooking today." "Ok," said Chris. "I can go to the store and get a family size bag of Frito Lays. That'll go wonderful with ham or bologna sandwiches. Thanks again, granny." Chris walked out the front door and left April and her daughter to themselves. "Thank again, mum," said Medina. "Christopher and I would be lost without you." "Oh, don't worry yourself over it, Dina. Now let's put up these groceries speedily. I've got to get back home to cook dinner for your father."
Copyright © 2004 Michael Harris |