Me Time

     Damien waited a minute after his father left to slide into the computer chair. He had a game waiting for him and he resumed it.

     A nice afternoon of computer play, he thought. Nothing much to do except homework. And he had plenty of time to do that. Plenty of time to not do it, more like, he thought, and laughed to himself.

     The only better than playing computer games, he thought, was getting paid to play computer games. Assuming dad didn't walk in and have something for him to do, of course.

     Just then, he heard his father walking up the stairs and a woman's voice trailing his.

     Damien clicked close the game and broke open his backpack.

     "Do you want to make some space?" Mr. Drummel said.

     "No problem, dad."

     "This is Candy. She wants to be a cashier here, in the afternoons."
     "You don't want her to meet mom?"
     "Well of course I want her to, but we can try anybody."
     "So," Mr. Drummel said. "You are working, aren't you?"
     "Yes. I'm a host at a restaurant."
     "Have you had any other jobs?"
     "Yeah, a ton of them."
     Mr. Drummel's eyebrows went up like a cartoon, but he said nothing. "Anything you think makes you qualified for this job?"
     "I can do anything, Mr. Drummel. I'm pretty good with customers and I work really hard. I think I can pick it up pretty quickly."
     Mr. Drummel nodded.

     "Well, can you work this afternoon, see how it goes?"
     "Without a doubt," Candy said. "When should I start?"
     "Well, Stacy comes in in just a minute. I can have you work with her. She works until 7:30."

     "Cool."
     "You should fill out an application, though, if you don't mind."

     "Yeah, no problem."
     Mr. Drummel took out a standard application from the file cabinet and gave her a clipboard and a pen, which he ran against a random piece of paper on his desk to make sure it worked.

     "You want to get her a fresh time card?" Mr. Drummel asked his son.

     Damien nodded, and got one from the cabinet under the time clock.

     "Thank you, Damien."
     Mr. Drummel, rather fastidiously, made out the time card, and when Candy had finished the application, he showed her how to punch in, and how she would punch out, as well. Like clockwork, Stacey came up the stairs and put her bag on the hooks by the stairs, and unwrapped her scarf.

     "Hey, Mr. Drummel."

     "Hey, Stacy. So this is Candy. We're going to try her out today. She's going to be with you, learning from you."
     "Cool. Should I stay up here?"
     "No, that's okay. We'll meet you down there in just a second."
     "Okay," she said, smiling her Cheshire cat grin. She punched in and then ran down the stairs."

     "Stacy's great. You're going to like her."
     "I think so," Candy said.

     Damien really didn't like Stacy. She talked down to him all the time. So, he had to say, he liked Candy better already. In fact, there was something about her he really liked. And he thought he saw her looking at him as well.

     But it would probably not be so wise to pursue it just yet. He didn't want to cause any trouble until she had gotten her feet wet.

     Mr. Drummel got up and went down the stairs to pass Candy off to Stacy.

     "Nice to meet you," Candy said, and her eyes sparkled.

     "Nice to meet you, too," Damien said.

     The desk was now free, but he didn't really feel the call. He was in a daze a little bit, thinking that there was some connection between them. Wonder what she'd do, he thought. He had a feeling, everything.