a lonely family
during winter on a sunny morning, Danny davis was laying in bed under his thick quilt stuffed with feathers. his home was with his family in jersey state. his wife, who slept in a separate bed was long gone... she had awoken at 7 am,woke their son and daughter who usualy ignored their alarm clocks and had insisted they eat breakfast. the brats went to the bus stop for school and wifey had driven her company car to her job as factory inspector of sewing machines.
danny was unemployed... had been for months. in february his company decided to give the ceo a raise in salary so they fired half the workers so the budget would allow that. his last payment was february first and they had not given him the pink slip. when he came to work the gaurd would not let him enter, because he was not on the employee list, not even to ask for the document.
so he had written an email to his boss... who ignored him. so he sent a written letter registered mail and finally they sent him the document called pink slip.
he had willingly gone to the job office, in his town jamaica city, in jersey, to see if they had jobs for him and they sent him to interviews to drive a tractor at a construction site. at the interview they asked if he had a tractor license. he said only a car driver license so they complained "why did you come waste our time?" he said the government forced him or else they would not give him rental assistance.
each week they sent him to ireelevant interviews wasting his time and the time of the staff of human resources at amny companies. luckily that was only on thursdays... the rest of the week he had nothing to get out of bed for.
most mornings he was not happy to be free from effort. he felt sad that nobody needed him. when he texted wifey named wendy wessin davis, she comforted him that he was "currently not needed" but he must wait for later when people will need him at a job.
the sun was warming the room so he rolled the quilt aside but still... had nothing for which to leave bed.
actually he did. he remembered that he needed to swallow his depression medication... and had not recalled nor thought of it all the time he had been laying in bed awake. he did not even know how long he had been awake.
he slid from the bed popped a pill that did not need to be taken with food, gagged it down his dry throat, and returned to bed.
he glanced at the clock but it was empty. he expected its bright blue numbers digits but no digits. maybe the plug was loose. he had reason to get out of bed so he checked.
the plug was stuck firmly in the outlet but no power. he grabbed his cell phone, and the charger and tested other electric sockets... no power.
no bigee he comforted himself i dont need to know the time for anything anyway and i dont feel hungry for breakfast. the depression caused no appetite and the drug caused nausea and dizziness so he could not swallow food even if he were hungry.
so back to bed only waiting for the time when people would need him at a job. he could sit on a chair for waiting but the mattress was softer.
what could he do while he waited for people to need him at a job?
he could listen to music. dan started listening to music but soon worried that the battery would empty and he had no power... what abot the frij? panicking dan was motivated to leave his soft bed to check the frij... he felt the walls were warm. he checked the control dial it should be cooling but it did not. he turned it to the higher number with no effect... as he had expected it would cause cooling to switch on. perhaps the number meant higher temperature? between the warmest for a low power cool? so he turned the dial the other way to one for a lower temperature again the cooler did not switch on. he turned to switch off and was about to switch on when he recalled someone had warned him to wait between on and off. in this case it had been off a long time anyway so he switched it on he heard the click but no effect. he thought of phoning the frij company but they would ask if he checked the outlet? so he checked the plug was in the outlet.
next they would blame his home wires... so he checked the electric box and saw all the switches of the safety connecters were in the correct position. that meant the problem was not the frij.
perhaps a power outage? he called the electric company from his cell phone expecting a recording for his area and an estimate when power would resume? he entered his data and waited minute after minute... again he feared the battery would end when he was unable to recharge so he switched off the phone.
the food would be ruined so he rearranged the freezer so the most expensive stuff in the frij would be near the frozen stuff.
while he was doing that his son saul and his daughter dawn entered together. they claimed the school bus had not come.
daddy danny felt annoyed and accused "you should not have missed the bus". dawn started crying, which surprised dan kuz she was eleven. saul explained "you should not accuse dawn like that. we were early same as every day. the bus schedule is..."
dan apologized, "saul, i apologize for accusing you, the bus has a schedule and i know mom woke you in time. and dawn i am sorry i hurt your feelings."
dawn sobbed and said, "why dont you ever trust us? we dont make trouble like that and you just assume and blame us like i am a brat." she stormed out of the room... not wanting to hear more. dan shrugged while saul said "at least you apologized."
dan asked if he wanted to eat. saul said he ate breakfast but if something was good could eat. dan pointed and said "raid the frij before the food rots."
saul looked around at the sweets and sugary stuff. dan said "it will go to waste so enjoy it. just brush your teeth and exercise afterwards.
as dan walked back to bed the door opened again. wendy wifey was back. this time dan did not accuse, he asked "did you forget something?"
wendy started crying and said between sobs "stop accusing me you always make me seem bad and irresponsible i did not forget"
"honey i meant not in your control like not in my control to get a job."
wifey waved her hand like she was pushing his words aside.
"something awful happened at work. i came and started inspecting and no new products moved along the assembly line for me to inspect! so i went to the other section and no workers were there!
saul coommented "no bus driver either."
ma noticed him for the first time and said "you should be at school why are you here and not at school." saul explained that the bus never came.
ma accused "you should have left earlier" saul corrected her "you walked us to the bus stop dont you know we were there before the scheduled time? ma argued "that does not matter, you need to wait if it is late." saul, "we waited twenty minutes" ma, "that is not enuf" dan "stop being silly twenty minutes is more than enuf and who are you to complain you are not at work either." ma, kuz there is no product to inspect." dan "aha! same as me w eare not needed" ma "how dare you equate! tears poured down her cheeks as she sobbed and fled the room. saul age five commented "at least i am not a crybaby anymore."
to be continued...
during winter on a sunny morning, Danny davis was laying in bed under his thick quilt stuffed with feathers. his home was with his family in jersey state. his wife, who slept in a separate bed was long gone... she had awoken at 7 am,woke their son and daughter who usualy ignored their alarm clocks and had insisted they eat breakfast. the brats went to the bus stop for school and wifey had driven her company car to her job as factory inspector of sewing machines.
danny was unemployed... had been for months. in february his company decided to give the ceo a raise in salary so they fired half the workers so the budget would allow that. his last payment was february first and they had not given him the pink slip. when he came to work the gaurd would not let him enter, because he was not on the employee list, not even to ask for the document.
so he had written an email to his boss... who ignored him. so he sent a written letter registered mail and finally they sent him the document called pink slip.
he had willingly gone to the job office, in his town jamaica city, in jersey, to see if they had jobs for him and they sent him to interviews to drive a tractor at a construction site. at the interview they asked if he had a tractor license. he said only a car driver license so they complained "why did you come waste our time?" he said the government forced him or else they would not give him rental assistance.
each week they sent him to ireelevant interviews wasting his time and the time of the staff of human resources at amny companies. luckily that was only on thursdays... the rest of the week he had nothing to get out of bed for.
most mornings he was not happy to be free from effort. he felt sad that nobody needed him. when he texted wifey named wendy wessin davis, she comforted him that he was "currently not needed" but he must wait for later when people will need him at a job.
the sun was warming the room so he rolled the quilt aside but still... had nothing for which to leave bed.
actually he did. he remembered that he needed to swallow his depression medication... and had not recalled nor thought of it all the time he had been laying in bed awake. he did not even know how long he had been awake.
he slid from the bed popped a pill that did not need to be taken with food, gagged it down his dry throat, and returned to bed.
he glanced at the clock but it was empty. he expected its bright blue numbers digits but no digits. maybe the plug was loose. he had reason to get out of bed so he checked.
the plug was stuck firmly in the outlet but no power. he grabbed his cell phone, and the charger and tested other electric sockets... no power.
no bigee he comforted himself i dont need to know the time for anything anyway and i dont feel hungry for breakfast. the depression caused no appetite and the drug caused nausea and dizziness so he could not swallow food even if he were hungry.
so back to bed only waiting for the time when people would need him at a job. he could sit on a chair for waiting but the mattress was softer.
what could he do while he waited for people to need him at a job?
he could listen to music. dan started listening to music but soon worried that the battery would empty and he had no power... what abot the frij? panicking dan was motivated to leave his soft bed to check the frij... he felt the walls were warm. he checked the control dial it should be cooling but it did not. he turned it to the higher number with no effect... as he had expected it would cause cooling to switch on. perhaps the number meant higher temperature? between the warmest for a low power cool? so he turned the dial the other way to one for a lower temperature again the cooler did not switch on. he turned to switch off and was about to switch on when he recalled someone had warned him to wait between on and off. in this case it had been off a long time anyway so he switched it on he heard the click but no effect. he thought of phoning the frij company but they would ask if he checked the outlet? so he checked the plug was in the outlet.
next they would blame his home wires... so he checked the electric box and saw all the switches of the safety connecters were in the correct position. that meant the problem was not the frij.
perhaps a power outage? he called the electric company from his cell phone expecting a recording for his area and an estimate when power would resume? he entered his data and waited minute after minute... again he feared the battery would end when he was unable to recharge so he switched off the phone.
the food would be ruined so he rearranged the freezer so the most expensive stuff in the frij would be near the frozen stuff.
while he was doing that his son saul and his daughter dawn entered together. they claimed the school bus had not come.
daddy danny felt annoyed and accused "you should not have missed the bus". dawn started crying, which surprised dan kuz she was eleven. saul explained "you should not accuse dawn like that. we were early same as every day. the bus schedule is..."
dan apologized, "saul, i apologize for accusing you, the bus has a schedule and i know mom woke you in time. and dawn i am sorry i hurt your feelings."
dawn sobbed and said, "why dont you ever trust us? we dont make trouble like that and you just assume and blame us like i am a brat." she stormed out of the room... not wanting to hear more. dan shrugged while saul said "at least you apologized."
dan asked if he wanted to eat. saul said he ate breakfast but if something was good could eat. dan pointed and said "raid the frij before the food rots."
saul looked around at the sweets and sugary stuff. dan said "it will go to waste so enjoy it. just brush your teeth and exercise afterwards.
as dan walked back to bed the door opened again. wendy wifey was back. this time dan did not accuse, he asked "did you forget something?"
wendy started crying and said between sobs "stop accusing me you always make me seem bad and irresponsible i did not forget"
"honey i meant not in your control like not in my control to get a job."
wifey waved her hand like she was pushing his words aside.
"something awful happened at work. i came and started inspecting and no new products moved along the assembly line for me to inspect! so i went to the other section and no workers were there!
saul coommented "no bus driver either."
ma noticed him for the first time and said "you should be at school why are you here and not at school." saul explained that the bus never came.
ma accused "you should have left earlier" saul corrected her "you walked us to the bus stop dont you know we were there before the scheduled time? ma argued "that does not matter, you need to wait if it is late." saul, "we waited twenty minutes" ma, "that is not enuf" dan "stop being silly twenty minutes is more than enuf and who are you to complain you are not at work either." ma, kuz there is no product to inspect." dan "aha! same as me w eare not needed" ma "how dare you equate! tears poured down her cheeks as she sobbed and fled the room. saul age five commented "at least i am not a crybaby anymore."
to be continued...
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