Monday

He woke up to a ray of sunshine. Where he lived, Gary always had sunshine outside his window. It was part of the area, many old timers joked. The “rookies” as Peter called them, had much to learn about their new home. Still in shock from his removal from his last place of residence, Gary quickly got out of bed. It had been a near sleepless night for him, as the last few had been. But he suddenly woke up, knowing that he had to make it to work.

Being the newcomer that he was, he took his job very cautiously. The older guys, Iggy, Sebastian and Jude would sit there and joke around about other people as they watched on. They were experienced, being here for years, and weren’t as strict as many others Gary met during his first few days here. Gary was only now getting the hang of it, and it had taken him a few days to realize what exactly he must do. Jude had told him to do his best, and nobody would get mad if he messed up. Sometimes, you couldn’t save them all, he once said. Gary listened to this elderly veteran, he should know, he knew a lost cause when he saw it.

“Don’t worry Gary, how much trouble could someone get into on a Monday morning?”

Elsewhere, Susan was late to work. Her dog had left a lovely surprise in the bathroom again, and forced Susan to clean it up immediately. Frantically looking for cleaning supplies, she hastily took an old sweater from an old boyfriend and put it on.

“He won’t need this anymore.” She managed to smile to her dog and laugh. Looking at her watch, she dropped everything.

“Take care of the house. Be home soon hunny.” She said to the dog, noting to herself that she was probably going crazy. It wouldn’t be the first time she had thought that though. Life had been frantic up to this point, running from place to place. Trying to pay rent. Trying to keep the dog fit. Trying to make it by.

Running out of the building, she saw the local bus pull away. Putting her hands up in mock anger, she sighed to herself and started the long walk to work. It was only Monday. It was going to take about fifteen minutes, enough time to figure out a good lie to tell her boss. Thinking about her dog, her job, and what fabulous lie she was going to come up with, Susan crossed the street, trying to figure out what block to cross at next.

“Watch out!” A man yelled as Susan turned around and saw a speeding taxi coming straight at her. Suddenly, she felt something hit her, causing her to get out of the way of the bus, which missed her by mere inches.

“Show time.” Gary said to himself. It was only his second time going down since he started, and it still was a scary feeling. It felt like his stomach was up in his throat. It felt like he was on a roller coaster for twenty minutes. A normal feeling, Jude said. It would happen over the next few times. Eventually it would go away. Gary sighed when he heard that. Eventually meant a long time coming. It still hadn’t hit him that he was going to be doing this for the rest of his life. But on the bright side, he thought, it was a job people only imagined of talking about.

“Boy, you must have some kind of guardian angel or something.” The man who helped Susan said, dropping his newspaper in the process. Most people had resumed to their daily routines. The man picked her up with both hands, got his own newspaper and continued to walk down the street. And life went on. Susan continued to take deep breathes and look up at the sky.

Gary smiled to himself. It had been a good day’s work and it was only 9 o’clock.