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1
The driver in front of me was either drunk or very stupid. He kept braking for no apparent reason, drove too slowly when the road was clear, and signaled that he was about to turn without turning. I decided to change my route or I was bound to honk and curse like a madman.
I never liked driving, even though it was a necessity where I grew up in rural Connecticut. Once I moved to New York, I expected to leave driving behind, to submit myself to the crowded subway and an occasional Uber. It was sadly ironic that my current career was delivering packages for FedEx. Not my first choice, obviously, but when Covid hit, it was the final blow to my struggling startup, taking with it my life savings and a big chunk of my self-confidence.
I tried applying for different positions in tech, but as I’d never worked for well-known companies whose names could stand out on a resume, my applications were usually left unanswered. One evening, while I was trying to think of the best way to pay rent while eating more than one meal a day, a FedEx commercial appeared on my TV, promising stability in these unstable times. Hearing the wordstabilityplayed on my insecurities until I logged into their website and applied. They called me back the following day.
Bastards.
*
My phone rang as I was making my way toward Brooklyn in what was supposed to be the end of my shift. I glanced at the screen and felt a pang of guilt when I saw Jay’s name. He had only been out of prison for a few months, and I was doing a poor job being there for him as he settled back into normal life.
I answered the call through the speaker and said, “You have a sixth sense. I’m just entering Brooklyn.”
“You’re done for today?”
“One damn package left.”
“Meet me at Henry’s for beer? I’ll send you the address.”
I hadn’t been out socializing in a while, but I had also run out of excuses. “Sure,” I said. “See you soon.”
I delivered the last package and drove over to the location Jay had sent me. It was in an area packed with garages and sketchy-looking bars.
Due to the early hour, Henry’s wasn’t close to being packed. The music was stuck in the glory days of ’90s grunge, but at least it wasn’t too loud. I was reminded that I had first met Jay in a place similar to this, close to where Chris and I went to college in Connecticut a decade ago. Jay had been a bartender back then in the only decent bar in the area, and I had just turned twenty-one and went out to celebrate. Jay acted as if my birthday was the most important day in the world. He gave me a breakdown of the dos and don’ts when it came to drinking, and arranged samples of every type of beer until I found the one I liked the most—which was Natural Light at the time. During our conversation, I found out he was new to the area after moving away from his small hometown in the Midwest. He was looking for a fresh start and chose to stick around because his bike died a while back when he couldn’t afford to fix it.
Jay was already at Henry’s when I arrived, drinking beer and laughing with the bartender. He had the kind of loud laugh that demanded your attention.
“E, my man! Look at you, all dashing.”
I was in my FedEx uniform after a long shift, looking anything but dashing. He got up and hugged me tight. His long dark hair smelled of soap, and his messy beard scratched my cheek. As always, his clothes tended to vary from black to gray.
“Dave, this here is my buddy Ethan,” Jay told the bartender, who was wiping a beer glass. “Smartest guy you’ll ever meet, guaranteed.”
Dave gave me a once over, likely thinking,you don’t get to be a delivery guy by being that smart, do you?
Jay put his arm around my shoulders. “Ethan was the only one who came to see me every week in prison.”
Dave quietly nodded, looking puzzled as to why he needed to hear that.
I nudged Jay, who got the hint. We ordered another beer for him and a Diet Coke for me because I still needed to drive back home. We made our way toward one of the booths, where the music was quieter.
“Nice place,” I said.
“I discovered it a few weeks ago in my search for a joint without college kids or hipsters. You’d be surprised how long it took.”
I snickered and looked around. “It’s very you.”
“Sophisticated and chic?”
“Simple and rugged.”
He laughed. “Who’re you calling simple?”
I raised an eyebrow and Jay shrugged. “Yeah, that’s fair.”
We took a sip of our drinks and Jay said, “It’s been a while, man. I half expected you to blow me off when I called.”
