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“Rent prices are soaring, food costs are sky high and with no industrial jobs that pay a high wage what hope do they have? People are losing their homes because mortgage prices have tripled.” He shrugged. “It’s sickening.”
I nodded thoughtfully. “What industries are around here, job wise?”
“I’m a diesel mechanic by trade. I should be making over six grand a month! But there aren’t any jobs in my field. And for a city of 40,000 people, we have a ton of restaurants well over two hundred. And then there’s the big box and grocery stores, there’s a dozen of those or so. And all of them are part of the problem.”
“How so?”
“They offer their employees minimum wage and part time hours. How the hell is anyone to survive? Wanna know how much it cost just to heat my house last month? I’ll tell you, $500 bucks, my rent is $2200.00 for a three-bedroom duplex. All my bills combined cost me $4000.00 a month not including groceries and between me and my girlfriend we make $5000.00. I can’t imagine what it would cost if we had kids.”
This guy was clearly hurting. I already had plans for him, once I was done with the conversation. I just needed a tiny bit more info. Snagging another candy because for the life of me I can never just suck on the caramelly goodness I have to eat it, I unwrapped it and promised myself I’d savor it as I asked, “Does the government help with nothing?”
“Pfft, oh you mean their menial handouts? Yeah, sure if you can call that helping.”
I nodded. “Right. I suppose with the high costs of everything it’s more like a slap in the face?”
“Yeah. Pretty much.”
I leaned my elbow on the counter and looked him in the eyes. “Why don’t you move? Find somewhere else to live that’s cheaper? I mean it’s just you and your girlfriend, right? Move to Europe.”
He laughed and smoothed a hand over his hair. “Well, that’s the plan, to the States at least. I just can’t convince my parents to make the move.”
Already peeking into his mind, I knew he would never do what I was about to suggest but I said it anyway. “Then don’t. You’re not living your life for them; you’re living it for yourself.”
An odd look crossed his face as he weighed my words. As if he were contemplating what life would be like if he did something for himself for a change.
He shook his head. “Nah, I can’t do that. My mom is a diabetic and my dad, he’s got a bad knee. The only way I could convince them to move is to buy them an RV. They always wanted to travel through the southern states.”
The tinkling of a bell over the door announced that someone was entering. “Sorry Noah.” I turned to look at him, standing there with his bow in his hand. “Peter and I were chatting.”
“I wondered what was taking you so long?” he lifted the bow slightly and raised his brows at me.
I motioned to stand down with my hand so that only he could see and turned to look back at Peter.
“Hey,” — Peter raised his hand in greeting then dropped it— “... Uh...how did you know my name?” he asked, his brows knitted with confusion.
I tapped a finger on the registration paper I’d signed and pulled it towards me. “Your name right here. And it looks like you didn’t charge me a deposit. Here.” I made a show of pulling my card out of my pocket and held it out to him.
He waved his hands in dismissal of the idea. “Oh no, we don’t do that. We just put it on file in case—”
“Charge me for it. I insist.”
He took it from me and said, “But I’ll have to do up another receipt.”
“You go right ahead; I can sign it again and we will pretend this one never existed.” I smiled and scrunched the paper under my palm. “So, about this developer, between you and me, what’s his name?”
Noah moved to stand beside me, looking at me with questioning eyes. I ignored him.
“D. K. Sterling,” Peter said as he typed on the keyboard. “No clue what his first name is, but I’ve been told it’s Darel Kingston Sterling. If you’re up at five, come to the dining room to see what a real dick looks like, he’ll be the one in the middle of more dicks, otherwise known as his bodyguards.”
“Why would a developer need bodyguards?” Noah asked, switching the bow to his other hand.
“He evicted a whole subdivision,” I supplied. “They ended up living in a bush on the other side of town.”
“Oh.” Noah’s brows rose a few notches. “You don’t say?”
Peter darted his eyes to Noah then to me as he handed back the credit card and the room key. “Please don’t mention anything to anyone about what I told you. I can’t afford to lose my job.”
“No worries. This conversation never occurred, as a matter of fact,” — I leaned across the counter, stared straight into his eyes, and dropped my voice to a mere whisper — “Noah here wants to show you his... music abilities. And when you wake in the morning, you’re going to look in your wallet and when you do, you’re going to be the happiest man in the country. Then, you’re going to quit your jobs and take your girlfriend and your parents and you’re going to go buy them the biggest RV on the lot. Then you and your girlfriend are going to decide where you want to live, because wherever you choose to, there will be an opening for a diesel mechanic if you so choose to work again.”
