Chapter 1: Unexpected

Vanessa

"Vanessa, may I speak with you for a moment?"

It's five o'clock in the morning, and I'm moments away from leaving my third shift data entry job. I hate it, but it pays the bills. Honestly, I'd rather be in nursing school right now.

Yes, it would be cool to be with my friends doing what most twenty years olds do.

What do they do?

"Vanessa," Dan, my supervisor's voice, has a sense of urgency, making me assume he'll give extra work.

I pull my black hair from inside my jacket and head to the only office in the expansive fifth-floor room with multiple small cubicles.

Dan, a short man with olive skin and a receding hairline, stands at his office door, motioning for me to enter.

"Dan," I stifle a yawn. "What can I do for you?"

"How're your grandparents," Dan asks, sitting on the edge of his desk. "Uh, Delta and Suzy-May, right?"

I nod.

"My goodness, you," Dan pauses, "a young woman caring for her grandparents is such a noble gesture. You just don't find that nowadays."

I flash a nervous smile.

Dan claps his hands together. "Well, Vaness, it was so nice working with you. These two years have been such a pleasure."

I shake my head. Did he say "pleasure?"

He grabs my dark hand, squeezing it. "We'd like to take things in a different direction. Today is your last day."

Slowly, I shake my head, squinting. "Taking things in a different direction? I'm a data entry clerk, not a CEO."

Dan rushes to the door, frowning. "Uh, Vanessa, I have forty more of these conversations to have. After that, maybe I'll get better."

I walk past Dan and stop to look at him. Before I can ask a question, he interrupts me.

Dan sadly says, "Yeah, I should've done this online or video conference."

****

The bus was late. It's never late when I return from work. But, of course, that's when I was employed.

I open my apartment door and smell a combination of menthol and lavender. Some of my friends from high school who visit me claim my apartment smells like old folks.

It doesn't.

I clean, and when Grandma Suzy-May feels up to it, she cleans too. If anything, the place sometimes smells like Grandpa Delta's feet.

Thank God I didn't get that gene.

"Hey, Vanessa, you're home."

Isley, my neighbor across the hall, greets me in the living room. He's wearing his usual cartoon pajama onesie.

Isley is forty-five years old and looks younger. He keeps his brown man bun neat and his beard scruffy. Isley is like my older brother.

He works at Brenson and Brash, a law firm in Los Angeles. When he's not there, he's here helping care for my grandparents.

"Well, did you have a hot date or something?" Isley stretches.

"I got fired," I say with a shrug.

He stops mid-stretch. "Damn."

"I know," I tell him, throwing my purse on the couch.

"That too," he says, "but that was a good stretch."

I chuckle and flop on the couch.

Isley sits on the love seat. "What are you going to do?"

Good question. I put my hair in a ponytail and answer, "Take the L and find another job."

"Did they tell you why?"

I rub my temples. My brown eyes feel like someone coated them with sand. "Uh, they're going in a new direction."

"Oh," Isely says, "they're getting a bunch of temps at half the cost. I'm surprised they didn't tell you what temp service to use if you wanted to retain your job. Oh, well."

Why would a company want to hire temporary workers when they have a reliable... I close my eyes.

The company doesn't care about us. It's about the money.

Isley shakes his head as he walks to the door. "Delta went potty and is back in bed. Suzy-May took her medication a few hours ago."

As I stretch out on the couch, I tell him, "I'll make sure Grandpa knows he went to the potty."

"Thanks," Isley says with a chuckle. "I always wanted to die young."

For the first time since Dan told me I was fired, I'm no longer shocked or numb. Instead, slowly, reality has seeped into my body. Tomorrow I have bills and no job.

I can't wait for Isley to leave because I plan to go to my bedroom, cover my face with my pillow and sob. My grandparents' social security money doesn't cover the rent.

This is Los Angeles.

Isley silently closes the door.

On cue, tears flow down my face. Instantly, I feel stupid for crying. It was a job.

However, the emotions leave my body. Then, my body relaxes, and I sigh.

There's a knock at the front door. I hear keys.

I jump up, quickly wiping my face.

Isley enters my apartment, smiling. "I just remembered. Bensen is hiring paralegals and legal secretaries. Apply, okay? They love hiring newbies like you."

"Isley, I don't—"

Use my name as a referral. You'll get a job there," he pauses to grin, "I know you will."

****

I have little time to think about my sudden unemployment. After five hours of sleep, my daily routine starts.

I wake Grandpa Delta. He's a super tall, slender man with reddish-brown skin. Way before I was born, he split his time between his Navy enlistment, playing basketball and raising Dad.

Grandpa Delta always boasts Dad got his college basketball scholarship.

I flash a sad smile.

Dad, I love you and miss you.

While he's getting ready, I work on breakfast. It's all the healthy foods like oatmeal. When Grandma Suzy-May wakes up—whenever that is—she'll make the unhealthy stuff like bacon, eggs and waffles with tons of syrup.

I've stopped telling her how those kinds of foods aren’t good for high blood pressure or diabetes. So instead, Grandpa and I stick to our healthy breakfast and she does her own thing.

For Grandma Suzy-May, I'm responsible for ensuring she has all her medications for the day and getting out of her way.

My grandparents' bedroom door closes.

I hurriedly grab a bowl and fill it with oatmeal. I sit it on the opposite side of my opened laptop.

My screensaver hasn't popped up yet. So, I can still see Bensen and Brash's online application that I haven't started.

The door swings on, and Grandma Suzy-May enters, looking like a food inspector.

Grandma Suzy-May is a robust woman with a towering personality, which doesn't match her five-foot frame. I got my lavender midnight hue from her.

However, she claims I also got my pear-shaped figure from her side of the family. I don't think so. I had to get something from Mommy.

I miss you so much, Mommy.

"What's this?"

I look back.

Grandma's pointing at my laptop and giving me a funny look.

Instead of telling her why my laptop was on the kitchen table, I do what she indirectly orders. I quickly put the laptop on the chair.

I'll apply later.