One quart of milk, expired two weeks ago, half a bottle of ketchup, a loaf of bread, and two muffins stood between her and starvation. She had to go to work.
She took out the ketchup and two slices of bread, and, voila,
ketchup sandwich. It was five o'clock in the morning and the sky was beginning to wake. She had two be at ShopSmart at six.
She finished her sandwich and was promptly knocked over by a large, black ball of fur.
"Hey, Joey, how's it?" she asked the dog. He drooled on her in reply. "Hungry?" She pulled a very large bag of dog chow from a cuboard on the floor and scooped some in a dented metal bowl. "I'm going to work," she said, filling his water bowl.
"I get out at noon, then we'll go to the park,"
She took a shower and tryed to tame her hair. Or what was supposed to be hair. She considered it a red nest of yarn.
She looked down at her stomach, she had always been small for her age, and at twenty years old that hadn't changed yet. When she was in middle and highschool she had been an athlete. Hockey, Lacross, and track had been her life.
But, in the two years her body had changed from athletic to just skinny. People often mistook her for being in grade school.
Sighing at her life, she finished getting ready and drove to work in a lumina that had to be as old as she was. She pulled into a parking space as close to the store as she could get short of handicap parking.
"Okay, Charlie," she said getting out of her car and walking in the building. "You can do this. I know you don't like your job, but you have to be grateful. The economy is bad, hundreds of people would kill to be in your position. Anyways, it's Sunday, the boss won't be here spying on you. You are grateful."
Charlie punched, and looked at the paper that told who's on what register. Charlie turned the light on at her register and looked around smiling. She was in a considerably better mood. It wasn't busy, so she made a list in her mind why her life was great.
She had a job, her own apartment, a giant dog, and her asshole boss wasn't in today. It was going to be a good day.
Her day was uneventful, and at noon she raced home, not looking back. "Joey, let's go!" She said throwing the door open.
She ran to her room, Joey galloping behind her and hurriedly threw off her work clothes and piled on a pair of jeans and a lacy tank top. She was currently single and wanted to look good, just in case.
"Want to take the car or walk there?" Joey waggedd his tail as she attached the lease to his collar. Alot of help that would be if he decided to run off. Joey's back stood three and a half feet off the floor. Last time she had managed to take him to a vet, he weighed in at 210 pounds. At five feet tall and 92 pounds, Charlie didn't stand a chance. Thankfully he was well-behaved. Most of the time.
"It's beautiful out, why don't we walk?" Joey pulled her towards the door. "That's a yes then." A half an hour later they were walking in the park, or at least what the city called a park.
It was really a giant track surrounded by buildings on one side, A busy road in front, and untamed wild on the other sides. Charlie immediaty set off for the trees. There were so many paths in the woods that you wouldn't know half of them if you spent a year there. She ran with Joey along a path made with gravel and came to a creak. Charlie always hated this part. If they wanted to go any farther, they would have to cross a plank that had been there since her mother could remember.
"We can't both go at the same time," she told Joey. "I don't think this will hold three hundred pounds. Actually, I'm not sure if it will hold two hundred. Do you think you could make it?"
Joey looked up at her and gave her a stupid look. Of course he could make it. Charlie walked to the edge and stopped. "Go on,
boy," she said. Joey clambered across the board creaking. Charlie followed him.
"Are those stairs?" She saw a set of stone stairs settled in a hill side. She looked up the steep hill. She had never seen this before,
and she came here at least twice a week. She heard people talking up there. "You want to check it out?" She asked Joey.
They ran up the stairs. The trees abrutley disappeared. Charlie turned around and the stairs had also disappeared. Charlie was wondering what had happened when she turned forward again and there was an arrow pointed at her head. She dropped Joey's lease and held her hands up.
