Brandon stifled a yawn and he collapsed into the easy chair, picking up the remote from the
coffee table. He turned the tv
on and flipped though the channels. Why wasn't anything good on? After a few minutes he
settled on a baseball game. It was better then nothing, and after today he needed a distraction. It
sucked to work some days.
He was almost fast asleep when he heard the door open again thirty minutes later, revealing his
wife and seven year old son.
Brandon got up to greet them, kissing Rachael first, then tussling Daniel's hair.
"Hey, did you have a good time at the amusement park?" He asked the boy.
Daniel nodded, and grinned.
"Yeah! it was great! There was games and rides and all sorts of stuff! Can we go back next
week?"
Brandon chuckled, smiling faintly as he looked up to Rachael again. She looked tired and
drained.
"We'll see. Why don't you go to your room and get ready for dinner. I brought home some pizza."
Daniel groaned.
"Pizza again? We have pizza three times a week! Can't we go out tonight?" The boy whined.
Brandon sighed, shaking his head.
"Just go on. Now."
He watched his son stomp off to his room, then turned back to Rachel, who had already departed
to the kitchen. He followed her, leaning on the side of the doorway.
"Rough day, I take it?"
Rachael just shook her head, blinking rapidly. She turned away and placed a few slices of
pepperoni pizza on a paper plate.
Brandon frowned, walking over to lay a hand on her shoulder.
"Are you crying?"
Rachael batted his hand away, glaring at him with an un-welcoming gaze.
"Just forget it." She snapped.
Brandon snorted, now irritated. She was doing this a lot lately, acting mad and never saying
anything. He always to figure out what was wrong, but She always shut him out. And he was not
liking it.
"Rachael! God-dammit....what did I do this time? Tell me!"
Rachael sighed, looking down at the floor now. She wrapped her arms around her chest as tears
started streaming down.
"I can't stand this. Our situation. Both of us have jobs, yet every payday it's a struggle to pay rent
and the bills. We have to buy our groceries at the discount store. And we have to save up for
months to visit a tacky amusement park for our son!"
Brandon stayed silent for a moment, since he often felt the same. But it was getting better. They
had a joint savings account. True, it was meager right now, but it was growing. He had hope it would improve.
"I know it seems like an uphill battle. But I'm certain things will improve. It will happen,
eventually."
Brandon smiled to re-enforce his words, withdrawing only slightly as Daniel re-entered the room.
The dark haired boy helped himself to a portion of the pizza and promptly seated himself. Rachel
followed suit, grabbing a two-liter of coke from the fridge. The discussion was over....for now.
Silence reigned though the tiny two-bedroom house, something Brandon was appreciative of at
this point. Rachael was taking a long bath in the one and only bathroom, and Daniel was doing his
homework. Again, he shrugged into the worn easy chair in the living room.
A quick glance-over; of the thin carpet beneath him, the small blue couch beside him, and the tv
monitor on a stand for which the furniture was faced, showed all of the objects in the room.
Those, and a few pictures that hanged from the wall.
True, they couldn't afford new carpet for the floor, or shiny oak wood furniture, but Brandon had
always been able to see beyond the shabby rooms. To what they would someday have. What they
had to have.
Brandon sighed, and looked up to the ceiling. He knew Rachael didn't see things the way he did,
She didn't share his optimism. And She was unhappy. Maybe She had always been unhappy.
He had never expected to see her again, after he broke up with her when he caught her cheating
with a team-mate. That was near the beginning of senior year. He never did see her again, though
the rest of the year and graduation, except a few days after that fateful trip.
Alex and Jason had put together a rafting trip to celebrate the end of high school, inviting some
other guy as well. It was on the third day of that trip when his uncle and aunt drive to the
designated camp site. His mother was dead, had died of a sudden heart attack earlier that
morning.
The news was devastating, the funeral a few days later even more so. After Brandon came home
from that, with his grandparents, he had all but shut himself in his room. Eating very little, and
only when his grandparents insisted. Then one day, out of the blue, Rachael was knocking at his
bedroom door.
He had been shocked to see her again, after so long. It was awkward at first, but eventually they
started talking. Rachael expressed her sympathy for his mother's death, and something he didn't
expect. A heart felt apology. How sorry She was for cheating, and how She wanted to make it up
to him. That night, they made love.
But when dawn come, and Brandon awoke the next morning, She was gone. Feeling horribly
empty, He left town for a new life.
He went to a new college, made some new friends, and his mothers house was sold. He kept in
contact with Alex, but over time it waned.
Then, after his first semester, Rachael surprised him again. She showed up at his dorm room one
day, very pregnant. After another long talk, Brandon saw how scared She was to face this alone,
and he wanted to be there for his child, like his own father never.
They eloped in a small church, in the middle of the night. Brandon dropped out of college, and
got a job at a local domino's.
After a bit of searching, they found a house for rent that would fit their needs, for now.
Daniel was born a few months later, and Brandon was elated. Everything seemed so right, Daniel
was healthy and happy, Rachael
got a job, and they started planning for the future.
And now, in the present, Brandon had recently been promoted to assistant manager. He was still
on an hourly wage, but bringing home more money. And Rachael finally got good hours at her
grocery job. But how much did that mean to her now...?
Cold. It was cold. That one thought slowly jogged around Brandon's head while he came to
wakefulness. He yawned and sat up, immediately glancing at the clock to check the time. Almost
11:50. He overslept but still had some time. Enough for a quick shower before work.
After the shower, he went to the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee. He glanced at his
watch again, reassuring himself he still had 20 minutes left. He sighed, forcing himself to relax.
He only hoped today would go smoothly, unlike yesterday.
Still sipping out of the cup, he wanders over to the window to water Rachel's plants. He filled up
the small plastic cup, and raised it to the plants, then stiffened.
It was snowing. Already, the ground was already covered with white, and it kept coming.
Brandon snorted. Well, that would explain why it was so cold. And the heater was broken, to
boot. His eyes widened as he remembered something else.
The car. He let Rachael take the car for the day, since She was dropping Daniel off at school and
then going to her sisters. He had forgotten about that. It wasn't far to walk to domino's, he had
done it before. But it was far enough. He had to walk all the way there. In the snow.
Brandon groaned, downing the rest of his hot drink and started fishing for his heavy coat. This
was going to suck.
Brandon entered the store from the employee gate thirty minutes later, hang up his coat on the
rack, and sneezed. He shivered a bit, then went to the bathroom to warm up his hands, since he
didn't bring gloves. The hot flowing water burned at first, but
eventually subsided.
He shook his head, deciding to clock in already. He was already ten minutes late because the
walk took longer then expected. He couldn't waste more time fooling around in the bathroom.
After he donned his work shirt, he punched in and headed to the office. Maggie, the other
manager he worked with, was already there finishing up some paper work.
"Hey, Mag," He started, "Sorry I'm late but I had some trouble here."
Maggie looked up and smiled warmly at him. She gently waved off his comment as She stood
up.
"Yes, I saw. Really coming down outside." She glanced out to the main kitchen, where the three
other employees were. "We have only three drivers today. Hopefully we won't have many
delivers."
Brandon grunted. Already he could imagine the worst. On days like this people tended to stay
home rather then pick up. But they would just have to deal with it as it came.
"And something else." Maggie continued. "Our wonderful store manager decided to go on
vacation. with only a days notice. He left this morning."
Brandon groaned, sensing what She was going to say. Maggie had already was leaving after her
shift today, to attend her great-aunt's funeral. She couldn't change her flight just because Brian
was an idiot. However, with both Maggie and Brian gone...
"How long?" He muttered. Maggie sighed.
"Two days, not including today."
"Two days opening and closing. 12 hours...he better be willing to dish out the money for
overtime this time. I can't believe he did this again." Brandon fumed.
Maggie nodded, patting his shoulder.
"Oh, he definitely will. Either I have to beat him senseless, or go to the general manager.
Whichever's more painful. Will you be ok?" She said softly.
"Yeah," Brandon replied. "I'll be fine. Actually this will be good. I could use the extra money,
and it will be nice to not have him around."
Brandon grinned slightly and Maggie chuckled.
"Well, kiddo, the place is yours now. Have fun don't work too hard." Maggie waved as She left
the room, going into the break room to grab her things.
Brandon left as well, heading into the kitchen to check on orders, then immediately paused. One
of the clerks was engaged in discussion with an increasingly loud customer. A customer he
recognized from yesterday.
"I'll handle this, Pete." He stated while waving the young man away. He turned back to the
customer. "How can I help you?"
The greasy faced man huffed, and waved his finger around in front of Brandon's face.
"Yes! I have a complaint! I ordered a pizza for delivery yesterday, and it was early!"
Brandon blinked, staring at the man.
"Um...yeah. You came in yesterday and complained...to me. It's not our fault the pizza came
early..."
The man snorted, unhappy that this appeared to be getting nowhere.
"Well...I have a new complaint! The order was wrong. I want a refund!"
Brandon sighed and gave in. He leaned over to the computer and started typing.
"Name please? And what was wrong with your order?"
The guy smiled. Now they were getting somewhere.
"Sidney Peck. They gave me a pepperoni pizza and I ordered a plain cheese. I hope you can this!"
Brandon looked at the information, then eyed Sidney.
"You said you got a pepperoni pizza? Was it a medium?" he asked.
"Yes. That's exactly what it was! How do you know?"
Brandon give him a glare.
"I know because that's exactly what you ordered. You got what you wanted. And you didn't tip
either."
Sidney huffed again, banging the counter with his fist.
"That's not what I ordered!" He yelled.
Brandon raised an eyebrow.
"Yes...it is. Now there is line behind you, so if you don't wish to order anything else, please step
aside."
Sidney slammed his fists on the counter again, screaming.
"NO! DON'T YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT CUSTOMER SERVICE? I AM NOT
SATISFIED! I DEMAND FREE STUFF!"
Brandon growled, getting a headache from the man's screaming. He slammed his hand down in
front of the other man's,
glaring at him.
"Listen. You're not getting anything free, so you might as well go home. Don't come back or
call in. You will not be served."
Sidney sputtered, not able to believe Brandon just talked to him like that. "I pay your salary!"
"Not with a measly medium pizza," Brandon retorted. "Which I see is your only order here.
Next?"