Ralph didn't want a job. She didn't need one as far as she was concerned. But for the sake of the household, she continued applying for work where it was needed around town.
"I heard you were hiring?" Ralph asked the bored-looking convenience store manager. He looked up at her, glaring at her for interrupting him while he was reading his Guns and Ammo magazine.
"What's it to you?" he asked.
"I was looking for a job," Ralph said. She extended her hand. "My name's Lauren Turner, I'm new in town."
"Uh huh," the manager nodded slowly and pulled an application out of a drawer behind the counter. "Fill this out and get it back here."
"Thank you!" Ralph said, falsely cheerful. She exited the store and wrinkled her nose. Well, anything was better than helping Fixit clean and de-bug the basement.
"Yer hired."
"WHAT?" Ralph burst.
"The man said, 'yer hired', it'sCanadian for 'yer hired'," Zero said, walking back from the magazine section where he'd picked out a recent issue of Hustler to read.
"I mean, thank you!" Ralph said, smiling grimly.
"This the first time ye've ever werked a cashier?" the manager, a man in his mid-forties with graying hair and a cigar permanently stuck in his mouth, asked.
"This is the first time she's ever worked - ow!" Zero rubbed his arm where Ralph had socked him. "I mean, she's a great little worker."
"I'll figure it out," Ralph said. "When do I start?"
"Right now, we're short-handed," the manager said. "The bathroom's in the back, if something needs re-stocking, stock it. I'm going to get some more cigars," he mumbled, walking out of the store and into the parking lot.
"Well, considering your record for haphazard job interviews, that was beautiful," Zero grinned. Ralph glared at him.
"Shut up. And you're not buying that."
A/N: The 'Blending In' series is a bunch of standalones centered around the kids from "Bag'Em" (Zero, Ralph, Bullet, Fixit and Bugler) that can be read alone or strung together in order as a somewhat cohesive story... I hope.