Sean looked at the stacks and stacks of boxes. Vent leaned on a stable stack of them.
"Welcome to your first day at the Giroette Express." he said. Sean stared.
"Giroette?" he asked. Vent smiled.
"It's the name of an old friend, and his old business. It's the least I can do." he said. He gave the stack of boxes a pat, and straightened out. "Alright, I'd like you to help me out a bit today." he said. Sean stared at the stacks and stacks of boxes.
"Oh... what do you want me to do?" he asked. Vent picked up a clipboard, and started skimming through it.
"See if you can find packages for Amerope. Carry them over here." he said, motioning to a spot on the floor. Sean blinked a few times, and sighed. He wandered through the huge storage area, eventually finding a few packages with Netopian on them. He moved a few smaller ones over. Then a bigger ones. Then he shoved an absolutely massive package over. He panted, leaning against the side of the box.
"Manual labour... is not... my forte." he said. He heard a small chuckle, and saw Vent looking over at him. Sean gaped. Vent was easily holding a stack of five medium packages, and didn't even look winded. Sean stared. "I thought you said you were 87." he said. Vent just gave a small, knowing smile.
"And I've been a transporter since I was five. This work is second nature to me." he said. Sean just groaned, grabbing a fistful of hair.
"What did I get into?" he mumbled. He shoved some more packages to the stack. Vent came by every so often. A couple of the employees chuckled at Sean. One of them even gave him a sympathetic smile. Vent finally handed Sean a stamp.
"Once you've made sure there's enough postage on the package, stamp them. If there's not enough postage, write down the address of the packages and the correct amount so we can contact the sender right away." he said. Sean held the stamp in one hand and the ink pad in the other.
"It's a little old-fashioned though, right?" he asked. Vent laughed.
"Look, this is how we did in in 25XX. Think about that for a minute." he said, and left to take care of another task. Sean stared up the packages, then felt his stomach drop.
"Wait. Vent! How am I supposed to weight these? Vent?" Sean glanced over, but Vent was already gone. Sean could already feel his poor arms aching. He looked at a small forklift in the corner. Maybe he could use that for the big packages? It was the most mind-numbing thing Sean had ever gone through.
Weight the package. Count the stamps. Check a sheet of paper to see if it was correct. Either stamp it, or write down a name and an amount, again on paper. Sean gave the last liftable package a stamp, then sat down.
"I'm done. I'm one-hundred percent done." he said. He felt a hand on his head, and his hair getting ruffled. Sean looked up, and there was Vent. His face softened.
"I need to deliver some local packages. Do you want to go with me? The truck's already loaded." he said. Sean felt his body melt with relief.
"Yes please!" he said. Vent smiled, and held Sean's hand. They got into an open-air delivery van. Vent pulled over his seat belt.
"You know, I could get you an e-bike. Then you could do some of the deliveries yourself." he said. Sean looked down as he buckled up.
"Uh, I, I never learned how to ride a normal bike." he said. Vent quietly started the car.
"I'll teach you."
Sean snapped his head up. Vent focused on driving, but his eyes were sparkling. "I'll teach you how to ride a bike." he said. Sean smiled. He tried not to cry.
"Thank you." he said. He leaned against Vent's shoulder. "Thank you so much."