Lay Low

1: The Busted Knuckle

SOOKIE

I sat in my living room, scrolling through my newsfeed on Facebook. It was a lot of the same stuff I was used to seeing. People I knew in high school posting pictures of their kids, friends I'd made online posting political memes and of course there were family members posting random statuses or commenting on pictures of things. My Aunt Linda tried to be social networking savvy but her age and inexperience showed.

Outside lawn mowers started up because it was Tuesday and that was one of two days a week the landscapers were out making all kinds of racket in the apartment complex I lived in. King's Court was a nice place, as far as complexes were concerned. The rent was decent, too. I couldn't complain. Particularly since I was out of work and had been for the last few months.

The bar I had been working at was forced to close after the economy crashed and there was no hope of it reopening. I would never say I was thankful for my grandmother's death, but the small inheritance I had received as a result was what I had been living on, since I made practically nothing on unemployment. I was being thrifty, however. I didn't have much of a choice. I'd been putting in applications everywhere I possibly could, but since I wasn't the only one out of work, I was getting passed over for college graduates who were desperate for just about any job they could get to pay off their looming student loan bills.

I had graduated high school but hadn't been sure what I wanted to study in college, so I hadn't gone. I didn't see the point in continuing my education when I didn't have the slightest idea what I wanted to do with my life. That seemed like a big waste of money to me. As a result I had tried working in various industries and had experience doing all sorts of things. I hadn't intended to get a job working as a waitress at Merlotte's, but I sort of got roped into it by my best friend. Tara was tending bar there and one of the waitresses was always calling in sick so she begged me to come in one night out of desperation. She swore that it was a piece of cake and thanks to my girl next door face and Playboy model rack, I'd make decent tips.

It wasn't the worst job in the world but I wasn't anxious to find another one in the service industry. It was looking more and more like I wasn't going to have much of a choice in the matter, unfortunately. I was just hoping some other opportunity would present itself to me. That didn't seem likely, though.

I wasn't the luckiest girl in the world, that's for damn sure. My parents had died in a car crash when I was seven. Thankfully, my grandmother had stepped up to raise my brother and me because I'm not sure if my Aunt Linda could have handled it. She had her hands full enough with her own daughter, not to mention Aunt Linda had been diagnosed with breast cancer the month after my parents were killed. It was a tough time in my family. By the grace of God, Aunt Linda survived the cancer and she'd been in remission for the last ten years. It was possible it could come back at any point so it was constantly in my prayers that she would remain cancer-free.

So there I was, sitting on my couch and scrolling through Facebook when I heard one of the maintenance guys at my door, leaving some kind of notice under the doorknocker. Probably some kind of notice about water shutoffs for plumbing repairs or something. It happened from time to time. I set aside my phone and got up to retrieve the letter from the property manager. Sure enough it was a notice, but not of a water shutoff.

No, it was a warning that the parking lot was going to be resurfaced and I was going to have to move my car out of the way or it would be towed at my expense. The work was starting the next day. I sighed heavily – angrily – and slammed the door. My car had been on its last life for a while. I knew the time was coming when I was going to have to replace it, but while I was out of work was not the right time. On top of everything else I knew I couldn't afford to take on a car payment.