See What I Hear

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Saturday couldn't have come sooner. I'd practically counted down the days on my calendar.

"That's nice. I'm glad you're still making an attempt to get a job. I'm proud of you. Who is this boy?" she asked while pouring her coffee Saturday morning. I shrugged.

"I haven't met him actually, but his mom's name is Janice Truman, if that means anything," I said. Mom quickly turned around and stared at me for a good three seconds before blinking. I reached for a piece of toast.

"What?" I asked. Mom shook her head and went back to making breakfast.

"Nothing," she said a little too quickly. I wanted to ask why she was acting so weird but if I did, I would risk being late to the interview. It was bad enough I was going to risk getting lost.

"Okay, well, I'm off to the interview. See you tonight," I called back. Mom shouted out a goodbye before I slammed the door shut.

Normally, I wasn't a morning person, but seeing as how Mom was giving me a chance to make my own decisions regarding my future, I couldn't fail. I needed this job and I needed to do it right.

Making sense of the scribbled notes I'd written down based off of Janice's directions was proving to be harder than I'd originally thought. When I was about five minutes behind schedule, I began to panic. Where was the damn street?!

I was sweating from the nerves trapped inside. Why was I so nervous? I could do this. It wasn't my first job, yet somehow it felt more important. Maybe it was due to the fact that this job decided what path I would be allowed to take.

When the street came up I almost cried. I followed it and was soon parked in front of a house that matched Janice's description perfectly. It easily soared over my house. It was painted a pristine white with blue shutters. Despite the fact that it was two stories as well, it still had the effect of making my house look cheap. There were balconies on the rooms on the second floor and I had to remind myself why I was here to begin with. I parked in the driveway, just as Janice had advised and got out.

Walking up the beautiful stones lining the way to the door was awkward. Why was I dreading this so much? I might not even get the job. It's not like I had the best start.

Nonetheless, I reached up, with a shaky hand, and pushed the doorbell. It rang for a full two seconds, and in that time, I could faintly make out some awfully loud arguing through the thick door. I could easily tell that one of the voices belonged to Janice. But who was the other's? Soon after the voices stopped, a door was slammed and silence followed.

Despite the fact that I'd probably heard her arguing angrily, Janice answered the door with a cheerful smile. I noticed, right from the start, that the bags lining her eyes had lightened a shade or two.

"Hi! I'm so glad you came! Please, come inside," she said while pulling my arm. I smiled and followed her inside the grand foyer. It was amazing. When I looked up, I saw a beautiful, gleaming chandelier hovering about four feet above us. The walls were painted a light beige that had calming effect and there were various small tables with family photos. Most pictures were of two little boys. One had almost glowing green eyes and long, slightly curled brown hair that almost covered his eyes. This one was holding a football in his hands and looked to be about ten in the picture.

I smiled at the cuteness of the entire picture and moved onto another one. This picture was of a totally different little boy. Instead of the long brown hair, there were gold curls on this one and blue eyes. Both were equally cute and I was too distracted to notice Janice leaving. I had to jog to catch up with her.