In Seattle

SEVEN HOURS

SEVEN HOURS

JASON PULLED back his chin length dirty blonde hair, and uttered a curse word. He kicked the sidewalk the toe of his big boots, and then went to kicking his massive suitcase full of all his stuff. “ARGH.” A couple of people turned to look at him, and a parent threw him a dirty look as she hurried her curious child away.

Confusion and betrayal bubbled and boiled in Jason’s stomach, and he couldn’t help the tears about to roll down his cheeks. A rough palm smacked against his mouth, and he ran his calloused fingers over his lips as he fell back and squeezed his eyes tight. “I could really need some help right now, you son of a bitch.” That’s what Jason called praying. He didn’t want to do the whole “In Jesus name” business, since at that moment he didn’t feel like being all too polite. His agnostic beliefs turned a little bit atheist for a minute, but then he went back and banished the thoughts of banishing a possibility that someone was looking down on him.

Although, in his case, he had all the reason to think that was a lie. You see, Jason had just recently split up with his girlfriend Mary. In fact, it was him who’d broken it off, but since she was cheating on him you could see why. Mary had left the apartment they were staying and stopped paying her half of the rent. Now this didn’t really worry Jason at the time, but when he was getting kicked out of his own home because he couldn’t pay the full rent, it was his first concern.

A light breeze stroked his cheeks and brushed stray hairs out and back in Jason’s face. He stared down at his suitcase then hastily pulled out his phone. His rough fingers dialed Mary’s number and he placed the phone to his ear. “Jason.”

“Mary, please-”

“No, Jason. You can’t break up with me, then ask me for money. That’s a dick move.”

“You cheated, on me. You can’t talk to me about dick moves, when you ended our relationship with one.”

“You ended it.”

“So you really thought, that I’d be okay with you sleeping with another guy? What is wrong with you.”

“I never said I thought you’d be okay with it, Jason. I just thought that maybe we could talk about it, instead of cutting our relationship off right there. But no, you wanted to break it off so I gave you what you wanted.” Jason sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

“Mary-”

“You’re acting childish, Jason. Ask you parents. Or Nick, but not me.” The other end went dead, and Jason restrained himself from lashing out and throwing his cell onto the road. He squinted against the sun, and scowled as a small man wearing a black raincoat, threw three cents towards him. The coins landed by the side of Jason’s suitcase and he scowled at the man who’d thrown the money.

“I’m not homeless,” Jason called, his voice strained, but the man ignored him.

The mild April breeze flitted around like children playing in a park, but the warmth of the sun still shone through the wispy clouds; and warmed up the back of Jason’s neck, as he turned his own back to the sun. The streets were busying up and the familiar sounds of cars honking and grinding against the tarmac roads became more constant. But, it was still quiet. Quiet enough to hear the wind blowing and the birds singing. “I’m not homeless,” Jason breathed, and grabbed his suitcase.

He began his journey with his head down, and decided to get a coffee before trying to face on the day. His suitcase rolled against the smooth concrete slabs which formed the sidewalk, and Jason opened the door to the small cafe and dumped his suitcase by the door. His eyes scanned the floor and the walls, and he took in the circular tables and the weird art hanging in dirty gold frames. He looked over the man with the newspaper and glasses, then pressed his lips together as he came up to the counter. “Hello, sir,” the girl at the till smiled. Jason forced out a weary smile, and made sure that even if his day wasn’t going off to a particularly good start, he wouldn’t start someone else’s badly too.