Change

I could not get this story to go anywhere. Instead I am going to fold the ideas I had for it into "The Mover" which I am writing at my other blog. Sorry.

Chapter Two - Part 1e

As soon as she got close enough she said "Hi Guys! You looking for the 'Transformation Party' meeting?'

The rest, being the other two guys, told her "Yes!" I just sort of smiled and wondered if anyone had proposed calling it the "Gaia Party." I would have loved to have been in the room then and listened to the pro and con arguments. I also realized that she had just smiled at all of us and none of us. She had to have been in "Sales" of some sort once upon a time.

"Well come on. Follow me!" She said this looking back at us over her shoulder. I would bet I was the only one of the three guys who actually knew what her eye color was. They were blue. A very light blue at that.

The people at the table were about what I expected. A fatter version, probably the best friend of the hottie sent to fetch us, who needed to buy some Proactive and lighten up on the black eyeshadow. A thin, intense white guy with curly brown hair who looked liked he could be a pain in the ass. The other guy was big, square faced, and smarter then he looked. He was probably Skinny's 'security' and banging the good looking one on the side.

Chapter Two - Part 1d

I sat on the hood of my car and waited and watched. It was pretty dead at the park. Maybe three cars. Of them one was a couple who were there to work on their tans. The other two cars parked. After a few minutes each one emptied. Both were driven by guys about my age who had come alone. The flyer girls had worked their magic on more than just me. I noticed that in the last ten minutes the people at the table had been checking me out. I was beginning to think they were it, the flyer people. I didn't feel like going over to them because I had no clue what to say. I mean what was there to say? Are you the people who want to kick some ass and save humanity? Oh, and where are the Flyer girls?" No. Too transparent. I would need to ease into this. Hell, maybe I could get in one the ground floor of something big. Though, from looking at the turnout I was getting in at the subbasement level.

I looked at my cell and saw I had ten minutes to the start of whatever it was. I thought we could safely rule out a riot or a revolution from the number of people that had shown up. My checking of the time had not gone unnoticed by the guy from the car a couple cars down from me. He held out a flyer and said "You here for this?" I didn't have to look to closely at it to know it the same one, or close to it, that had brought me here. So I told him "Yep." He was a fellow White guy. He was till wearing the local uniform for worker drones. He had the khaki pants and polo shirt with a phone clipped to his belt. He was in his early thirties, the hairline starting to recede, his sunglasses pushed up to ride on his head, and very tired eyes. I felt like I already knew him.

He stepped up and put out his hand. We did the name exchange, first only of course. He was Rick. "Nice to meet you Dakota." Yes, that is my name. The legacy of a couple of Hippie parents who thought it vibrated with my inner spirit or some such shit. "So you been to one of these before" He asked me offhandedly. "No" I replied. "How about you."

He kind of smiled and said "No. Can't say I have. Say you think them women that were handing these out are going to be here?" He tried saying that offhanded too. I laughed, and said "I hope so but its not looking that way. He muttered "Yeah. No shit." During this one of the red haired women had gotten up from the table and was walking towards us smiling. We both watched her approach. She wasn't bad looking at all an even nicer was it was obvious she wasn't wearing a bra. The red hair didn't work for her but I was willing to overlook that.

Chapter Two - Part 1c

I showed up at the park 30 minutes early. I had a plan. Get there early, run into the flyer girls, and tell them how interested I was. Then, if I was lucky, one of them would would want to come by my place and tell me more. I felt good. I had a plan. I had taken a shower and shaved. Something that I had been not doing as often as I once did. Hell, maybe I could pass out flyers and get paid. Hopefully cash. That was somewhat far fetched. If this was something you had to believe in then you probably were expected to work for free.

I parked and looked around. Not a whole lot of cars. A handful were parked over to one side. They were residents. People were living in them. I looked away quickly. I didn't need that cold ball of fear I just got messing up my game. I also noticed an unmarked police car with the usual tinted windows parked at the other end of the lot. "Probably there for the homeless people" I thought. So where were all the people? I mean I was early but I figured there would be a 40 people or more here already with hundreds more by the start.

About a 100 yards away was a picnic table with four people sitting at it. They had a red flag flying on a pole and two of them had bright red hair. Weird, but not too weird. That was it except for a couple of kids playing near the homeless cars who were being watched by Mom types. I got out of the car as if that was going to make a difference in spotting them. Plus, I decided to wait a bit and I didn't want to sit in there and roast because I sure wasn't going to burn the gas to keep the a/c chugging away.

Chapter Two - Part 1b

The day went from bad to worse. It used to be surprising to me when that happened. I was finding out that in life that was a fairly normal occurrence. Especially when the money was no longer there to smooth it over or make it right.

When I got back to my condo I parked in a far corner of the garage next to a SUV, just in case, but I thought I had another couple months before I really had to start hiding my car. I caught the elevator up. Someone with a sharpy had written "Suck Oil Banker PIGZ!" It had been there since I had moved in. It would probably be there when I left too. That was confirmed when I saw the paper taped to my door. What the hell had happened to living rent free for two years? I read everywhere on the Internet that you could live for years without paying! How come I only got five months! I ripped it off the door and tossed it in a corner.I went directly to bed and went to sleep without taking my clothes off.

I slept for hours. When I woke up I was completely disoriented. Was it nighttime or morning? What day was it? I felt like I had emerged from a coma. Not a restful one either. After I took a leak I went to the window and looked at the barely lit office buildings I decided it would be easier to check my laptop then stand there and guess what timezone I had awakened into. It was midnight. It was going to be a long night. Maybe if I watched some porn and jerked off a hundred times I could fall back to sleep.

It didn't work. If anything it made me more depressed. What it did do was remind me of those two hotties who were passing out flyers. I sat up in bed and dug into my pocket where I had jammed it. What I read was not what I expected. It said:

Welcome. You have a choice.
You are better than this.
We all are.

Don't let them suck the life out of you
then tell you it's your fault.
Don't let them drain your soul of all the joy
just to feed their wallets and twisted minds.
Then feed you pharmaceuticals to fix the
numbness they created
All the time sucking away. Draining you. Using you.
They poison us with shit and sell it to us as sugar.
When we get sick from it
they take all our money
and blame us.
Chain us to electronic tethers
wired directly into our brains.
We jerk like frogs on command
They sell us overpriced toxic toys
made by slave labor.
That we have the privilege of paying to much for
You're a debt slave.
Cattle.
Guinea pig.
and a joke.
Fuck them.
It is time to turn it back
Back on them
Burn them and their toys
and tools
Burn them now!

It had a time and date. Tomorrow. The location? A county park. I was going.

Chapter Two - Part 1a

Was the job fair bad? No. Was it worse than bad? Yes. I walked towards the exit wanting to blow my brains out. There is something special about being treated like an beggar at the table of those who still feast on the fast food of an HR job to make you feel real good about yourself. I felt like one of the many homeless, drunken, insane people who had approached me over the course of my life. You quickly learned to see them with out seeing them. They were nothing and if you let them know you saw them as people they zeroed in on you like flies on fresh roadkill.

That was the way it felt in Job Fair land. It didn't take long for me to want to spark some life in those eyes. Make them acknowledge me as a human being. As someone that they once held meetings just to hear my views. I had been somebody! I once had a company Blackberry! I wasn't the only one either. I noticed a few blouses open a little more than when they started. Hell, I ended up doing the eye contact thing with a woman I wouldn't have even noticed once upon a time. Now, it was like "Yes! Take me into a suite and ride me! Please! Just give me a job! She knew too. I just didn't pass the meat test I guess.

The only bright spot was when I left.Two extremely hot women were handing out flyers by the main exit. Yes, Flyers. The favorite way of advertising for lost cats and housecleaning. I would have tossed it except for the great smile she gave me. That, and she wasn't wearing a bra. I stuffed in my pocket, smiled back, and thought I am looking at this thing as soon as I get in my car. Hell, maybe they are hiring.

I got in my car. I changed my mind about reading it there. Why? Because I looked over into the car next to me and saw the man with the dyed hair. He had his forehead resting on the steering wheel and was sobbing. Not crying. Sobbing."Holy Jeebus" I thought. "I got to get out of here before he puts a gun to his head and blows out one of my windows. I put it in reverse and sped all the way home. I still couldn't shake the image of him sobbing though.

Chapter Two - Part 1

Eventually I gave up and went to a job fair. I had always looked down on Job Fairs. It was where the losers and the hopeless went. Well I felt like both of those more often than not during some point in the day. I printed off copies of my resume. That was weird in itself. Putting on a tie only compounded it. I couldn't even remember how to tie it correctly at first. My suit still fit. I was losing weight which was good until the little voice inside my head said "Of course you are. You don't have a job dumbass."

My car was still there. That was a good sign. I had a missed last months payment. Traffic was lighter than usual on Route 7. I saw that as another positive sign. I was looking for omens, signs, and anything encouraging I could think of. Trying to psych myself up for this. Getting on my game face. Emanating good vibes. Smiling a winning, confident smile. I felt like throwing up.

My heart sank when I pulled up and saw the line. This turnout for what was being called an IT Career Fair? Oh, I was so screwed. Yes I was. I got of the car anyway. No one smiled or greeted me. I was just another threat to them being able to afford to eat. I thought I recognized a couple people but they looked away when they saw me.

I got into line and stared at the back of the head of the man in front of me. He was easily 40 years old. Maybe older. He had colored his hair black. I didn't understand why men did that. It always looked like they colored their hair and it screamed "I'm getting old and I don't want you to notice!" I knew it was petty but I was glad to see it. One less person to deal with.