Whatever You Make Of It

Kevin forced the trunk shut. He had finished putting the last bag of mulch into the trunk of the car. The customers were never prepared. There was always junk that had to be moved, or carefully navigated around. They had just returned from the grocery store, or had the kids sports gear in the trunk, or work paraphernalia. And when they were prepared they always ordered too much. Soil, mulch, it hardly mattered. It nearly spilled out, and had to be shoved in at odd angles and too much sank the car and tortured the tires.

He bid the customer a good day with a placating wave and smile. The deed was done. His task was to fill their car, not give them a lesson on mechanics and physics. He quickly forgot about it and turned back toward where he had come from.

The mulch stack formed a maze. A maze that was easy to hide in and avoid work. Avoid work and get high. Not blazed out of your mind, but enough to take the edge off. The boss didn’t like it. One, it was unprofessional, and two, it was counterproductive to operating heavy machinery like fork lifts. Screw him. He liked Mason well enough, but he had never had any issues or complaints. He drove the forklift just fine even when high.

“Bitch.” The girl sitting on the mulch waiting for him to return watched the customer drive away.

“Yeah, not a penny. Twenty bags of mulch and nothing. Not even a thank you.” There was a pause as Kevin approached. “It’s more common than you think.”

“Big bitch.” The girl amended her former comment between drags of her blunt. She was leaning on her elbows, her legs dangling over the mulch stack. The blunt dangled from her mouth when she wasn’t taking a drag.

Her name was Sadie and she worked at the tattoo parlor in the strip mall next door. She was young, but still two years older than him. That put her in her mid twenties. She was just beginning her inking journey. Her sleeveless arms were covered in tattoos, and her face was adorned with a few judicial piercings. Five in each ear, but also one over her brow and another on her lip. Both were on the left side of her face. Her hair was naturally black, but the tips were dyed orange.

“You wanna meet up tonight?” asked Kevin.

He joined her on the mulch pile. With a short hop he planted himself down, took the blunt and took a long drag. The days were long enough with medication. There was no point dealing with these people without it. The day was nice. The sun was warm, the air was cool and sweet, and there was a gentle breeze. The fools would be around in legions. They had already swarmed the morning. Now was a lull, and then the evening would pick up again. The spring brought late days and long hours, but it was worth it for the money.

“Can’t, I have yoga.” She shook her head.

Kevin grinned. He had learned to not laugh. He kept his thoughts to himself though they were clearly displayed on his face. He imagined Sadie stretching, or whatever, on a mat with a bunch of older moms. An enthusiastic, effeminate instructor egging them on. A headset attached to his face. A goat strolls bye, bleats, but no one notices. They’re all to committed to their stretching.

“Wait, it’s not like those middle age bitches. It’s like real yoga and shit.” Sadie blurted out defensively. It was like she could read his mind, but that was probably the haze talking.

There was no question that whatever she was doing was working for her. She was fit and toned. She could have easily been one of the popular, pretty girls, if she wasn’t cool. Even her jewelry was fire. She wore a coffin ring, along with other large adornments on her fingers, and she had a pentagram pendant around her long, thin neck. He envied her. She could express her real self while he was stuck wearing a company uniform and toeing a company line. His boss was way too lame to allow expression like that.

That wasn’t to say Mason wasn’t alright.. He was nice, understanding, but he was super boring. He was too busy trying to hire Easter Bunnies and deliver to churches to do anything fun. He was pent up, repressed, and probably just needed to let go. Of course, he didn’t drink, didn’t do drugs of any sort. It would have surprised Kevin to learn his boss had an active sex life. He likely just worked and went home to play video games or watch Netflix. None of it was his business, and he didn’t really care, but it made for a lame, generic, work environment.