Filler Bits: Alf gets a job
[[These aren't going to have continuity notes since I have pretty much no idea where they fall.]]
School had just let out for the summer, so it was almost Christmas. Alf had no idea what he was going to do with his six weeks of summer break. Of course there was Damien and Rock and Jessica to hang out with. And he hadn't had so many friends before. And of course there was magic. Aliana already wanted to start him having training sessions at least twice a week and preferably three times a week instead of his usual once a week lesson. The only reason why she hadn't insisted upon lessons five days a week was because she had other students. Not to mention Damien hated going to the lessons even if he did find them interesting. And now that Alf had a friend there, he didn't want to come when Damien wasn't going to be there.
Rock had also started talking about all the road trips he'd be taking. His older brother Eric had left him the car when he decided to travel the world the magical way - the magical equivalent of a gap year, although he'd been gone for over one but would be back over Christmas. Despite the fact that they weren't Christian, the witches did still celebrate Christmas. They didn't call it something else, but merely celebrated in terms of atheists throughout the world. And not in the commercial sense. They celebrated it as a time for people who loved each other to get together.
But Rock wanted to take the car out for days at a time, and go camping or something. Up in the Blue Mountains, or maybe take trips down to Melbourne or Canberra, or up to Brisbane or Cairns. In his more adventurous moments, he proposed trips to Ayers Rock or Perth. And while the thought of getting carsick for hours at a time didn't appeal to Alf, the thought of spending that much time with his friends away from his parents was. But of course, his parents didn't want him to do. It was dangerous to have a lot of people in a car. To go on a long road trip with a P-plater. A red provisional driver, and one who, they discovered, failed his exam the first time.
Rock insisted that that wasn't his fault. There had been a pedestrian that he thought was about to cross the road so he'd slowed down and caused a bit of a traffic obstruction. Apparently that had been enough to cause him to fail. So really, he hadn't failed for a good reason like speeding or breaking the law. He'd failed because he was being cautious about a pedestrian. That wasn't a problem to him. Alf didn't think it detracted from his driving ability, even if he did cause a bit of a traffic lump. After all, he didn't kill anyone, and he wasn't going to kill anyone. And even if there had been a car accident, they weren't going that fast so everyone would have survived. The pedestrian would probably have died if he'd hit them.
But Alf's parents weren't going to have any of that. Instead they suggested that now that he was fifteen it was a good time to start thinking about getting a job. Helping out with someone was good, and isn't Jessica still working for her uncle? Jessica only helped out Rock's father occasionally when he was experiencing a bit of a backlog, or if his secretary called in sick. There was no backup secretary, so Jessica or Aliana would have to help out. It annoyed Jessica, but because it wasn't an actual job she was free to decline. Of course, since it wasn't an actual job, she actually felt bad on days when she didn't turn up because she knew they'd have difficulty coping.
So it was with a blank resume, and a heavy heart that Alf proceeded to go on a job hunt. The first couple of places he tried: the gelato place and the cafe next door, had both wanted someone a little more experienced. The gelato place said they'd give him a call, though, if they suddenly had an opening. They'd only wanted someone if they could help out, someone who'd need very little training. The cafe was often busy so they'd wanted someone who was experienced with being a waitperson. Alf was neither.
But three was probably Alf's lucky number because after leaving from there he noticed that there was a Help Wanted sign at the local nursery. A year ago, or even a few months ago, Help Wanted at the nursery would have been ignored. After all, Alf knew nothing about plants and he was pretty sure that he'd never need to know anything about plants. But now he looked at it as an opportunity.
He met Owin Ramon there, a man wearing denim overalls and a wide brimmed straw hat who seemed to be a giant to Alf. Rock was big for his age, but this man was huge. He was tall and tanned from working in the sun, muscled from having to lift things and he seemed to look at Alf as though he was the very opposite of everything he was looking for in a nursery worker. But no one that had applied thus far had seemed suitable, so, thinking that perhaps his standards had been too high, Owin granted Alf a trial run. Starting that day. He showed Alf how to run the register and the various different areas of the nursery. He introduced him to the people who usually worked in each section. Alf wouldn't be expected to help people directly the first few days and would merely be helping re-pot in the back sheds, and cart things that had been delivered. He would maybe have a turn at the cash register, and would help customers with large purchases get them into their cars, or alternately, take them away to be stored for delivery the next day or that afternoon.
Alf had managed to blend in quite well there. He made quick friends out of all the staff members, and managed to remember where everything was. He was friendly to the customers, easily directing them to the right sections and salespeople to help them find what they were looking for. And although Alf was a pasty white colour that would make most people cringe and similarly pasty people sympathise, Owin found that the boy seemed like he belonged amongst the various pot plants. So after his one day of training, Alf found himself hired.
Despite his misgivings about finding a job in the first place, Alf found that he liked working at Owin's nursery. The people were friendly and in the moments he had alone with the plants, they always made him feel better. He was quick to learn all the names of the plants in the nursery, as well as make sure they looked their best when he showed them to the customers. Gardening was his thing. He'd known it ever since that day when he and Damien had been growing sprouts. Working was a break from the magical world and his familial life that he hadn't managed to achieve ever before. He was going to miss it when he started at school and wouldn't be able to come in every day anymore.
posted by Cedric @ 10:10 pm
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