Nikki Gets A Chance

The guy Ernie said they would be taking applications until 10:30. She just had to make it there in time. No easy feat if she were to take her daughter’s car. It was a red Cavalier with a manual transmission that she had driven only a few times. Her “handyman” Leroy had given her some info on what couriers did, and she had to show up with a car that got good gas mileage. That meant she couldn’t show up in her Explorer looking out of touch. She had only finished paying off the Cavalier a few months ago. She had taken the payments over from her daughter who didn’t want it around any more. Lisa had bought it for her boyfriend at the time so he could get a job and drive it to work. All the nigga did was drive around during the day with other women he had met at night at strip clubs. Actually had to take Lisa and creep so she could see for her own eyes how the car was being used.

“Why you heading this way?” Lisa asked Nikki.

“Just wanna see this lady about some Mary Kay”, replied Nikki.

“I could have gotten you a good deal on a new order.”

“Isn’t that TJs car right there?”

“No, he’s playing ball with his boys.”

“Lisa, you know those are his plates, don’t pretend you don’t!”

“He must have left it here and got a ride.”

“Call him right now, and ask him what he’s doing, tell him you’re having car trouble”, Nikki said as she parked.”

“You tripping!” Shouted Lisa.

“No, you the one tripping Lisa, Call him now!”

After the call he came outside with one of his Magic City girlfriends and that was the end of that.

It ain’t easy trying to do better Nikki thought, but she wasn’t with staying in the place she was now in. She wasn’t that good with directions and barely made it to Ernie’s in time.Phoenix isn’t that big of a place, but Ernie’s was located out on the outskirts and wasn’t easy to find. It appeared to be nothing more than a small used car lot. She stepped inside a small office and was greeted by a middle-aged man.

“Can I help you miss?”

“Yes, I’m here to apply for the job.”

“I’m sorry, but there aren’t any openings for secretaries.”

“I’m here for the courier position!” Nikki now knew she shouldn’t have showed up in business attire. She had on a two piece suit with slight heels.

“Ma’am being a courier can be hard work! Can you lift 30 pounds?”

“I know there are other women couriers out there, I can handle it.”

“Do you know your way around? Will you be on time?”

“Just give me a chance, If I don’t do a good job, don’t pay me!”

“What’s your name?”

“Nikki”

“Well Nikki, I’m going to hold you to that, why don’t come inside and fill out some paperwork.”

Chapter 16 (Grace Over Pressure)

As she sat in the small hallway waiting for Rita, Grace had to laugh. This was the kind of shit she had been trying to avoid all of her life. Now that she had tried to get things together all of this had gone down. She haven’t asked for much, not even to be happy. All she wanted was to not have any drama. Now she was caught up in the legal system and all she did was to try to improve myself. She never wanted to hear that “keep hope alive” BS again.
“Grace lets cut through the galleria since its raining outside.” Rita said. “It will only add a few minutes to our walk.”

“Whatever” mumbled Grace. “I’m screwed”

“If you have that attitude, you will be.” responded Rita “Keep your head up.”

“Doesn’t matter where my head is at, its where the laws head is at. I’m guilty when I walk in the door.”

“Was there anything that Skip said about anything that indicated he was in trouble?” asked Rita.

“I know he was drinking lot because he was getting hassled at work,” replied Grace.

“Hassled at work?”

“Yeah you know, feeling guilty about pulling some white collar scam, then getting in conflict with his partners. The kinda stuff Mommy T looks at on her old tv downloads.”

“He say anything else?”

“Just rambling on about how my life was gonna get interesting.”

Rita just wanted to get this one out the way. It seemed like Grace was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It would be easy to say this was just a bit of bad luck. Unfortunately bad luck could have a lasting impact. Some people never recovered from a bit of bad luck.

Nikki

Here it was, she was in bad shape. He was gone. even though she barely noticed. Like most she had been laid off. A year pass fifty with those C#, killing time until death blues. Sitting in the Macon drinking a beer, talking bout how sad some singer’s life had become. Now that was sad, talking about somebody else when you’re just putting on a your own clown’s face to keep the tears away. Like many things around her, the Macon was slowly dying. The bar was located in an older part of town that wouldn’t be seeing better days. On the outside the two story brick building blended in with the decaying neighborhood. Inside it was centered by a long rectangular bar, surrounded by lounge tables. In one corner a small stage and DJ booth, which was used only on rare occasions, provided just a reminder of past glory days. Along one wall an entrance way led to a small room which contained two pool tables.

“You straight?” the bartender asked.

“I’ll have another one”, Nikki replied.

“You drink Miller Lite, right.”

“You know my drink is just plain Miller, you’re not gonna get a tip forgetting me like that!”

“My bad, that will be two dollars.”

“Things have really changed around here!” Nikki though out loud. She remembered there was a time when she didn’t have to pay for her drinks at all.

Sitting in the Macon used to be fun when she was younger. It really wasn’t more that much more eventful now, than when she was younger, but back then the focus was on the future. She would go in there knowing she looked good. Pride used to be taken in her waistline.

“There goes my back”, joked Buster.

“No, that’s my back” challenged James.

“Nikki, who’s back is that”, shouted Buster.

“Buster, you know its your back”, replied Nikki.

She remembered making an entrance one night in nothing more that winter tights and a form fitting men’s sweater. Place went dead quiet, until she found her seat. You should have seen the show she put on, climbing over those pool tables to get off a trick shot. When you looked good you knew good things were coming your way. Today her focus was on the past. This thing had passed her up, that thing had passed her up. When she thought about it, it had been awhile since something had passed her up. She wasn’t even in the race anymore. Thinking about moving back home. But would that change anything. Every jaded day the same. Even when she was working there wasn’t anything new. Been there, done that twice. Living off unemployment was getting old. Finding another dead end job was getting older. She wasn’t happy and she didn’t want to hear about somebody else’s good time. She needed to make a real change. She remembered, “oh yeah its gonna be different this time”. Started down a different road only to reach the same destination. Her song had just finished playing. That her song was about sixteen years old was a sad fact she tried to forget. Funny it always stop playing at about this time. Its ending used to be the signal for “time to get it cracking”. Now it meant she needed to get home, get her clothes ready for Church in the morning. No one watched her leave.