It was the very next day, after spending the night on Johnny’s couch next to a crack whore who snored like a freight train. Johnny had driven him by ‘Sandy’s’ place to clean up his clothes—some of them any way—off her front lawn. He now stood in front of Johnny’s boss, Mister Rastikki. Johnny stood smiling next to him as Mister Rastikki conducted the orientation.
“Okay, Benny, you seem nice man: customer service man, with tie, but clean up shit and scrub shelves like Johnny Boy do. I don’t take no shit but from customer ‘cause they pay me to take shit. My mader a Polynesian wrestler my fader a merchant of Benghazi—I take no shit! Here you name tag, Benny. Get to work.”
Mister Rastikki then turned to smile fawningly on a female customer and Benjamin was all but forgotten by the crazy man who was now his employer. Ben looked up at Johnny: tall, slim Johnny, so much better looking than short, pudgy Benjamin.
Johnny looked down and smiled as they walked back to the stockroom. “Rask is a nut bag—a full blown psychopath. I sell him valium all week long and it still doesn’t keep him from popping a vein every time he yells at the produce guys for throwing rewraps away instead of chopping them up for salad. That’s a regular ass-chewing ritual that is, every morning at eight-thirty. It’s coming up in thirty minutes. And don’t worry about the write-ups, they’re coming. The guy prints in all caps like some serial killer! Just keep the tie on, for God’s sake and he won’t fire you. He doesn’t like to pay the unemployment, and every time he goes to an unemployment hearing he starts screaming at the unemployment officers that they are ‘communist whores’—cha-ching, instant unemployment check for the newly jobless. So at least you have a job, and after that an unemployment check.”
“Great. Thanks, Johnny, really. You’re a good guy.”
“Any time, ‘Ben the Cursed’, any time. I spit in Fate’s eye every day. We’ll get along fine.”
To be concluded in the print anthology DoomFawn, scheduled for release in February, 2016.
Next up is Wake From Your Dream Place.
