The Summer Home

9. Community Service

     For the remainder of the weekend Nathan was very quiet, as he rarely spoke to anyone expect to ask a question or help with something around the house. He did leave the house a few times, but only to go for a walk rather than joyride in Sonya's van again. This was a slight improvement, but Sonya was hoping to ground Nathan for what he had done. Peter felt it was a bit redundant since he didn't his own room yet and the young man still had to deal with Ray. It was pretty much like this all weekend, and Peter had no idea how or when the young man's brooding was going to expire. Sure, it was nice to have the house quiet and Nathan wasn't doing anything to provoke anyone, but things were about to change when the weekend ended.

     It was close to eight am Monday morning when Ray showed up in his truck to pick Nathan up for his first day of community service. Nathan wore something that was work appropriate but still cool to not die of embarrassment from. Ray was waiting by the truck as Nathan walked up to the truck and was ready to start paying his debt to society. Ray didn't say a word and only motioned for the young man to step into the truck. The two sat there and really didn't say much for most of the ride out there. Ray asked a few questions Nathan's previous work experience, what kind of weight he could lift, among other things. These were the kind of questions made Nathan a little nervous to what kind of back breaking work Ray had in store for him. Ray instead drove out to his station, and standing out front waiting to be to picked up were three other kids around Nathan's age. There were two boys and a girl waiting for Ray to show up and they all hopped into the back seat after he pulled up. After everyone was all settled in and seatbelts were fastened, Ray pulled out and tore off in the direction of where their labor was going to take place.

     The sheriff was a true supporter of community service, as he thought having kids work off their debt rather than giving them a criminal record. There were not that many college grads in the town to begin with, so town-hall and the judge were cool with what Ray was doing with these kids. If they busted every kid and tarnished their record every time someone did something stupid, then no one in this town would ever get a chance to good post-secondary institution.

     When they reached the intended destination, Ray pulled the truck over. As the kids filed out of the truck, they got a good idea of where they were and what the grump Sheriff had in store for them. They were on the side of the highway, and along with side of it going as far back as fifty feet from the road was scores of trash littered all over the place. Ray went into the back of his truck and produced four bags and four bright orange jumpsuits. The kids all groaned when they caught sight of the jumpsuits. Not only did Ray want these kids picking up trash for the town, he wanted them to stick out so that anyone who passed by to also understand. He wanted every drive passing by to be made aware of what was being made for the benefit of mankind. Ray was the kind of person who believed in being perfectly upfront most of the time, but manly when it suited him and the fair people of his small town. The big man waited very patiently as all four of the teenagers put their jumpsuits on over the clothing they had chosen to wear that day. They would soon begin to regret that choice as combined with the orange suit was going to build up a lot of heat as they worked through the day. This was a mistake Ray was positive they would not make tomorrow, but he had water, ice, and oxygen in the back just in case. When they were all dolled up and ready to go, Ray stood up and handed each of them a small rake and a bag to sweep trash into. There was also a small spear like spike at the end so they could stab the garbage if it was too light to sweep up. Ray took a deep breath and then chucked when he saw the four of them looking like oranges that had fallen from a rather large tree. A moment he didn't hesitate to take a picture of with his cell phone.

     "Okay, Sunkist kids," Ray started, as he couldn't help himself. "I'm going to watch as you pick up every single piece of trash on the side of his highway. We're going to keep moving in that direction until we hit town or lunch, which ever comes first. After lunch, we'll do the other side of the road. Any questions?"