You'll Just Know

Chapter 6

            I woke up by nine the next morning and for the first time wasn’t surprised to find myself in Indiana. The disorientation was slowly fading.

            Monday morning. Dad was already sealed tightly in his study, testing and debugging the latest batch of software TriComp had sent him (mostly financial and accounting programs). He'd probably remain glued until dinner.

            I found Sandra in the kitchen tying a green bow tie onto a horrible green and white striped shirt. I recognized it immediately as a uniform for one of those fast-food kind of restaurants, and realized that she must have gotten herself a job.

            "Did you wake up this morning and just decide that you wanted to dress horribly tacky?" I asked as I stepped into the kitchen.

            "You're asking for another broken arm?" she asked as she fought with the tie.

            I picked up her gold nametag from the kitchen table. It had the logo "The Sandwich Shoppe", under which was engraved "Sandra McKenna-- Assistant Manager". Despite the cheesy uniform, I was actually impressed. "Hey! Assistant manager?"

            Sandra finally got the tie almost straight and smiled up at me crookedly. "Yeah. Pretty cool, huh? They had just fired the old one the day before I applied."

            "So you actually get to boss people around?"

            "Yeah. Mostly just little seventeen-year-old twerps like you."

            "Heh-heh. Well, don't get too used to it."

            She snatched the nametag from my hand and pinned it on her shirt. The engraving was so faint, that unless you held the gold tag at just the right angle, you couldn't read it at all.

"Where is this little dump, anyway?" I asked, reaching out and adjusting her tie slightly.

            "The mall in Homer. About twenty minutes east of here." She looked at her watch. "So I really wish mom would get back with the car."

            “You think you’ll get free food?” I asked her. “Bring me home a double roast beef on an onion roll with extra peppers and hot mustard."

            "Ha! I'll bring you some garbage scraps if you're lucky!"

            There was a knock on the front door.

            Sandra jumped. "That must be Mom!" She scrambled out of the kitchen to answer it.

            "Why would Mom knock on the door, you dope!" I called after her as I turned to seek out the purple junk cereal for my morning nutrition.

            I heard Sandra open the door. "Oh! Hi." She sounded surprised.

            "Hi," a voice answered back. "Is Casey awake yet?" A voice. Wendy's voice! Yipes! I looked down at myself. What a mess! I tried to toss my hair into some order while quickly tucking my tee shirt into my denim cutoffs.

            "Sure," Sandra was saying, "come on in." I could tell by her voice that she was smiling. "You must be... Wendy?"

            "Yes!" Wendy said, surprised to be recognized. Her voice was close now. Inside the house. I heard the front door swing closed. I threw myself into a kitchen chair in a frantic attempt to look natural.

            "I'm Casey's sister, Sandra."

            "Casey has told me about you."