The Balance Sheet

Chapter 2

I'd have probably had a better chance if I'd gone to prison then tried to apply. With that lawsuit, no company wanted to work with me. I had all of my bases covered that time around.

A voice called out to me, "Mr. Barnes?"

I looked up and saw a young Asian man standing in front of me. I hadn't phoned ahead and said I'd be here but I wasn't going to complain. The one thing I noticed about him right away was that his suit was a lot fancier than mine. The faded black material that I had on my clothing, made me stand out. That may have been why people were smiling at me, as they walked pass. I stood up to greet the him with a handshake and smile but he didn't shake my hand in return.

He said in a sluggish tone of irritation, "Sorry Mr. Barnes you were denied by office, again."

Instead of a handshake, I got my resume back. I treated the place like it was the first time I applied when it wasn't.

I grabbed the papers out of the guys hand and asked, "There's no re-"

He cut me off, "I'm sorry Mr. Barnes, you just have to wait another month and reapply, again."

That was a plan down the toilet that was much worse than the rope-a-dope. I'd been denied by them four times already so I was able to understand their annoyance about number five.

I sadly replied, "Yeah."

I sat back down next to my cheap briefcase, as he walked away. It was the first time I met the guy but they must have told him about me. I'd felt like eventually they'd give me a shot out of sympathy. I had college fees to pay off and no money coming in. I was worried about the debt I was in since I didn't have the means to pay for them. I hated those phone calls about putting me through to the collections agencies and messing up my credit. They started coming in pretty conveniently after I got laid off.

My agenda was all scrapped for the day. I grabbed my suitcase and left the building in a glum mood like this hadn't happened before. The suits and up-towners had meant nothing to me after stepping back out into the sun. I took the bus back home and sat on the stairs while I waited for Samantha to get off of work. I was the guy who always dreamed about a perfect life so when things stopped going my way, I took it a little harder than most.

I hadn't pictured things going that way in my future and people always told me that it was in my hands. That led me to believe that I'd failed on my own. Once again, my head was down in my hands, when Samantha was coming up the stairs. I hadn't seen her coming so when she tapped my shoulder, I almost jumped out of my skin. She got startled right along with me.

I joyfully with an explanation, "Hey I was just hanging around waiting for you. How was work?"

She starred at me with a shifty smile then hugged me tightly, knowing that my plan didn't work out the way I'd hoped. I didn't want to show her that anything was wrong but it had to have been spelled on my face somewhere.

I hugged her back just as tight as she hugged me and apologized, "I'm sorry baby. I tried."

She let me go then, with a tear running down her face and a smile, she replied, "I know. Let's go inside. Come on."

She walked me up the rest of the stairs and into the house then sat me down on the couch. She turned on the T.V. for me and it was one of my all-time favorite movies but it was in Spanish. She lifted the remote back up to change the channel.

I quickly stopped her, "No, leave it."

She looked down at me and said, "Okay."

She sat the remote down on the arm of the couch next to me then walked into the kitchen. She reached over the sink and grabbed my cereal bowl off of the counter then started to wash it.