Just Keeps Getting Better - 1
At the Airport
He was at the airport, again.
The company was expanding, staff was being imported from all over the world.
For the past three weeks he had been virtually operating a shuttle service.
Now today, (he looked at his order list) he was to collect a Miss Eva Robaznik.
He had no idea what she looked like, her age, anything. But then, he was only a lowly driver. Respect was in short supply when one dropped below the Office.
He was wearing the thin jacket with the company's logo and had a small banner (actually an old ping pong paddle )with the same logo artfully pasted.
He was to lift the paddle when passengers began to file into the arrival lounge. This was the part of the job he found the most odious.
Not the early mornings, the late nights or weekends, but having to prove to the world that he, Jeremy Nunes, was a chauffeur.
Without the jacket he could lounge and people might assume he was picking up a family member or friend. Without the jacket people might assume he owned the SUV.
Without the jacket and the cap, people might think he was somebody.
When he was....
He'd always imagined being 'something' when he was growing up, and because he was bright, he had no limits. But then, he had no money and school wasn't free, and soon enough he'd met a girl, and soon enough she was pregnant.
Because he was responsible, he married her and sought work. The only job he could get was a 'driver' so he took it.
Eventually he was hired by this prestigious company. By that time, however the wife had dumped him because she not only made more money than he did but had a fancy title, and didn't want to be connected to a mere 'driver'. Further, her mother lived in a lovely house not a crappy apartment.
As Mom always felt her daughter had married down it hadn't been difficult to fracture the marriage. Hence he got the crappy apartment and she moved in with her mother.
Imagination
As Jeremy waited for the plane to touch down he imagined Miss Eva to be one of those excruciatingly chic European women.
He didn't think she'd be Miss World category or second tier beauty, but 'striking'.
His thoughts went from one version to another as he waited.
The plane was on the ground, the passengers would be coming through the gate
and as she was traveling first class she'd be one of the first off.
His eyes were scanning the women and he raised his paddle. He searched and hoped, and imagined...
then, when she was six feet from him, he looked at the female version of the Pillsbury Doughboy.
Yup, that's Eva.
And he repeated his Mantra; It just keeps getting better.
