Short Stories
Sara was in a funk.
She had done everything she knew to get that job. She had a perfect resume for the position. She had dressed the part for the interview and had even bought a new jacket she couldn't afford on her now jobless budget.
None of it had come through for her. The position was given to another and now she needed to start looking elsewhere. She felt like giving up. As she combed through the morning want ads she felt this hopeless anger and frustration.
Her coffee was cooling and she felt she needed to finish it since she was down to her last few ounces and prices these days made her wonder if she would buy another can until the right job came along. How long might that be? She placed the cooled cup into the microwave to nuke it a second when the phone rang.
It was her brother calling to ask how she was.
"Oh! I'm doing dandy", she lied. She wondered if the tone of her voice would give her away, so she gritted her teeth and tried harder to sound less edgy.
She could ask her brother for help and knew it, but she wasn't going to be beholden to his high position in the corporate world. There had always been a feeling of competition in her heart for her brother. He had the great home, wife, kids, and yes...job that she had always dreamed of.
"Well, sis you know I'm here to help if you need me to", Joe replied. He knew how she was and she would probably resent him if he insisted with assistance. "Call me soon, bye", he hung up.
Sara whispered into the dead line, "Bye now."
Suddenly she felt lost. Why hadn't she admitted she needed help? Why was she so stubborn when it came to her family? Why was she so jealous for the good things her brother was blessed with?
With her mind whirling she felt a headache coming on. She needed to stop the prater within her head, but somehow it just wouldn't quit. She needed help.
Then it jumped out at her from within the white and black want ads. Waitress position - no experience required.
"What!", she screamed at the paper as though it had made an obscene suggestion. "Waitress! No experience! "
The news just lay there and she felt this dismal feeling that she was talking to the want ads.
"OK! We'll just see what happens", she started out the door for the address in the ad.
The address lead to a small truck stop on the edge of the city. It was situated near the interstate and the truckers where straining their necks from the windows as Sara emerged from her white Mustang. As she shut the car door she began to wonder if she would have to let it go back to the bank. Now that she was jobless she couldn't afford to make the payments.
She straightened her skirt a bit and headed for the door of the establishment.
Walking up to the door marked office, she heard a voice from behind her. "Can I help you?" The man was holding a towel and had on a white kitchen apron. Balding and looking a bit hot from his job he stared at her questioning. Sara felt a little intimated by his simple presence.
"I'm here about the want ad", she replied.
He looked her up and down and handed her an application. "Fill this out and you can start immediately", he said as he turned back toward his kitchen.
After she had filled out the questions on the form feeling rather like a pop quiz, she put on the uniform another waitress handed her while pointing her to the ladies room.
Suddenly she began her day, taking and bringing burger orders to tables full of truckers. Some of them rude, some laughing, some kind, some barely awake from driving long hours and filling their thermos' with strong hot coffee before they headed back out on the highways.
It seemed forever, but by the time they allowed her leave for the day she was beat. She headed home wondering exactly what she had done. She had taken and worked a job she didn't want out of despair. "Well maybe it will work out", she encouraged herself.
Entering the door to her apartment the phone began to ring. She ran to answer it in spite of her aching feet.
"Is this Sara Peterson", the female voice asked, "The job application you recently interviewed for and someone else was hired....".
"Yes", Sara answered.
"The person didn't work out so the position is open if your still interested".
"Oh yes", Sara almost shouted at the receiver.
"Good, please be here tomorrow morning at 8:00. Have a good evening".
Sara collapsed on her couch and tried to suppress the surge of her aching feet. She thought back on her day. It really had not been that bad. She had laughed a bit and had felt a connection with the other waitress. She had lost her intimidation of the simple man in the kitchen apron once he had begun his joking and she could see the kindness in his pranks. He had even allowed her to go home early being it was her first day there and she was hired on the spot.
If only she had accepted her brother's help she wouldn't be in this position. Now she had two jobs, and she knew which one she would be calling to let know she wasn't going to return.
Sara was in a funk.
James 4:2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
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My dear sister, I find that I too am in a funk. But I don't think it's because I haven't asked or because I ask amiss. What I do believe is that it is a matter of faith, believing the Word rather than the situation, and waiting on the Lord to physically manifest what the Word has already promised. "I would that you prosper, even as your soul prospers." I know hunger. (I even like coffee. :::smile:::) And I know what it is to do without. Sara, because of the reasons she had for wanting to excel beyond that of her brother career wise may fit into the category of the scripture references. The story is well written and quite interesting. I, like your other reader, had minor problems figuring out how the scriptures fit in with the story and had to really stop and consider it. I look forward to reading more of your work.
I have experienced the "funk" from time to time. *smile* Much of your story is "telling" more than "showing." Although I am intrigued by Sara's inner monologue, I am more interested in what she is doing as she is thinking. Did she come in the door and drop all her stuff on the floor, then flop into the big easy chair in the living room? What is she doing while she is thinking? Where is she? I'd like to know more about the competitiveness between her and her brother. Did he just call to see if she was doing as good or better than her? I could not connect the ending scripture with the storyline very easily. Was it the humility of Sara that the reader is supposed to focus on and connect to the scripture? When I looked up the scripture, the story and scripture came together more. There is a lot you can do with this story. Trust that the reader will "fill in the blanks" for you as "paint the picture" with your words. Be encouraged, your story was encouraging to me!
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