“Can’t a person have any privacy in this place,” he snapped.
Jenny just rolled her eyes. “I’m only concerned about your well-being.”
“You want me to make baked beans?” he asked with a puzzled look on his face.
“No!”
“Then what is it?”
“I’m concerned.
“Well don’t be. I’m in perfect health.”
“Does this have anything to do with the Widow Megal?”
“You have been listening to Bobby!”
Elmer stomped out of the kitchen, leaving Jenny alone. She glanced out the window at Jane doing her morning workout and then thought how different things were a few years ago, before her mother’s passing. No one worried about her father than because that care was left up to her mother. It was always felt that Elmer’s hearing was on the decline, but no one had the heart to address his failings because Mom took care of everything.
It was not until her mother was diagnosed with cancer that Jenny took it upon herself to come home and care for the two. It had only been in recent years after her mother passed that she sought employment outside the house, confident that Elmer could be left alone for the day. There was only problem, there were no jobs in advertisement like the high-powered job Jenny had in New York. Hence she’d accepted the job of waitressing at The Little A’Le’Inn café in town. Also, it was a job that was mindless. She didn’t take work home at the end of the day, unlike the job in advertising.
The low-flying helicopter in the distance brought Jenny back to the here and now. She walked over to the door and yelled out at Jane.
“We’ll be leaving for work in half an hour.”
Jane glanced up in time to see the helicopter making its way along the desert floor in the hopes of catching her as they had yesterday morning. She hurried into the house before they flew overhead and narrowly missed catching a glimpse of her again.
The Little A’Le’Inn Café was busy that morning as the Star Trek Convention Center was in full swing by midweek. Jenny and Jane had arrived early that morning so that Jenny could run through a few things with Jane before the morning crowd came in. By eight fifteen Jane already looked haggard as she took two plates off the counter and walked over to the table by the door where two patrons dressed in strange alien garb sat. This whole Star Trek theme irritated Jane, as everyone had such a warped misconception of what an alien was supposed to look like. The female had fins coming out of her forehead and scales glued to her cheeks. She just stared at her eggs, which were almost running off the plate. The male just glared up at Jane.
“I said over easy, not raw!”
“You wanted the yoke runny,” Jane argued. Nevertheless, it was the wrong thing to say, as the customer was always right even when they were wrong.
The man tipped the plate. ”This is too literal,” he snapped.
Jenny turned to Jane quickly and gave her one of those looks that told her to back off. Jane picked up the plate, glaring at the two patrons. She walked into the kitchen, shoved Clyde out of the way, tossed the eggs on the grill, and fried them crispy. Clyde knew enough not to interfere, so he just stood back and watched. When a waitress was ticked off at a patron, although it was Clyde's policy that the customer was always right. Clyde knew that some of the time, whether they were right or not, some customers deserved not to be treated with respect. Just because his waitresses chose to serve and wait on tables gave customers no right to demean them for that choice.
Jane picked up the eggs with the spatula and flipped them back on the plate. She walked out of the kitchen and over to the two sitting smugly at their table. Jane set the plate down and then glared at the two.
“I hope you are satisfied now.”
“This isn’t over,” the woman started to say but was kicked under the table by her partner, so she abruptly stopped in mid-sentence.
“This is fine,” the male patron said looking up at Jane.
The female patron glared at the plate with the burnt eggs and then up at Jane. As much as she would have liked to say more, she knew better.
Jane just turned around and walked over to where Jenny was standing at the cash register. Jenny watched the exchange and was amazed at Jane’s strength. It was not long till the two tossed a bill on the table and walked out without touching the burnt eggs. As the door shut behind them, the other patrons in the small café clapped their approval at Jane’s treatment of the rude couple.
Jenny ignored their approval of Jane’s behavior. She just turned to Jane.
“I think we have to work on your people skills,” Jenny whispered, so no one else in the café heard what she said.
“A death ray would work for this situation.”
“Where did you say you were from?” Jenny asked, looking suspiciously at Jane.
“I didn’t.”
Jane turned and picked up the coffee pot and walked over to top off coffee cups. She was ever so sweet to the other patrons, pleased with the fact everyone had given her the thumbs-up.
CHAPTER 16
Luckily there was a two-hour delay in the start of school because of some problem with the air conditioning unit. It gave Bobby the perfect opportunity to drive John around to look for a job. He knew Jenny was serious about him getting a job and the fact Jane already had one, put the pressure on him to make sure John got one too.
They had filled out numerous job applications, but times were tough, and no one seemed to be hiring. The fact that John’s skill set, being a navigator of an alien spacecraft, didn’t quite match up to what most companies were interested in, didn’t help.
Bobby pulled up to the Hollywood Video store and parked near the entrance. He hopped out of the car, quickly followed by John.
“Is this where I will work?” John asked as he had before entering all the other companies that morning.
Bobby turned to John. “No, dude. I think we have to build you an identity.”
“Identity?” John asked with a puzzled look. “What is that?”
Bobby rolled his eyes with a half-cocked smile. “That’s who you are.”
John looked puzzled. So much of what the earthlings did, did not make sense, and he wondered why his elders ever wanted to explore their planet for future habitat. Their culture was not as advanced. They seemed to enjoy simple pleasures with no reasoning power. Their technology was primitive.
John finally turned to Bobby. “So, how will they give me an identity?”
“You get a card.”
John reached into his pocket and handed Bobby his Intergalactic identity card. “Like this,” John said finally.
Bobby took the card and studied it for the longest time. He found the symbol of John’s home planet quite intriguing.
“Cool.”
Bobby reached into his pocket, pulled out his video card, and showed it to John. “You need something like this,” Bobby said, pointing to the card. “This is better than Visa.”
“What is Visa?” John asked.
“Trust me. You don’t want Visa. It only causes problems.”
Bobby turned and walked into the video store followed closely by John. They walked over and took an application form out of the slot. They sat down with a clipboard and Bobby helped John with the request for the video card. While they were busy filling out John’s application, a movie played on the monitor. It was a caricature of alien movies. John glanced up with wonderment and found it difficult not to watch.
John spoke up. “What’s that?” he asked.
Bobby just shrugged. “That’s an alien.”
“That’s what you think I am?”
Bobby laughed. “No, dude. You’re cooler than that.” He glanced up and pointed. “That’s what Hollywood thinks you look like.”