impossible for me to secure even the most menial of employment?
Immediately following the interview, I braved the sunlight, returned to my apartment and crawled into bed, awaiting the kindness of nightfall while considering the interview and wondering if the future would be a soft mattress and silk sheets or hard, sun-baked earth full of twigs, pebbles and rocks. Except my mattress was now a thin futon, laying atop an unforgiving oak floor, and my sheets were not silk, but itchy linen. Still, even this rather austere comfort was greater than that within hardscrabble earth.
A few days of uncertainty later, the phone rang, awakening me from a deep slumber. It was my first phone call after Bob had arranged for installation.
"I'm calling to offer you a job at Co-op Cab Cooperative," Kevin said.
"Excellent!" I replied, with as much excitement as I could muster at the ungodly hour of one in the afternoon. "I am pleased, Kevin. I do accept your generous offer of employment."
"Great," he said. "Glad to have you aboard. On your application, you said you wanna work nights?"
"That is correct. I am very much a night person. Also, I have a condition...my eyes are very sensitive to sunlight. I can drive during later day hours, but it is quite painful. I was hoping to drive late nights."
"We can accommodate you, Al. I'm always looking for late drivers."
"This is almost too good to be true." Instantly, I regretted my remark.
Kevin laughed. "Just what I like to see. Enthusiasm. When can you start?"
"Ah, immediately."
"Well, first there's training. Can you make Monday at one?"
"Yes," I replied, hoping Monday would be overcast. Maybe there would be a solar eclipse.
"Good. You'll start with in-house training. That session lasts about three hours. Then, we'll see about hooking you up with an on-the-road trainer."
By all the false gods of heaven! How much training would I need? How much training does it take to pick up passengers and take them to their destinations? "I will get on the road sometime, will I not?"
Kevin laughed heartily. "Sure, Al. Our training is pretty extensive, but there's no such thing as too much training. Our rookie drivers are a zillion times better prepared than their counterparts at any of the other companies in town. Don't worry, the trainers'll keep you pretty busy, at least busy enough to keep from getting bored."
I certainly hoped so.
Chapter 4
Training
After the weekend, the day of training arrived. Having always been a paragon of punctuality, I found myself waiting in the same star chamber where my interview had taken place, ten minutes prior to the appointed hour, and was joined a few minutes later by a young woman of strong distinction in her appearance, who with her long, dark hair and eyes, swarthy complexion and sharp, angular features, reminded me of those many gypsies I had known over the centuries, sadly one in particular who I had not wanted to think about.
"Oh, hi," she said, seemingly surprised by my presence.
"Hello," I replied, finding myself staring at her, my eyes tracing the sweeping diagonal of her jaw. "Are you to be the one who trains me?"
She laughed. "No, I'm here for training too. I'm Nicole."
"Pleased to make your acquaintance," I said, rising and extending a hand. She shook my hand firmly, like a man. Another place, another time and I would have kissed her hand like a true gentleman, but alas, thisis a different time and a very different place. "I am Al. Al Farkus."
"Nice to meet you." We both sat. An awkward silence filled the room, myself unsure what to say next. Round of hips and bosom, firm and strong in the arms and legs, this young woman looked enough like Anya to be her granddaughter, but that, of course, was impossible. "Seems they got a long day of training set up for us," Nicole said finally.
"Yes. Kevin informed me that Co-op Cab has the most vigorous training program of any cab company in the city."
"Yeah, he told me the same thing."
"I cannot help but wonder how much training we actually need. How difficult can it be to drive a cab?"
Nicole shook her head. "Don't know. But, you know, the times I've been in a cab, I've tried to listen to the radio, and I can't make heads or tails of it."
Shuffling footsteps drew our attention to the doorway as two young men entered the conference room and loudly plopped themselves into chairs. Resplendent as they were in torn, faded denim trousers and the tails of