was not quite as bad, Daniel filled and emptied those. Corinne only endured these menial tasks, so that her showers could be extended by a few minutes.
Wanting to leave with enough time to finish blow drying her hair and affix her make-up before starting work, Corrine stuffed a bag and made for the door. After a childhood spent in a constant state of filth, hot showers and the ability to cover blemishes had become the things that sustained. She would not willingly return to a life without these requirements.
Her addiction to beauty products began shortly after puberty and could be attributed to the force that her mother applied to ensure that it was so. This compulsion was enabled by every enthusiastic beau, right up to the point where Daniel presented an entire storage bin of salvaged products to her. The petite vials and containers had all been acquired from neighboring homes, as were loads of other things under the heading of ‘will find a use for later’. He never would have guessed that the contents of all those medicine cabinets would end up being the perfect engagement present.
Corinne swiped away the fine dust that had settled around the edges of her car door using a small brush that she kept in her purse exclusively for this purpose. Only two tinny-sounding speakers worked in the car when she took over possession of it from her mother, but it was still better than nothing. Before pulling away from the house she changed the CD in the otherwise useless radio to something more soothing and melodious.
Music did not really hold that large a part in her life beyond that of the odd celebration or live musician at the bar. Compact disks at least those not scratched beyond repair, could be purchased in bulk. Even though a few artists or bands names could still be read on the circular artwork Corinne had never paid that much attention to them, other than to use the colors as an easy way to remember which ones she liked. She knew that the compact disk with blue-gray swirls and four red carnations on it was one of her favorites, but she could care less about what the name of the band actually was.
Corinne, who was one of the only two females on the top floor worked at the consolidated New Warren City Hall and Police/Fire hub. This meant unlike the first three floors where the majority of people worked or attended class, the small women’s bathroom on the fourth floor would only have her and Marisa Donner inside.
Corrine’s bag held everything she needed to finish her hair and face, as well as a black pantsuit which probably had more replacement thread than original, and a white and black, horizontally-striped blouse. Only people who lived inside the Warehouse had access to around the clock juice and only a few of those actually worked at City Hall across the street. The rest of the workers lived somewhere close by and most used the supplied power inside to finish any needed primping, just in the larger washrooms downstairs.
In a grand show of New Warren’s authority, City Hall which was a four-storied building twice as long as it was wide was supplied electricity during the weekdays. City Hall was usually a hive of activity on these days as it housed all of the social services on the first floor, bank on the second, school rooms for children under the age of twelve on the third and Council business on the fourth.
Despite the early hour people walking, biking, pulling carts and even driving the occasional car or truck all slowed Corinne’s progress. It was beyond her to conceive that this daily migration was just people trying to avoid the brunt of a summer day’s pain. She paid no heed to their plights, or to the contempt showing in their eyes. The drifters had grown exponentially in numbers and should have been a major cause of concern to a lone female driving down the road, but it did not affect her in this way. They could not touch her in the world where she lived. The dirty drifters passed by almost unnoticed, like they hardly even existed at all; sub-humans the lot.
Corinne was allowed to park inside the gated west lot. This required her to punch in a code to gain entrance, the raising of the plastic entry bar always made her feel special. This lot was usually reserved for the Council, Corinne’s bosses