I asked the clerk, the second I arrived. “Anything that leaves within the hour?”
“I’ve got an eight thirty bus to Phoenix, Arizona.”
I shook my head. I’d already tried and failed there. “What about the one after that?”
“Edgewood, Nevada.”
“No ...” I still couldn’t bring myself to think about my hometown without feeling an ache in my chest. “Anything else leaving tonight?”
“Um, let’s see.” He tapped his keyboard. “I’ve got a bus heading to Seattle at midnight. It’s a three-day trip, so you’d make it there by Sunday. Quite a few stops and layovers on that one.”
“Seattle’s perfect.”
“Great! That’ll be three hundred and eighty-three dollars.”
“How much?” I felt my mouth go dry.
“Three hundred and eighty-three.” He smiled. “It’s usually four hundred, but I’m giving you the rush discount.”
“Is there a ‘help me, I’m poor’ discount?” I asked, half joking.
He sighed and opened his drawer. “Two hundred and eighty-three. That’s as low as I can go.”
“Thank you.” I felt tears pricking my eyes, but I didn’t dare let them fall. I handed over almost all the money I had in my wallet and hoped each stop would be near a McDonald’s.
When I made it to the waiting lobby, I started my usual “new city, new life” routine. I googled the most affordable motels and went straight to the city’s digital newspaper to search for open jobs.
As I was clicking through some of the job offerings I’d done before—gas station attendant, housekeeper, janitor—I heard the familiar sounds of Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major.
I looked up and saw a young girl strumming her violin across from me. Her posture was good, but she was struggling to perfect a few of the notes.
“Hey,” I said, smiling. “You should raise your elbow a bit. You’ll hit the strings better that way.”
“Ugh!” The older woman next to her clucked her teeth. “What the hell would you know?”
“I’m sorry. I was just trying to—”
“My daughter’s skills are already on a world-class prodigy level and we don’t need some homeless girl’s help, okay?”
“I’m not homeless.”
“You look like it.” She looked me up and down, then she pulled a couple one dollar bills from her wallet and tossed them at me. “There. Go buy yourself some chips and enjoy the music. You’ll be seeing my daughter in Carnegie Hall soon. I’m sure it’ll make a great ‘I knew her before she was famous’ story for you someday.”
I stood up from my seat and moved to the windows, leaving her cash exactly where it fell. Her daughter would never make it to Carnegie with struggle notes like that, and if she’d caught me on a better day I would’ve told her that she was wasting her goddamn time.
I returned to reading Seattle’s jobs section and clicked on a banner for Pier Autumn Coffee.
URGENT INTERVIEW FAIR: EXECUTIVE POSITIONS
Due to recent company restructuring, we are hiring a new team of forty (40) executives, with four (4) chief positions. We are looking for someone to fill each spot with unparalleled passion, travel experience, and a true love for each designated field.
If you’re reading this banner, you have clicked on The Marketing Director position and you can find the requirements below. (If you’re looking for one of the other fields please click here.)
Our ideal marketing director will have a master’s degree (highly preferred), a love for world class coffee and travel, familiarity with the Pacific Northwest (especially Lake Tahoe), and will be able to handle a set of unique challenges in the local and global markets.
Our interview process consists of a challenging exam, a group interview and tour, and a five-minute pitch in front of our esteemed board.
Please do not apply if you will not be able to complete the entire process.
Please do not apply if you do not like coffee.
And, per our CEO, please do not apply if you’re incapable of being loyal.
I REREAD THE DESCRIPTION again and again, feeling my heart race at the words. Even though I never got the chance to finish my master’s degree, I couldn’t help but think that this job opportunity was a sign. I was finally heading to the right city, finally getting the chance to do something I truly loved and restart my life.
The wrong notes continued to float from that girl’s violin into the air, and the more she played, the more I thought about how my old life used to be. How believing in a man I trusted way too damn much had ultimately brought me here to this very moment.
He never came back like