Jeffrey Zhang was back on the grind. Homework assignments to complete and video games to play. Looking at his soft light brown hands they looked so small.
The rough creases and calluses were gone, the lines were less pronounced. Then Jeffrey stuck his hands inside the slime bowl mixing up foam beads and glitter glue.
There were so many things to do, prepare tax forms, create a bank account with his parents signature, transportation issues and various purchases.
He knew Samantha Watts took a taxi home and he was starting to get to know her well enough to feel comfortable about asking and paying for such a driver.
First things first, Jeffrey was going to need to rent a phone or get some sort of phone number. Delivery was not really an option seeing as he couldn't drive. He did have a bike and could ask a friend to borrow their electric scooter.
However in suburban America, he was going to have to travel miles to get to the store to get supplies.
Jeffrey did the normal thing and started to walk toward the bus stop, grabbing the paper timetable and maps they provided. If he planned his route correctly he'd get to the central transportation hubs near the outlet malls and shops. From there, he remembered there should be a cellphone and monthly transportation card vendor.
As always though it was going to cost money, about $10 round trip. Not including the money he'd need to make purchases.
Grabbing his cash box, he waited for the time the bus would arrive. He started to leave around 11:40pm, the bus should be here in 5 minutes according to the time table.
Jeffrey waited watching the cars go by on the busy street. Looking to the left, the bus was nowhere to be seen. So Jeffrey continued to wait.
Eventually the bus came into view and Jeffrey stepped on depositing the coins into the machine to pay the fare.
"The next stop is Morena Boulevard", the bus announced the location of the next stop.
Jeffrey found a place to sit next to the window, sitting on the blue plastic bus chair his feet dangled off the edge of the seat, still too short to reach the ground.
The houses and trees passed by and Jeffrey slowly arrived at his destination.
Walking up to the telecommunications counter, he saw a man working at the booth. Cell phone rentals were about $12 a month, with an extra $5 for unlimited calls.
Jeffrey decided to get a 3 month package for $65. It came with a verizon flip phone, 3g, and text.
"Hey mister, I'd like to get a phone rental", Jeffrey said to the store owner.
"Uhhh, ok", the man looked a little surprised at the kid talking to him. However the kid looked serious seeing as he had an envelope stuffed with presumably the money.
"Are your parents here?", the man asked.
"Nope, I'm just looking for a rental", Jeffrey responded.
"Well uh, I don't think you're old enough to sign yet", the man said to Jeffrey.
"I need a phone and I have the money for it", Jeffrey held the cash stuffed envelope in his hand.
"How about this, if you buy the phone. I'll give you 2 months of cellphone service for free", the man offered.
"I don't think I can afford it, I need a rental", Jeffrey insisted. Jeffrey didn't want to spend any more money then he had to. Although he had some confidence in selling Oobleck, he didn't have enough money to be making large purchases. He was going to break the bank at this rate.
"Then I'll need a $20 deposit to make sure I can get my phone back", the store owner replied.
Jeffrey thought about it for a bit, was he going to have to make a large purchase and invest in a cellphone? Was he going to have to wait until he had more money? Or should he try to negotiate with the shop?
Jeffrey looked at the sign, "Metro by T:Mobile and Sprint".
Looking around he recognized the brands. There were Canadian and German telecommunications companies and an American cellphone Manufacterer. There were also some Blackberries, Motorola, and Nokia devices lying around.
Jeffrey walked back up to the counter and asked to purchase a cellphone, "I'll pay $80 for a used cellphone and I want 2 months of free call and text"
"You got it boss", the store owner smiled and pulled out the various paperwork and documents for Jeffrey to fill out.
Jeffrey did consider the fact that his cash could have easily been stolen by the man, but at the transit center it seemed very unlikely with the police station just around the corner.
Jeffrey scribbled his signature on the contract and made his first purchase. A scratched up flip phone with two screens on the front and back.
Jeffrey immediately started fiddling around and playing with the keys, setting the cellphone background and listening to all the free ringtones on it.
He received the sim card and headed back home $80 poorer, but with a cellphone shaped bulge in his pocket.
Jeffrey saw a line of taxis nearby, but he couldn't afford the fare to get back home. So he waited some more for the bus to arrive.
As he got on the bus staring out the window, it was starting to get dark. The inside of the bus was illuminated by the passing street lights and the dim glow of the next destination sign.
Hearing his street Jeffrey pulled on the yellow cord and waited for the bus to stop.
Jeffrey walked out the bus doors and headed back to his neighborhood. It was an uneventful day for Jeffrey, but like many days it was a passing one.
Walking onto his front porch and into his house, Jeffrey had an overwhelming suffocating feeling suddenly come over him. The feeling that he could do more as a traverser, that he was simply "Not good enough."
____
Jeffrey, the writer of the story became confused.
"Where's this survivor's guilt coming from? Why is my protagonist so gloomy?"
Jeffrey was hard at work writing his next chapters doing his best not to write filler. He thought to himself, "I really need to stop writing when I'm unhappy."