"Cook ..."
The big guy lying on the smelly bed with a dirty magazine in one hand (Play boy?) and reviewing his physics knowledge of stroke motion in the other growled "SHIT" and then froze for a moment, dropping the dirty magazine onto the table next to the bed. (Yes, he was doing something unsavory with his hands).
He cleaned up briefly, anyone who could keep doing hand jobs at this hour after a sudden yell from their mom, and walked out of the smelly room, grumbling and asking, "Called me for what?"
In the Baylor Federation, living with one's parents past the age of twenty is considered a "disability", and normal people tend to leave their parents' homes and start trying to form their own small families once they become independent adults and have their first jobs.
But Cook didn't. He was thirty-one years old and hadn't left his comfort zone, which was probably why he hadn't gotten married, and no one would like his current situation.
Looking at her majestic son complaining at the top of his voice, instead of being afraid the old woman impatiently pointed to the phone in the corner, "Damn, there's a man calling you, I can't imagine why anyone would call you, because you don't bathe, or because you stink?"
Cook cursed and walked towards the corner, this wasn't a wealthy family, at least wealthy families didn't have a smelly bedroom.
But before that the family hadn't been too bad, before Cook had lost his job he could bring in a not so small paycheck each month for the family.
Maybe it was because he was a big truck driver and didn't have time to waste on love affairs, the girls he dated ended in failure.
When he does have time, the girls will again resent him for being an unemployed guy who hasn't stepped out of his comfort zone.
It could be that in a few years his marriage will come, and when it does, there will be a girl who has been kicked out of her parents' home, with no place to live and no future in life, and in order to get a stable life, that girl may become Cook's wife.
This is a common situation, women tend to appear as the underdog, and then they will ask for a man who can support them to take them away, as for working on their own or whatever, that is only a few women's idea.
Most women are like Cook at this point, why adapt to the outside if you can stay out of your comfort zone?
Cook picked up the phone as he scratched his belly full of body hair that was sticking out from under his old clothes, his voice was not small, no big truck driver's voice was small.
The noise from the cab made it necessary for them to make themselves loud if they wanted to talk to the rest of the fleet, and sometimes being loud was a way to avoid trouble, and in some of the motels along the highway, being loud had a natural advantage.
But soon enough, his voice lowered, meek as a lamb, and he even grudgingly bent over, a hint of excitement and ingratiation on his face as he kept repeating a few simple words.
Okay, no problem, I know ...
Mom, who was preparing lunch for the big man Cook in the kitchen, more or less showed some smiles on her face, she had already guessed that a new job had come after Cook had lost his job for six months.
This is also a relief to the mom, at least this damn big man will not be "old man", this is a good news. (In Chinese, we call people who have the ability to work but depend on their parents "nibbling old people").
Cook quickly started making phone calls, first to his good friend, James.
James is also a big truck driver, before the company went out of business, they are a fleet of trucks, James is a funny, like fantasy guy, he always like to tell his own bizarre fantasies to others.
Cook was also always shocked by James' wild fantasies, and the two became great friends.
James said yes to the job offer immediately after hearing about it. It was a tough time for everyone, with big companies closing down one after another over here in Sabine, and pretty much everywhere else as well.
The regression of the real economy had led to a decrease in the demand for logistics for businesses, and even the more remote smaller cities hadn't had a big truck out of town for a long time.
After making a lot of phone calls, Cook rarely took a shower, to save time, he even used a boar bristle brush, every time he brushed, he had to howl miserably.
At two o'clock in the afternoon, Cook, James, and some of their other former coworkers showed up outside one of the largest used car dealerships in Sabine, this time to see the cars in addition to paying a visit to the same boss who had called to summon them.
If nothing else, they would have a new job.
With trepidation, the group arrived at the used car dealership early, six months without a job had basically dug into their already small savings, there were seven or eight people who came, in fact, Cook called more people, but some of them couldn't make it.
They'd already found a job where they could barely make ends meet, and while the large size of the truckers gave them a comparative advantage in the competition for certain positions, they also didn't think a company could recruit too many truckers at once.
In the event that they didn't get in on this side and lost their old security jobs, it would be a terrible and crushing blow to their lives and families.
As they waited, the group chatted about how their lives had been going lately, and honestly nothing was pleasant, everyone's lives were a mess, and James even talked about how he was going to move on to other places if he didn't have this call from Cook.
He said he'd written a few short stories and some screenplays in the meantime, which had unexpectedly been bought up by magazines and the writers guild, which had eased the pressure on his life.
He had made plans to leave this side of the world, but a call from Cook stopped him just in time.
There was a bit of sighing, and it was at that moment that Cook's eyes were suddenly caught by a brand new silver mirrored limousine outside the showroom, and he couldn't help but whistle.
The big truck drivers might all love big trucks, but they also loved such luxury cars that could show off their status, and they instantly recognized that this was the latest luxury sedan from Haus Industries, priced at almost a hundred thousand dollars or so.
Immediately afterward, in the envious gazes of these big truck drivers, a young man walked out of the car, wearing a smile as bright as the sun hanging in the sky, walked into the showroom, and walked in front of them.
Honestly, the young man was handsome, but in front of these big, middle-aged truck drivers, handsome played little role.
Some of the staff inside the exhibition hall were silent as they watched this scene not far from them at this moment, without making a single sound - a group of people either sitting or standing, like a beast cloaked in the clothes representing civilization confronting a young and handsome but pale and powerless looking young man. On one side, there was a shocking wave, and on the other side, there was just a sapling, and that sapling seemed to be torn apart in an instant!
The intense clash and disparity made people hold their breath, and some even nourished the idea of calling the police.
The drivers of the big trucks, whose tempers were always the worst of all, were afraid that the young man who had made a good impression would be torn to pieces by these rough beasts.
But surprisingly these beasts seemed as if they were all domesticated at this point, so docile that it was hard to associate them with the truck drivers and their image at this point.
Lynch stood about seven or eight paces away from them with some smiles on his face as he looked at the truckers, whose muscles or fat were sticking out of their clothes, and then extended his hand, "Who's Cook?"
After two or three seconds of calmness, Cook came back to his senses and hurriedly took the initiative to walk over to Lynch, even bending over in order not to look too oppressive and to leave a good impression on his new boss.
His rough hands gripped Lynch's hands tightly, with a slightly pleasing sound on his face, "I'm, I'm Cook, are you Mr. Lynch?"
Lynch nodded his head a little, his little finger moved slightly and popped on the bottom of Cook's palm, a very subtle cue to signal the other party that he could let go of his hands.
In many formal and upper class social occasions, some people would also show as much enthusiasm as Cook, they forgot the reserve and etiquette that should be maintained, so when someone wanted to terminate the transition of the intimate handshake, with a flick of the little finger, the other party would immediately understand the meaning, apologize and release their hands, so that everyone could maintain decency.
But Lynch misjudged Cook's ability to understand, he didn't have the slightest intention of letting go of his hand, and was still saying some embarrassing words of flattery.
In fact, all of this was forced, forced by life, forced by embarrassing poverty, forced by cruel reality.
No one wants to look inferior, they wouldn't even bend over when facing the president if they could do otherwise, but life doesn't allow them to have their dignity and pride, because they have a life to live.
"You can let go of your hand ...", Lynch reminded, Cook even let go of his hand, Lynch only felt his palm was a little wet.
He smiled and shook his head, not pursuing Cook's action, and asked after looking at these big truck drivers, "Is there only this many people?"
A look of some surprise appeared on Cook's face, this statement meant that this Mr. Lynch needed more truck drivers, which also meant that he could continue to happily cross the endless, deserted highway with his good friends.
"I can get you as many as you need!" , and in the midst of his surprise, Cook even used a salutation.
Lynch nodded a bit and switched to a different question, "Shall we check out the car first?"
This was the reason why he had brought these people to the dealership, most of these truck drivers were excellent truck mechanics, but whenever a truck broke down on an intercity or intercontinental highway, if they couldn't fix the problems themselves it would be an absolute disaster.
Not only do they have to be able to know how to work on trucks, but they also have to be able to fix them, and with them around, the used car dealerships won't be able to fool Lynch.