Knight Life Read Free Page B

and I’m trying to—”
    Â Â Â Â  “Hold, please.”
    Â Â Â Â  “No! Not again! Not ag — !”
    Â Â Â Â  The song “Memories” floated through the phone at her. And then, before she could cry out against the injustice of it all, the money fell through and the music was replaced by a recorded voice saying, “Five … cents … please for another minute.”
    Â Â Â Â  Knowing full well that it was a lost cause before she even opened her mouth, she turned to the woman behind her and said, “Do you have a nickel I could borrow? Just one? Please? My life is hanging on this.”
    Â Â Â Â  The woman stared at her in stony silence.
    Â Â Â Â  Gwen didn’t even bother to ask again. Instead, with a sigh laced with tragedy, she hung up the receiver and stepped away from the phone stall. She bowed slightly in mock “chivalry” as she gestured for the woman to step in and take the phone. The woman stepped in, reached into her pockets, and came out with a fistful of coins that she piled in a small, silver heap atop the payphone.
    Â Â Â Â  “I can see why you couldn’t spare one,” Gwen said humorlessly. “You had so many, you didn’t know which one to choose.”
    Â Â Â Â  The woman ignored her, and Gwen turned away and stomped off down the street.
    Â Â Â Â  Shortly she managed to find a well-dressed fellow, sitting on a park bench, speaking on a cell phone, and convinced him to let her make use of it for just five minutes. He watched her in amusement as she dialed. “You should get one of your own, you know,” he suggested.
    Â Â Â Â  “Had one. Didn’t keep the payments up on the service.” She shrugged. “No money. Hopefully, though, this call will help change that.”
    Â Â Â Â  “Good luck,” he said.
    Â Â Â Â  She pushed “Send” and a moment later, the same receptionist said, “Lyons and Herzog.”
    Â Â Â Â  “Yes, Mr. Herzog please. I’ve been trying to get throu—”
    Â Â Â Â  “Hold, please.”
    Â Â Â Â  She moaned again, prepared for another lengthy runa-round, but then to her surprise she heard a female voice say, “Mr. Herzog’s office.”
    Â Â Â Â  “Ohhhh, thank God,” said Gwen. She gave an eager thumbs up to the man from whom she’d borrowed the phone. “I need to speak to Mr. Herzog.”
    Â Â Â Â  “May I tell him what this is in regards to?”
    Â Â Â Â  “The secretary job. You see, I’m running late and I—”
    Â Â Â Â  “The secretary job,” said the woman on the other end. She sounded faintly amused.
    Â Â Â Â  Gwen didn’t like the sound of that tone. “Yeaaaaahhh,” she said slowly.
    Â Â Â Â  “You mean the one I was hired to fill five minutes ago?”
    Â Â Â Â  With a heavy sigh, Gwen said quietly, “Yes. That one.”
    Â Â Â Â  “It’s filled.”
    Â Â Â Â  “I kind of figured that.”
    Â Â Â Â  “If you’d like, we can keep your resume on file. Your name—?”
    Â Â Â Â  “Mud,” said Gwen, and she ended the call and handed the phone back to the well-dressed man.
    Â Â Â Â  “Bad news?” he asked sympathetically.
    Â Â Â Â  “No. No, just typical news.”
    Â Â Â Â  “Well, good luck to you. I have to get back to work,” he said. And he patted her on the shoulder in an avuncular manner before heading off.
    Â Â Â Â  Gwen sat there for a moment, stewing, and then with an effort, brushed it off. Dwelling on what hadn’t worked wasn’t going to do her any good. She had to look forward and just hope. With that in mind, she pulled out the want ads from her bag. The page was covered