The Part Time People Read Free Page A

he'd run through the litany a hundred times, explaining and preparing himself. I'm ready now, he told himself repeatedly, time to go to work.
     
    David got up and looked carefully in every direction. Everything's okay, he thought, it's going to be all right. He walked slowly towards the stationery store, breathing deeply, trying not to think too much. All I have to do is be alert and act normal. He felt he could pull it off, if they weren't planning to trick him like the others had done before. Before he knew it he was there, inside the door and standing by the counter where Gwen was taking money from a customer.
     
    She glanced up and recognized him, “Hi David, Joe is in the back.” Gwen waved a few bills in the direction of Joe’s office. David didn't know if he should go back there or if Gwen was expecting him to do something else. He didn't have a comfortable feeling about her at first. She seemed brusque and cold, but he knew he shouldn't make these rash judgments, they could ruin everything. So he stood there for a moment.
     
    Gwen looked up again and said “Well? aren't you going to check in?”
     
    “Oh, right,” he said. “I have to let him know I'm here.” David walked towards the back. Joe was peeking out his door and had witnessed the exchange. When Joe saw David turn he went out to meet him.
     
    “Hello.” Joe said. And offered his hand.
     
    “Hi.” David responded and they shook hands slightly.
     
    There was a moment of silence. Joe didn't want to be out there, didn't know why he was, and suddenly he just wanted to go back to his desk and do something back there, do anything, so he said,
     
    “Why don't you go up front and ask Gwen to show you around up there, where the prices are, the keys, all that.”
     
    “Okay” David said. He already felt like he was being bounced around. They don't want me here, he thought. And despite his earlier resolutions in the park, he started getting nervous.
     
    Joe walked back into his office and shut the door. David felt abandoned on the sales floor, and the thought of asking Gwen for help made him even more nervous. They're playing games with me, he thought. He should've gone up there with me and told her what he wanted her to do with me. A customer bumped into him and said “Excuse me sir.” But David couldn’t respond. He felt like he was already in the way. The day wasn't starting out too well.
     
    David took a deep breath and went back up to Gwen.
     
    “Joe said you can show me around the register first thing.” He didn't like the way he sounded, was he too forceful? He wondered if she'd even understood a word he said.
     
    “Oh?” She replied, “Well, okay, if that's what he wants. Why don't you come back here and just watch how I do it for awhile.”
     
    For the next half an hour or so David just stood behind her and concentrated on the register keys. Each key could correspond to three items, depending on the key you pressed before, either no key, shift, or double shift. This was a little confusing at first, but Gwen told him he’d get it eventually. Whenever Gwen rung up a sale the register chimed pleasantly. David was beginning to relax again, and even started getting used to the blunt and scrambled way Gwen spoke.
     
    “It's pretty clear you know, you don't have to be no genius or something, okay?” She laughed. “I mean like you have done this stuff before right? Joe said that you did so you won't have any trouble with it I'm sure. Mostly the part time people stay up here so I can get the other stuff done so once you got it down it won't be any problem.”
     
    David simply nodded and occasionally said “okay,” “right,” and “it was fine.” Gwen even let him ring up a few sales by himself. He was pretty nervous and gave out the wrong change a couple of times which made him frustrated, but Gwen told him he was doing fine. The customers were pleasant, more so than at the shoe store. He even smiled at a few of them, said