"Ugh... when are we going back to shore?" The rocking of the boat made me sea sick. It would be different if it was like the speed boat I came in on; there was no rocking on that one. This boat rocked every time the fucking wind blew.
"In about 2 more hours sweetheart. It's not that bad you're over reacting!" Galen laughed at me.
"Easy for you to say, you do this for a living!" I was hurled over the side of the boat just in case breakfast decided to come back up. Galen had taken me out to show me how to fish; needless to say I wasn't really into it. I stared at my phone counting down the minutes. I just wanted dry land under me.
"You've been here 3 days now and it's been all fun and games. You're going to have to start doing some work." Galen gave me a big smile, like work was fun. I hate hard labor.
"What kind of work?" Honestly I had forgotten I was here for some sort of punishment. I looked out at the beautiful buildings, what a sight. Some punishment. I could stay here, I could be happy here.
"Nothing too serious. Just some gardening and you can work at the café with Andrew a couple days out of the week."
"What do I have to do?" I'm pretty sure he's going to say cleaning.
"Cooking, serving, and some cleaning." So Galen reads minds, who knew? It can't be that bad, it's good for me right? Although I don't see how this is was going to make me a so called responsible adult. I thought I was pretty responsible, I mean I handled my business. Back in high school I wasn't the easiest kid in the world to deal with. I was into the alcohol and the drugs but I maintained pretty good grades, never failed a class in my life. In fact, I graduated high school early and took some college classes before quitting. Money was tight and I couldn't afford it anymore. In my mind it made no sense to pay for an education that should be free. I intended on just taking a small break to save up some money but after having that little taste of freedom I didn't want to go back. I wanted to live life while I was young. I had discovered nightlife and I thought it was all I would ever need. I drank and stayed out till 4am every night, I didn't care. In my drunken state I might have done some things I regretted, hell I did shit even when I wasn't drunk. I destroyed a police car (It was dark, I thought it was a regular car), I accidentally participated in the breaking and entering of a random persons home (It was dark, I thought it was my house) and various forms of vandalism (...it wasn't dark). The people I hung out with were definitely not looking out for me. Hanging with bad people leads to bad decision making.
I would say I was going through some sort of quarter life crisis if there was such a thing. I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do with my life. So for the past year I've been acting like a kid, so I've been told. I was crashing on friends couches and switching jobs every time I got bored (every two months or so). I needed a career and for that I needed a college education and for that I needed some motivation. I was unmotivated and unfocused. I lived in the here and now not even caring about the future. It was time for change apparently.
"Grab the net! Hold it tight for me." He caught a big one! He could have easily just swung it on to the boat but I guess he wanted to include me in the process. The fish nearly smacked me in the face but I caught it. I sat it on the floor of the boat and watched it flap around.
"What now?" I must admit I was kind of excited, I felt like I had accomplished something even though I didn't do a damn thing. Then again just being out in a little boat in this large body of water was kind of an accomplishment for me. I gave myself a round of applause. Galen looked at me like I was crazy. I meant for it to be a mental round of applause. We returned to shore just twenty minutes later with six fish, including the one I helped catch. Yeah, I was proud of myself.
It was extremely early in the morning when we left out so when we returned Leora was just getting up. She ran around the house bouncing and singing unusually excited for the day.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Late in the afternoon Leora was literally pulling me through the streets. I had taken her up on the offer to spend the day together and she was hell bent on making the best of it. She had said we were going to some café but her excitement couldn't have been over the food.
"Leora, honey, I need my arm." How can she be so small but so strong?
"Come on you have to meet Andrew!" Oh! That café. Now it all made sense.
