"Damn, damn, damn!" Shannon muttered heatedly as she came into the security office. The other two security officers gave each other a knowing glance as she stomped over to the small closet and took off her light weight jacket, jamming it roughly into the closet before slamming the door shut.
"Well I guess I'm gonna get on out of here," one of the guards said as he rose and grabbed his things.
"Sorry I was late," Shannon said as he moved to the door.
"It happens," he said with a casual wave of his hand as he left the office.
"And good evening to you," Lenny said with a chuckle as Shannon snatched the clipboard that they signed in on and jotted her name and then slapped it back onto the hook it hung from.
"Hi," she said curtly as she sat down next to Lenny at the bank of consoles.
"Your car giving you trouble again?" He asked as he leaned back in his seat.
"What was your first clue," she asked with a wearily laugh and shake of her head.
"Just a guess," the husky black man said with a hearty laugh.
"That piece of junk," Shannon muttered as she flopped back disgustedly in her seat. She sighed longingly as she ran her fingers through her shoulder length, wavy cinnamon colored hair. She laid her head back and stared at the ceiling saying, "It wouldn't start. I was worried that I might not be able to get here. And then it cut out a couple of times on the way. I've got to put it into neutral whenever I hit a red light or else it will die."
"Why don't you take it in?" Lenny asked with a puzzled grunt.
"Because we can't afford to," Shannon said as she sat up and scooted closer to the bank of consoles. She reached up and began to fiddle with one of the camera's controls as she said, "There's my husband's school loan and mine. Plus rent for our apartment and we're also paying on his car. We're just barely getting by and there's no way we could afford a major car repair bill."
"So what are you going to do?" Lenny asked as he got up and walked over to the wall next to him that was filled with a number of video recording machines.
"Just keep my fingers crossed and hope that it hangs in there," Shannon said with a shake of her head.
"After awhile you're gonna have to either get it fixed or get another car," he said as he pushed the eject button on one of the machines. He removed the tape and then opened the long drawer beneath the rack of machines. He removed another tape and slipped it into the machine and then put the first tape into the empty slot in the drawer.
"I know," Shannon said weakly. She frowned as she manually swept one of the cameras over an empty parking lot that was part of their site.
Shannon knew he was right and although he hadn't said anything she knew she was on thin ice. While she hadn't been officially reprimanded the site supervisor had begun to make some subtle comments about her unreliable transportation. The other guards had been pretty understanding about her plight and really hadn't complained about her constant tardiness; usually they didn't log it when she was late, unless she was real late. She was grateful, they could have done that, seeing that they were staying over until she finally got there, which would have caused her to lose pay. Working security wasn't her career goal, it was just a job; a paycheck. Her husband of three years had just finished getting his law degree and was now trying to find employment as a lawyer. Hopefully he would soon and Shannon could quit this dead end job and go back to school and finish getting her teaching degree.
Shannon hated this security job, she was on the midnight shift and essentially she and Lenny were just babysitting an empty building. For seven hours of their eight hour shift they were the only ones present. It was mind numbingly routine, generally. While they were supposed to make patrols throughout the building during their shift they rarely did. Usually they spent most of their shift in the security office. From there they could monitor the whole building.
"Maybe I should start playing the lottery," Shannon said with a tired laugh. She shook her head as she sat back in her seat saying disgustedly, "Cause what they're paying us here ain't gonna do it."
"True," Lenny said with an understanding laugh. While the post they were at was one of the higher paying accounts the company had, it wasn't a salary that one lived the good life on.
Shannon knew that if she was pulled from this account she could be transferred to a post where she would be getting minimum wage. She desperately needed to hold on to this job until something better finally arrived.
"Say my brother works on cars maybe he can take care of your car for ya," Lenny said as he sat back down at the console.
"You sure?" Shannon asked hopefully.
"I can ask him when I see him and let ch'ya know," he said with a casual shrug.
"I would really appreciate that Lenny," Shannon said reaching out and lightly touching his shoulder. She frowned slightly and said, "But like I said money is real tight I don't know how much we can afford."
"Don't worry about it, we can work something out."
* * *
"So after today you won't have to pick me up or take me home any more," Shannon said cheerfully as she and Lenny sat down at the console after relieving the other guards.
"Yeah Danny said your car is all ready for you to pick up," Lenny said as he glanced at the post's read file to see if there was anything new they needed to be aware of. He had been picking Shannon up before work and taking her home after work while his brother worked on her car.
Shannon knew that it was out of his way and she really owed him for his sacrifices; him and his brother. They had basically helped her and her husband out of a big jam; they had helped them avoid a possibly serious setback. Now hopefully they could at least stop worrying about not having reliable transportation.
"Your brother said he completely overhauled the motor on my car and it's running great," Shannon said cheerfully when she came into work a week later. She gave her husky co-worker a hug as she said, "I really want to thank you and your brother for helping us out. I really owe you for this."
"Glad I could help," Lenny said enjoying holding her close. He gave her a pat on the back as he hugged her back.
"But he didn't say how much he wanted for all the work he did," Shannon said as she sat down at the console.