**Extra thanks to CopyCarver for helping me polish all of the chapters of this tale. You're the man!!**
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Forty-five minutes later, Nathan stepped out of his bedroom freshly showered and wearing a white pullover that he could have sworn fit him loosely last week, but now was gripping him tightly across the chest and arms. Dismissing it, he saw dad right where he had been when Nathan went to the shower, at the table, depressed. So Nathan wordlessly sat in the living room chair, and thumbed the TV remote to begin waiting.
Just a bit later Candy walked right into the house. She was wearing cut off shorts, and a yellow halter shirt that revealed her midriff. Kicking off her flip-flops as she entered, both Prescott men could see her smiling. They both smiled back.
"I know it's a bit late for lunch, but I took a gamble and brought some anyway," she said as she crossed the room to the kitchen and placed her bag on the table. Leaning over George she kissed him lightly and then began unloading the bag.
She had brought soup and sandwiches from a deli near her apartment, and they all ate together talking about her life. Candy sat in George's lap throughout the entire affair. The stripper detailed herself to the Prescott's without prodding, and Nathan watched his father relax almost from the moment she entered, and finally settle into a zone of comfort as they all talked.
The name wasn't Candy, but actually Melanie. She was only thirty years old, and lived alone, having no children. It seemed that she had divorced two years ago, and the ex had left her with nothing but bad credit. They had been living lavishly for their income, and he had "taken care" of everything financially. After the split he took off to some other state and disappeared. The creditors had pounced on her afterward and she hadn't tried to do anything but pay. The job she had as a secretary didn't pay nearly enough to take care of anything though. Collections took her car, and the house she had bought with him. So her clothes had come down, and her income rose. Melanie had finally covered all the debts a few months ago, and was now just saving to leave dancing altogether. Her plan was to keep at it until her body said it was time to quit, and go back to secretarial work, hopefully with a nice house and car in hand.
Knowing what was going to happen next, Nathan made some excuses, grabbed his keys, and rose to leave. When he looked back through the window before starting his truck he saw Melanie pulling the yellow top over her head, still sitting in dad's lap.
He was planning on buying a cell phone, and killing some time. But ended up meandering around the mall after purchasing a phone instead. Being in control of things made him feel different from the people he walked past. All Nathan would need was just one hair, and any one of them would do whatever he asked. It made him feel confident, setting himself apart from them...special.
The sales people at the phone store were straight with him, and required a deposit before giving him a contract for a cell phone. Not bothered by it, he figured since he had no credit whatsoever that it was no surprise they wanted to protect their investment.
From the moment he had the phone until he decided to wander back home, he just walked, and looked. Not through the windows of the storefronts at the merchandise like the other mall patrons, but at the other patrons themselves. Since he met Dani, he didn't want to choose people to take locks from just to please him physically. Instead he found himself wanting people who would be in positions to improve other things. At first it was ideas of store managers who would sell him things cheaply, then he went on to looking at the people walking, trying to guess what they did for a living and mentally debating the use it would be to him.
Without any more idea what he wanted than when he started, he headed back home. It was much later when he arrived, and both Dad and Melanie were gone. Friday night would be work for both so it didn't bother him. He spent the rest of the evening, and in fact most of the rest of the weekend, day dreaming about what types of people he would get, and what types of things would make suitable locks for the people. Melanie stayed with them throughout the weekend, only making brief stops at her apartment for extra clothing. He and dad both took to calling her "Mel" and she even cleaned the whole house the way one would do a "spring" cleaning.
Monday morning Nathan forced himself up with the alarm, and dressed for work. He could head dad snoring through the walls. After tying his shoes he made it to the fridge for some cereal and found a list of food items they might need soon hung on it with a large magnetic letter F. Stuffing the list in his pocket he decided to pick the things up on his way home. Melanie was proving to be one of the better things about the book's first chapter.
Once he was out the door he managed to drive to the new site without incident, and find Robert's truck. The site was massive, much larger than the previous job, and had two additional crews besides the one he belonged to. Robert found him quickly however, and pulled him aside.
"Big as hell eh? It's supposed to be a resort hotel when we're done." Robert spoke low and easy.
"Come on, the company owner wants to talk to all us crew guys before we start. He's got all of us on this one job right now, so he wants to tell us not to fuck up," he continued.
John Gofelt, the owner was a rotund bald white man of medium height. He had khaki pants and a green dress shirt that looked as if it could barely contain his girth. A large unlit cigar hung from his lips. He gave them a quasi-inspirational talk about attention to detail, and then took some questions. Predictably only the men who were old hands in the company or in positions of authority had any.
Nathan was completely uninterested in the whole thing, until Mr. Gofelt tried to light his cigar with a golden lighter, the kind that you close with a flick of your wrist when you are done with it. The lighter, it seems, refused to work, and he ended up setting it on a stack of lumber while one of the foremen offered his own lighter. Almost as soon as he had the cigar lit, a loud crash was over heard and everyone started moving quickly.
Apparently one of the trucks delivering materials for the job had backed into a row of concrete barriers dropped off by an earlier truck. The noise scattered everyone, and Mr. Gofelt wheeled toward the truck roaring profanities at it like only a man who has done construction for most of his life can. Everyone else ran to the barriers and truck trying to assess the damage.
Everyone but Nathan that is...his eyes were locked forward, staring at the gold lighter still perched on the lumber stack. It was too good to be true. All that concern about whom to get a lock from, and now the owner of his company was handing one out.
Carefully looking to see if anyone else was around, Nathan walked smoothly past the lumber, palming the lighter in his right hand with a short wave of his arm. Not slowing his movement the entire time, he walked straight away from it toward the concrete barriers where everyone else was huddled, and slipped the golden item into his front pocket.
By the lunchtime, Nathan was near euphoric. Everything was going his way. The other apprentice also started with a shovel in his hand, and was letting Nathan show him the ropes. Most of the crew from the previous job was treating him as if he were above the new guy too.
Sitting in the bed of his truck, munching on a sandwich, Nathan decided to give Dani a call. She answered on the third ring, and he could tell she was excited. After a few "How was your weekend?" minutes, he asked her when she would be available to go out. She asked him to pick her up outside the dorm Wednesday after work, and that was that. So far he had a new lock, a decent situation at the job site, and a date. Not a bad beginning to the week.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, work was the same. The job wasn't moving full speed yet, and Nathan was still thrilled about his luck with the lighter. After work Wednesday though, his nerves started up. He rushed home to shower and change, deciding not to dress up, but rather to get a clean shirt and jeans and keep moving. When he was back in the truck and on his way, he called her again to let her know he'd be there in a few minutes.
