As he went downstairs he heard the bathroom door open and his sisters door slam shut. That meant she was still angry at him. He smiled.
As he got down stairs he heard the post drop onto the doormat and covered his ears because he knew what that meant. Tyson their little Jack Russell came bounding in from the living room moving so fast she nearly tripped herself up. She was barking frantically as she did every morning when the post came. Weekdays it wasn’t so bad as the house was usually up at this time anyway, but weekends there was many a curse uttered and argument about ‘shutting that dog up’ Some from him but most from his dad.
He waited a few minutes until the worst of the barking had faded and after uncovering his ears shouted the dog.
‘Tyson, here girl, Tyson’
The dog seemed to realise that nothing else was going to come through the letterbox and ran towards him. Not quite as quickly but still fast enough for Alan to move aside as she tried to stop before reaching the kitchen floor and failed. He stepped aside just as Tyson skidded on all fours and went hurtling past him only to stop after bouncing of one of the kitchen units.
‘Awww poor girl, come here’ He bent down and the dog came to him, head bowed and looking dog ashamed. ‘hey girl, you alright’ He stroked the dog and fussed her head and ears. She responded by jumping at him and making sure that he lost his balance and ended up sitting on the floor. Quick as a flash he got back up and dusted himself down
‘Now look what you made me do, bad dog’ He saw the dog cringe and his voice lightened ‘its ok girl, just don’t want to get the suit dirty’
She seemed to accept his apology and returned to the living room and the comfort of her bed.
He heard the footsteps on the stairs and a second later a manly cough.
‘Making a brew dad, is mum up?
‘Yeah she is up, that bloody dog made sure of that’
Alan knew that the tone would be short lived and that in a few minutes his dad would be fussing the dog just like every weekday morning.
‘What time you got to be at that interview today’
‘About eleven’
‘Well I can drop you into town about ten if that is any use’
‘that would be good, I checked the buses and there is one going near the Barness , leaves town at ten fifteen, says it gets to the Estate at ten forty-five. That will give me fifteen minutes to find the place.’
‘Shouldn’t be too difficult, there aren’t that many buildings down there. I thought that lot had been scheduled for demolition?’
‘Well Arnott said that the building they were in was just a temporary one until they have their new one built. Think he said that its somewhere over Farwood way’
‘must be some company if they building over that way, seen some of the plans for the renovation over there’ His dad let out an approving whistle ‘you got to take out a mortgage to buy a litter bin over there’
‘Well that could be where I end up working’ He put his hands on his lapels and pretended to be a chairman of the board. ‘Yes I think that we should build a new 3 million pound office suite for me, after all I am worth it you know’ He smiled at his dad and he just hung his head and sighed.
‘yes ok son, if you say so’
‘It might not be so far fetched John, he just needs a bit of luck and anything is possible’
Both of them jumped at the sound of the voice and Paul turned to see his mother standing at the entrance to the living room.
‘where did you come from?’ asked his dad
‘I have been listening from the living room. Didn’t want to disturb you two finally talking about something serious’
They both looked at each other and smirked. The last In-depth discussion they had entered into started of friendly enough and then escalated into a slanging match with raised voices and boiling tempers. It was about who played the better offside trap in the premier league.
‘Like I said before if Alan wants this job bad enough, he will do what he can to get it, so don’t you start belittling his chances’
‘I was only saying……’
‘I know what you were saying’ and with this she turned to Alan dismissing his fathers pending argument.
She walked to the sink and started to fill the kettle. His dad had given up on the conversation and was leafing through the letters that he had picked up off the mat before coming into the kitchen
‘bill, bill, bill, junk, bill, letter here for you Alan, bill,’
He held up his hand and Alan reached out for the letter. It was neatly addressed to him and he slid a finger under the rim and opened it. The letter inside was the same as always.
Dear Mr Crossland
Thank you very much for you recent application. We regret however that at this time there are no vacancies for a person with your qualification and experience. We will however keep your details on record and if any vacancies should appear you will be notified.
Yours
Mrs Short (personnel for Aceline Electronics)
He folded the letter, slipped it back into the envelope, took one last look at it and proceeded to rip it up. He ripped it, then again, then once more for good measure. He was sick of getting the same reply (when he got any reply at all). The last application form he had filled in his anger had got the better of him and under name he had put ‘whatever it takes to get the job’, under sex he had put ‘if it gets me the job’ and various other witty remarks until the end paragraph when he had really gone to town.
‘Please state why you feel you would be valuable to the company and what difference you could make’.
His reply had been
‘ I think that its about time this company stopped being a little piss pot excuse and started taking over the world. I could bring my sly mind and make people beg me not to take their products and stick them up their asses. P.S. This world is going to shit………..!!’
He had read it, smiled and then thrown it into the bin at the side of his computer desk. Maybe the world wasn’t ready for him yet.
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