2 JOB HUNT ON HOLD-E

The next morning, rays of sunlight seeped through the curtain and flashed its heat on Astrid's face. Annoyed with the sunlight, she turned her face away and pulled her blanket up.

` Young lady, you'd better hurry it's already 8.00 am', Grandpa Jones whispered into her ears.

'Grandpa. You are too close and your breath smells of garlic and onions'. Astrid mumbled with her eyes peeking out of her comforter. Her pale brown eyes shone with flecks of amber in her iris.

`Then you better hurry. Otherwise, this breath will take your soul and mind away!', Grandpa Jones laughed out loud.

`Oh God, that was a lame joke.' Astrid said and left her room to shower and prepare herself to go to the market.

`Have something to eat,' said Grandpa Jones motioning his hand towards the table filled with bread, butter, milk, and jam. A typical English breakfast sans tea. Grandpa hates tea.

`Grandpa, may I say something?', Astrid spoke while looking at her grandfather intently.

`And what….?', before he could finish his sentence Astrid hugged him tightly and kissed him on his cheek.

`I don't know what I must have done in this life or my previous life to deserve someone like you. I love you so so much pop. And if you are here with me, anyone else is damned. I will look for a job and we will be together, today, tomorrow and ever', Astrid said with a tear sliding down her cheek.

'Silly girl. You are my granddaughter and my only family. I love you too'. Grandpa Jones hugged her back and patted her back soothingly.

'Let's eat together shall we?', Grandpa Jones said and pulled a chair for Astrid.

'After you pop', Astrid sat and waited for her grandfather to start eating. Only then Astrid ate her breakfast and cleaned up before leaving the house. Both left the house; Astrid went job hunting while Grandpa Jones foraged into the forest to look for new plants and herbs for their oils and creams.

Both understood things to be done in the house. Grandpa Jones would cook and look for plants, and Astrid would clean up and compound the crucial herbs.

Astrid walked for 2 miles while listening to her music on her phone. It was quite outdated, but it served its purpose for phone calls and listening to music. Astrid knew the map of this jungle-like the back of her hand. Every tree, every burrow, every crook, and nook were imprinted in her mind.

She chooses the shortest path and soon reached the edge of the forest where a highway began. She walked along the road while keeping a lookout for a bus. She could see the bus railway on the road shone a green colour indicating a bus nearby.

She was nearing a bus stop when she heard the sound of a car driven at a high speed. Astrid turned her head to look behind and saw a blood-red Phantom Rolls Royce VIII with its roof open. She could see the driver wearing a Ray-Ban sunglass and a Hawaiian printed shirt. He held a bottle of some alcohol on his left hand and held the steering wheel with a right hand. A deadly combination, she taught.

When Astrid was about to step into the bus stop which would alert the incoming bus of a passenger, the Rolls Royce did a splendid 360 degrees spin and swerved towards the bus stop heading right to her.

`Shit I need to save myself', Astrid thought and held on the pole of the bus stop and climbed upon it using her hands skilfully and just before the Rolls Royce hit the poll she used all her strength and pushed her legs to kick herself high and caught the nearest tree branch. Her hand barely managed to grasp the branch, but she was quick to swing herself to another branch until she was a few feet high above.

The car smashed into the bus stop and came to a screeching halt. The hood opened with smoke spewing out of it. The airbag popped open and the driver smacked his head on it. The bottle and the sunglass were thrown out of the car.

Astrid has breathing hard. She was mad with anger. She almost lost her life to a drunkard. She calmed her nerves by breathing in the air and the cool wind from the top of the tree calmed her racing heart and subdued her anger. Only when she was cool she looked down. And what she saw caught her breath in her throat.

The driver of the car was unscathed! He was not hurt at all. How is this possible? Astrid's mind started racing to look for a possible answer. Could he be a vampire? He must be! Shall I help him? Are they capable of self-healing? The driver of the car groaned loudly and he looks on his left and right slowly as if realizing what he had done.

Astrid saw a bus approaching. Oh dear, the green light was activated. The bus will switch its path and stop by the bus stop. And in this case a mangled car and a drunk driver as its passenger. She could see the bus approaching as she was up high on the air. She had to think quickly. She looked down and saw the driver was struggling to open the car door. He could have jumped out instead of opening the door. What an idiot, she thought.

Astrid closed her eyes and cursed. When she opened her eyes, it was dark with determination to help the fellow down below. She swings down the tree and dropped herself on the distorted hood of the car with a loud thud landing firmly on her feet.

`Hey, are you ok?', Astrid spoke.

`What? Who are you?', the driver spoke in a daze.

`You need to leave your car now. There is a bus on this very path', Astrid mentioned with her eyes squinting to look for the approaching bus. She quickly pressed the stop button to prevent the bus from stopping at the destroyed bus stop. The light on the road turned red.

` Ha, ha, ha…You got to be kidding me. I'm on an aeroplane and there is no bus on-air today', the Hawaiian shirt spewed nonsense.

Astrid was shocked beyond belief. This guy is dead drunk and he is spewing nonsense.