Chapter 3: Misplaced Hope

Caleb found himself sitting in the dinner eating the first hot meal he'd had in what must have been weeks. 

Of course he could have bought something to eat at anytime if he really wanted to, he'd been hitting the pawn shop quite often recently, but he'd been saving every penny that he could scrap together so that he could buy anything that he might need if he managed to actually land any of the jobs that he'd recently applied for.

It was while waiting for such a call back that he'd surprisingly invited out to lunch by the young lady who was now sitting opposite to him in order to discus an offer he didn't think he could refuse.

"I hope everything's to your liking? I apologize if its not. I ordered ahead in case there happened to be lunch rush...but it seems I was worried over nothing." 

Caleb looked up from the steaming plate in front of him and locked eyes with Marisa Connell, the valedictorian of his graduating class and more importantly the daughter of the C.E.O of a flourishing real-estate company. 

"N-no everything's perfect. Thank you." He smiled widely before taking a sip of steaming coffee.

Caleb kept his eyes trained on to Marisa as she slowly started to pull a large envelope out of her handbag. She handed it over to him before also pulling out a few other things and placing them on the table. 

Caleb tentatively held the envelope before using the butter knife to ripe it open. He gently pulled out its contents, only to see a page filled with fine printed text. 

It didn't take him long to realize he was holding an employment contract.

"Excellent." Marisa seemed intent of getting this 'interview' done with quickly and dove right into the meat of the matter.

"Well, as I'm sure you already know, the reason why we're having this meeting is because at the moment there is a position for a temporary cleaner at my current branch of the company." 

The confidence and pride Caleb could feel rolled off of Marisa was almost suffocating and he wanted so badly to roll his eyes at her, but he kept smiling like nothing was wrong.

"If you accept the post, you'll be expected to clean the homes before and after a open showing. That includes of course the general basic yardwork and upkeep of the properties as well as internal general cleanings. You'll be held to a very high standard so I hope you're up to the task?"

Caleb shook his head before catching himself and responding quickly 

"Of course, I'm your guy. You won't have any problem with me and I'm sure you'll be more than happy with my quality of work."

Marisa squinted her eyes and stared at Caleb for a moment, but in the end she just sat back in her chair.

"I hope so for both of our sakes, afterall, I am doing you a favor. A simply high school diploma, believe it or not, isn't enough to qualify for work at our company. Usually you'd have needed several years of experience and even then you'd have to go through a probationary period of at least two months before you'd officially be apart of our team." 

Marisa waved her hand dismissively before sighing.

"If anything you need to thank Jackson for getting me to help you, if I didn't owe him a favor and this job wasn't relatively simple I never would have given you an offer in the-"

"Jackson?" 

Caleb's heart skipped a beat as the image of a tall, broad shouldered man swinging a metal pipe flashed through his mind. 

"Why would I need to thank Jackson? I thought you were giving me this offer because you knew of my current situation."

Marisa raise her eyebrows in confusion at Calebs statement before grunting in displeasure.

"What do you mean your current situation? The only reason I'm here, the only reason I contacted you, was because Jackson said you were in need of a job and you were willing to do just about anything. He recommended you and since we were school mates I knew you weren't a trouble maker, hence why I was willing to give you a shot."

A foreboding feeling of dread had slowly started to worm its way into to Caleb's stomach.

"He didn't tell you I was homeless? That I've been homeless for the past few months?"

The shock and disbelief that flashed across Marisa's face told him all he needed to know.

"Your homeless?! What the hell. Why did that bastard even recommend you to me for?"

"What do you mean?" Caleb asked, confused at Malisa words.

"You're homeless which is never good for business in the long term even if I could spin It for a good publicity bit. Not to mention that quite frankly I'm not running a charity." 

Marisa pushed her plate of food aside and started packing away her belongings 

"Homeless people are the worst type of people to hire. No fixed place of abode means its practically impossible to keep you on the books, and it'd be a huge hassle to get you on the insurance roll, much less the tax roll. Not to mention we'd have to be wary of some humanitarian groups accusing us of using you for cheap labor. All of which means we can't claim any benefits from hiring you, and would just be putting ourself at a risk in the grand scheme of things."

"So what does that mean for me?" he asked as the foreboding feeling was slowly growing as Malisa's words registered in Caleb's mind 

"It means that I can't hire you, and chances are no one else would either. Normally even if you are homeless you could find a shelter or something to use as a place of fixed address, that way you could at least have the minimum requirements to qualify for a job. Sadly there aren't any shelters around here which mean your out of luck. I'd suggest finding someone willing to let you crash with them till you get back on your feet but obviously, if you've been on the streets for the last few moths you don't have anyone that you can go to. Honestly I don't know what to tell you." She shook her head in resignation 

"B-but I need this. This is the first break I've gotten since my Dad kicked me out. I-I know you don't owe me anything but please, just give a chance to show you that I can do this...Please!" Caleb clenched his fist in frustration, the contract still in hand suffering as a result. 

Marisa looked at Caleb with pity in her eyes before reaching over the table to taking back the contract still clenches in his hands. 

"Look I want to help you, I do, if I brough you on, any mistakes you make and any short comings you may have? I'm the one who's going to look bad and it's my reputation that going to be on the line. There are already people who aren't too happy with the fact that I have the position that I currently hold. Even if I have the qualification, everyone just says its because of my dad that I got this job. I can't afford to take a chance on you, because I can't afford to take any chances at all. I'm sorry."

With that final apology Marisa stood too her feet, paid the bill and left.

Caleb kept sitting at the table keeping his fist clenched beneath the table cloth as he kept replaying Marisa words in his head.

He didn't know what he was supposed to do now and the feelings he'd been keeping bottled up inside came rushing up all at once. 

The bitterness at the fact that he was willing to beg for a chance and was yet still denied an opportunity left an ugly taste in the back of his throat; the anger at the fact that he'd even gotten his hopes up in the first place when he knew nothing ever seemed to go right for him made him clench his teeth in frustration; the ever present void that had been slowly growing ever since he realized that no one cared about him, made him wonder why he was even trying anymore. Why bother when nothing you do makes a difference. 

A tear fell onto the tabletop and he quickly wiped his eyes. Crying never solved anything and he'd be damn if he let himself cry over something that he had no control over.

So Caleb kept sitting there, shaking and choking back his sobs. Refusing to let the others in the dinner treat him as a spectacle as he had a breakdown.

***

A few hours later Caleb walked out of the dinner. He'd eaten both his share and Marisa's and decided to keep rolling with the punches once again. 

He'd thought long and hard about what had been said and decided to make the best of things. Now that he knew the biggest problems that stood between him and employment, he'd be able to do something about it. 

As he made his way towards the park, his mind once more wandered to thoughts of Jackson. The last time they'd met was when him and his band of misfits had made a piñata out of him and left him sprawled on the dirty alleyway floor.

 He didn't know what he had done to make them target him but he knew that he hadn't deserved the beating they'd given him. 

What he couldn't understand though, was why they did it. Jackson and his crew were the big bad bullies throughout most of high school, but they never took it too far. Sure they teased and harassed people from time to time but they hardly if ever got physical, and even when they did it was nothing more than a few slaps to the face. 

They were mostly harmless which is why they never really got in much trouble about their bullying antics. 

With all that said though, Caleb knew that Jackson was capable of hold a serious grudge and if he had taken time out of his busy day to harass him a few weeks ago, then there was no way that Jackson had gotten him a job opportunity out of the kindness of his heart, especially since he never really had a heart to begin with 

The foreboding feeling that had started to fade to the back of his mind started creeping back once again and he quickly made his way towards home. 

He decided to take the more scenic route through the park to help cool his head. Even though the day had started of on a pretty bad note, he at least had made some progress which was better than none at all.

As he walked through the parks walkway he as surprised to see there seemed to be quite a few people who were standing along the rivers edge today. There must have been something in the river that was seemingly capturing their attention. 

Out of curiosity Caleb also drew close to the rivers edge. What he saw brought a small smile to face. On the surface of the river was a small armada of newspaper boats sailing along with the current. 

As he looked further down the river he saw a long line of boats snaking along the rivers path until they faded out of sight. A few of them seemed to have been washed ashore on the current and a few of the kids and their parents were placing the grounded boats back into the water.

Caleb simply stood on the pathway watching it all unfold before him, enjoying the beautiful scene and the jubilant feelings that seemed to infect everyone who happened to pass by.

A fleeting thought of longing flashed through Caleb's mind as he watched the children playing with their parents, before he smothered it entirely.

He'd already come to terms with his situation when it came to a mom and a dad and he didn't need to, nor did he want to start questioning his resolve at the moment. 

As he watched on from the sidelines he saw that one of the boats seemed to have washed up among the river grass but no one seemed to have noticed it just yet. He looked around at the frolicking people before making his way over to the stranded boat. 

He gently pulled it out from amongst the weeds and was about to gently place it back into the water when something caught his eye.

For what ever reason Caleb decided to take a really good at the boat in his hand. 

It as only now that he was so much closer to it he noticed, that what he originally thought was news paper...wasn't.