1 Barrett Adelaide

It was late night duty again at my part time job, once the trays and other baskets were all washed up, I fastened my movements and arranged it all at the top counter. Careful not to slide or fall, I managed to finish in a minute. I look at the clock, its quarter before eleven, then I pull off the cover and water starts to drain from the main heater. Then I grabbed the mop and raised the pale with sanitizer and soap mixed ready. Swept the floor from right to left as my team lead thought me so it’ll be easier, in fact he is right. It's easier to sweep the dirt and much less effort in sweeping.

“Barrett, you think you’ll be done in a minute? ``The night duty manager called me out, I saw him already removing his tie and preparing to go home, the mini office was almost cleaned up. “Yes sir, I'm just sweeping the floor last” I replied and rushed with it. 

“Okay I'll be in the dining area, hurry up and get your things before I turn off the lights." I still have to change from my working uniform once I get off, the way to the locker is already dark so before the manager closes all the lights, I better be done fast.

At the last stroke of the mop, I immediately return it to the cleaning cabinet and just leave the water in the pail, the morning shift will surely use it because of the sanitized water. As I walked my way, I started removing my apron and the cap as well as the hairnet. “Whew!” Finally, my scalp can breathe the coolness of the air conditioner, it's been itchy having worn those nets all day.

“I already clocked you out at ten thirty, would that be fine? It's just a little cleaning and there’s no more customers ``, told by my manager who’s sitting at the dining table. But it's eleven and five minutes already, I just sighed for  the half an hour I worked. If I knew this would happen, I shouldn’t have swept the floor, wasting my spent fifteen minutes with the unpaid overtime.

“You clocked it already, can’t be helped,” I replied, then went to the locker room. 

I saw the kitchen staff had changed to his casual clothes already. “Oh kid, you’re done with the endorsement?” referring to the cleaning, “Yeah, if I know I shouldn’t have done a full endorsement, it's only me doing it anyway.”I smiled bitterly, and then grabbed my bag.

“Haha, yeah you shouldn’t , did the manager clock you out already?” he asked. I saw him holding his time card and it is still not signed.

“Yeah, ten thirty and thirty overtime-thank you for your hard work.” I said sarcastically.

“What? You have to complain about that, you still worked for that half hour!” he frowned at it and I just sighed from it, a part timer like me can’t make demands compared to my seniors who are all regulars. “The endorsement is not part of work, and besides there’s no more customers so it's fine” I just shrugged my shoulders and packed my apron in my bag, pulled out my jacket and looked for the necklace that my mom gave me when I was a child. It is my lucky charm. Since we are not allowed to wear accessories I usually leave it here in my bag. As soon as I locked the necklace at my neck, I put my jacket on. My uniform is sweaty but I have no time to change clothes so I’ll just cover it up.

Then we went out of the store and saw the manager smoking. When he noticed us, he passed the keys to the kitchen staff and knowing what to do, he pulled down the barrier and locked it. He returned the keys to the manager, “Then i’ll just see you guys tomorrow” bid farewell, he opened the door of his car which is parked in front of the store, usually it must be at the mall parking but since it’s closing hour, he must have driven it there. 

“How heartless, he should have offered a lift at least to you kid” the kitchen guy shaking his head at how the manager just left us two alone in front of the store.

“Well, it’s just like him. Manager must be in a hurry” I know this manager never has the heart for his staff, who would clock out the unpaid thirty minutes of your work and leave his staff in the middle of the dead night?

We start to make our way to the main road. I'm lucky enough that the seniors in my part time job are kind and they usually walk me on the way to the bus stop. Since it's late at night, instead of using the overpass my co-worker and I decided to jaywalk instead.

“Whew, just look at the overpass, it's creepy the lights must be stolen again.” I hopped over the road fence and looked up there and paused. There’s a dog running up there, there must be some stray.

“Yeah, we rarely use it as well, those other guys at night shift, they said it's a haunted one. So we never cross paths there. ” he told us, he grabbed onto my  backpack as if to assist me as we passed by the other side of the road with our half walk-running pace. 

A hair rising howl of a dog suddenly emerged in the middle of the silent road, “That’s eerie, just in timing with your haunted story.” I told him. Luckily I am with someone and the street lights are working tonight, then several cars still pass by. As we reached the other side of the road, something fast ran in front of us. We suddenly stopped on our track and I felt the grip on my back pack tightened, a slight pull backward almost made me stumble. A sudden gust of strong wind also made me close my eyes. I think dirt got into it and I scratched it using the back of my palm.

“Hey! That stupid dog it surprised me!” he shouted at the innocent dog who was running. 

“Poor strays, they must be looking for food.” I said, having pity for those fur pets.

“It's because the owners do not take care of their pets. If they decide to take in one, they should be fully responsible so there would be no strays like those!” He has a point but somehow, not all pet owners are like that.

“I just remembered when i was a child, there was that little puppy that my mom gifted me on my seventh birthday” i started telling my childhood memory to him which I rarely tell anyone.

“Oh really you have one? “ he replied, though I know he is uninterested.

“Yeah, then one day, we played at the nearby woods in the house and I lost it.” I bitterly continued my story, “Maybe I am an irresponsible one just like the other people you mentioned.” I slowly stare at the road we’re walking, kicking the stones as I step on.

Suddenly, he brushed my head with his strong arms, “Hey! What the - - !” I protest at the sudden gesture treating me like a kid.

“That’s not so like you kid! Of course, you’re a child, how could the parents let the kid raise the pet on its own? It must be done altogether!” he said, trying to lift up my spirits. 

Sometimes, these strangers or people barely give me more strength and are more reliable.

“Haha I know, I’m just diverting your attention seeing how scared you are after telling that creepy overpass story.”I started to tease him.

“You! Cheeky brat who’s scared!? I’m just surprised!” he refuted back and our bickering at the dead of night echoed as we reached the nearest bus stop. Not knowing the news that will shock us.