It's twenty minutes past nine o'clock on a perfect Friday late July. Wolfgang is in Menesha, a small community outside of Lake Geneva where he lived. He's at a lovely woman's house named Cassandra. They are both laying naked on Cassandras back porch. Her husband is away on business and the both of them are maximimizing their time together while he is away. This type of behavior has become "business as usual" with Wolf who is no longer interested in any sort of relationship since he got divorced nearly four years ago. Wolfgang is an incredibly tall, almost anerexic looking in the way he is so skinny. In his late thirties, he's quite an attractive looking man. He's got a very welcoming personality and the people at his work would describe him as unbelievably approachable. He was often the one people confided in and confessed secrets and rumours to. There was just this natural charasmatic charm that came from him that so many people found so attractive. Women, especially Wolfgang's ex-Wife said to him in the past that there was something magical in the way that he could look at a person. That "it felt different" compared to being simply looked at by another person. He was a Chef by profession for most of his adult life before swapping career paths in his mid-thirties, falling into the retail industry, finding himself working in a Meat Department and taking up an apprentiship to become a Professional Meat Cutter. Whatever that might mean. To Woflgang most things in life were always taken with a great grain of salt. From the most trivial of things to life's most monumental decisions. Wolfgang took upon the randomness of the roll of dice to guide him along in life. For him the meaning of life didn't hold much meaning or depth and he approached each and every day in this manner. Arguabley this is what adds merit to his charisma, because he truly lives each of his days to their fullest extent, no matter where these activities land on the moral spectrum. And activites and such behaviors landing far beyond socially-acceptable were the regular for Wolf. Since being divorced he been romantically involved with several women, almost all of whom were married or in relationships. Why is this? Wolfgang never cheated on his Wife and she never cheated on him, but their marriage soured nearly days after putting their love on public display for the world to see. They grew apart nearly after the words "I do" came out of their mouth. Sleeping in separate bedrooms of their house before the first Christmas of their marriage. Such a odd and strange event for his ex-Wife to have to endure. Their relationship while they dated was nothing negative like their marriage was. There just seemed to be this inivisible switch that got flipped after they exchanged vows. KARA Kara was in the medical industry by profession and made incredible amounts of money. When she met Wolfgang online before they started dating, she met him at a very troubled time in his life. He was using the website they met on to decompress about the stresses of his life, and it was by way means of a random comment on social media that intersected the two inititally. Neigther one of these fine individuals are keen on looking back on this time in hindsight, but mostly because the reality of it all was their relationship had the tried-and-true markings of any other failed relationship; the beginning of the union of their lives was also the climax. So how true is the fact that these types of relationship never need to even sway into the grounds of romance to achieve their maximum potential. Kara was a short, pale-skinned, socially-reserved, borderline-feminist. She had the most gorgeous dyed red hair, that didn't look too fake. It was that subtle red that made you take a double take. She hated children with a passion unlike anything else in the world. Hating children was so much a part of her life that it was a manditory requirement with anybody she involved herself with for any amount of time. During the later years in high-school and then increasingly moreso when she became an adult, when her "child hating friends" would one-by-one fall off the bandwagon and get themselves a Husband or a Wife and start spawning children, Kara would excommunicate these people out of her life as if they neve existed. As if her profile pages for her presenses online didn't make it quite clear enough, Kara make it really clear to Wolfgang how she felt about children. Living in what she sort of prided as a double-life, Kara liked to dress up on what she would describe as her "natural state", clad head-to-toe in Gothic attire, dancing in a nightclubs with people who walked and talked just like her. She was into role-playing sexual fantasties with her partners and at the end of the night she liked to go home to her own personal living quarters, scrub off her painted face and peel off her skin tight fishnet stockings and faux-leather outfits. She would like to then wake up and go back to the professional world and do her professional things among professional people. Quite possibly another attribution to being charasmatic, Wolfgang is also what you could call a "yes man" and makes it quite literally habit to be a social chameleon about nearly every subject under discussion. Always trying to sit on the fence of every confrontation. He would often find himself doing things that he didn't necessarily want to be doing because of his inability to tell people the word "no". Growing up, Wolfgang had crippling anxiety issues, developing almost a fear for the word "no", doing whatever he could possibly do to avoid hearing those words said to him. This in turn gave him the afflicition of being pocessed by the idea that he couldn't say no to anybody. It lead him down many odd avenues during the course of his life. From weird-paired romantic relationships to dead-end jobs that Wolfgang really had no business doing. Kara enjoyed this part of Wolf while they were dating, and especially while they were married but did not appreciate how the course of their relationship started to turn towards the end of their marriage. CASSANDRA Wolfgang met Cassandra at his place of business. He worked for small-scale, big-reach grocery store who aimed to take out the behemeoth Amazon Foods. He was an apprentice to become a Professional Meat Cutter. The company he worked for also owned a mucher larger chain of supermarkets which also sold general merchandise. Their focus on business was aimed at nobody other than Walmart, no matter how ignornant that might seem to be from a realistic perspective. But they had a strong emphasis on their produce department of their store and that was sort of the selling point of the store as a whole. "The best tomatoes in town, and they have Samsung televisions and Adidas shoes for sale as well" is how Wolf would often describe people who were otherwise unfamiliar with the place. When Wolf started his apprenticeship he was bouncing between locations being trained by various people who were more talented in particular areas of meat cutting. However he spent a lot of his time in Lake Geneva and this was the store were Cassandra did all of her grocery shopping. Wolfgang made note of her almost right away, but the honest reality of the Meat Room is simple - nearly every women gets noticed by the blood-saturated-jacket-wearing Meat Cutters who were in the Cutting Room. The Cutting Room is a refridgerated room the size of a four-car garage, with three bandsaws, and a machine that looks like it belongs in an assembly-line of some sort. This magical device that wraps and labels meat with the literal touch of a button. A dedicated sink system for the washing of the meat cutting tools and devices and a hand-washing station. The only other thing in the room at times is a volume knob on the wall that controls how loud the overhead speakers of the store are in the Cutting Room. The Cutters are always getting flack from upper-managment about the knob being turned down to zero. They think it because the Meat Cutters are trying to ignore the pages that might be for meat department on the overheads when the reality is they simply turn it down to hear the Bluetooth speaker they have stashed in a cardboard box behind the Magic Labeling Machine. The "Meat Cutters" as the company calls them, the Men of the Department looked upon themselves as The Meat Brotherhood and they took this role very seriously. They had a Facebook and and Instagram page for the idea and it was quite popular with the locals. Cassandra was one of the locals that "liked" the Facebook page and being an administrator of the Meat Brotherhood page on Facebook, this is how Wolf found out Cassandra was married. One day it was midafternoon on a Saturday when a gorgeous women came running frantically into the store. As she quickly walked past the Meat Department, she veered towards the garbage can right on the other side of the glass of the Cutting Room. She knelt down to get one of the shopping baskets that were stacked up next to the garbage can. Rafael, one of the Brotherhood peeks over the sill of the Cutting Room down at Cassandra and stands back up erect and normal before looking to Wolfgang - "That was one of the greatest things you ever did for this store, was putting those shopping baskets there boss." Rafael bends his right arm and pokes it out at Wolf. Wolf does the same and the two bump elbows. An activity done between people who are wearing cutting gloves or have otherwise dirty hands at the time. A social-gesture and trend that Rafael and Wolfgang started at the company about a year ago. Rafael also holds nearly two decades of professional cooking under his belt. He was of average height, had brown hair and always had a five o'clock shadow going on his face. He didn't push the "no facial hair" envelope at work at all compared to the others in the department. Wolfgang, Brian, and sometimes Robert all pushed the limits until they got publically denounced in front of everyone during some "team huddle" that the Overseers would rarely have at work, always in the morning, always before they had coffee and their words made no sense. When they would mispeak words their struggling to read off their clipiboard because the reality is they have probably been up for less than an hour before starting this god-awful waste of time. As much as their professional backgrounds were one of the same, the backdrop of their backgrounds were starkly different from one another. Rafael always worked in kitchens that were owned by corporate entities. He learned how to roll raviolil in a corporate kitchen that was more reminiscent of a doctors office than a professiona kitchen. Wolfgang got nearly all his professional cooking experience working on or off the clock, in the back of family-owned, hidden gem (or hole-in-the-wall) type of establishments. Oftentimes, especially at the end of his cooking career ― drunk as fuck. Rafael did most of his cooking career in the city of McHenry, IL. This is the city he went to High School in and also where Cait went to school. Despite being married having three children of his own, Rafael still very much had that "Chef Blood" in him. Commenting on every remotely attractive ones that walk into the store at Kramer. Always putting the other guys in the Meat Department on the spot, "What about that one there" he would would say to Robert, Brian or Wolfgang. Cassandra was a favorite across all of the men in the Meat Brotherhood. Almost like syncrhonized athlethes at the Olympics they would stop at stare at Cassandra as she walked past the Department. The difference between Wolfgang and the rest of the men in the department, he was divorced but he was also technically single. Being the Apprentice the other Cutters liked to give him shit about "go get her" in reference to beautiful customers and coworkers alike. But as much as they gave him flack, they truly did appreciate him being around quite a bit. For it was Wolfgang in combination with Rafael that got the department to truly start behaving like a Unit of Individual Operation. They took the things they knew what made the kitchens function properly that they had worked at in the past and they used those skills in combination to the things that they knew that Kramer wanted done and made their own workflow instead of the one that the company wanted. From the outside looking in it appeared that they were following orders but the reality was they were doing what they all love doing, and doing so very passionately. It was a Monday at Kramer. One of the slowest days of the week in regards to sales but the Men of the Meat Brotherhood really enjoyed these days becase they ulitized it to catch up on the things they may have skipped over due to how busy business was over the weekend. This was another sort of behavior that Rafel and Wolfgang introduced to the Brotherhoood. "Don't worry about it, we'll take care of it on Monday" became the common phrase when the men said to one another when the bosses would go on about doing extra work over the weekend. Wolfgang was up front by the service case, knelt down cleaning up the area by the Seafood side of the case, by the Live Lobster Tank when Cassandra came in thru East entrance of the store, which was odd for her - as she normally came thru the main entrance in the central part of the store. These are just one of the many details that Wolfgang knows about her. Being super observant to what is going at all times, Wolfgang turns his heads and nods to Cassandra as she walks past the Service Case. Cassandra turns and smiles and waves at Wolf. Wolfgang waves back at her and sort of turns his body as she walks past following her with his eyes. As he watches her fade off into the Dairy department he notices Brian looking at him ― who also just made note of her walking past. He smirks and nods at Wolf, who does the same back to him but only in reverse. He continues to clean up the area by the Seafood section of the Case. Despite it technically breaking protocol, Wolfgang wants to clean off one of the sliding doors that sit behind the Tilapia and Catfish that they sell. A couple others who work in the Department who are not part of the Brotherhood are fantastically talented at making a mess of the Service area. He pops the glass door off the Service Case and takes it to the back by the sink. He scrubs down the door and then starts to run another sink full of fresh water to sanitize it before he pops it back into place. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Brian coming around the Pork Station towards the door of the Cutting Room. He holds his hands under the water for only a moment before shaking his hands while he walks around the wall separating him from the Service Case. Brian comes out of Cutting Room "Yes ma'am, what can I help you with!?" He says in his typical voice. He's saying these words to Cassandra. "I'm actually curious if anybody here has made risotto before!?" Cassandra says while looking at Jim and at Wolfgang. "I asked in the Deli and Produce and nobody knew what I was talking about!" Brian turns to Wolfgang: "You got this?" he asks. "Of course!" Wolf said to him. Brian turns away and heads back into the Cutting Room. Wolfgang walks out onto the Sales Floor with Cassandra, joins his hands together and says: "You ever made it before!?" Wolf asks her "Or had it before in a restaurant?" He notices Brian smiling at him from the Cutting Room in the background, behind Cassandra. "Well no, I've never made it but I have had it at a restaurant when my Husband and I were on vacation to New York fast year." She told Wolfgang. She went on to tell him that the only reason she ordered it was because she heard Gordon Ramsay bitching about it so much on the American television show Hell's Kitchen. This invoked a small-side conversation with one another about things not related to risotto but entirely related to Ramsey. Wolf was intrigued with the Chef's earlier television work in England when he was starting to become the person he is now know for being. "The good ol' days of Ramsay" as he called them to Cassandra. Cassandra is obviously shorter than Wolfgang who towers over almost everyone he's around. She is taller than the average female tho and is always clad in some sort of high-heeled version of some sort of footwear. The Meat Brotherhood are fully-convinced that she comes into the store (which she does routinely probably 5 out of the 7 days a week) to be validated by the gauking looks she gets by nearly every man that works in the store. Her hair was obviously dyed blonde and cut very short. The first time Cassandra and Wolfgang ever had a conversation outside of food-related things is when Wolfgang was working in the Deli at Kramer, the Department he was initially hired on to work in. She came in one day shortly after she first cut her hair short to the length it is now, compared to the length that it was, always past her shoulders, and always tied up. She came into the Deli and after Wolf told her to have a good day he said: "You cut your hair didn't you!?" to Cassandra. She nodded to him and he continued "It looks nice." A look of seriousness washes over her: "Funny you mention that, you noticed and my husband hasn't yet!" she said before walking away. After that day whenever she went to the Deli for anything she would sort of chicken-hawk the produce department doing random laps with her shopping cart looking at nothing over and over again, waiting until Wolf was clear of customer so she could be helped by him. He was always very cordial towards her and never flirted with her in any sort of way. Again it was just something about the way he looked at her that she liked. Wolfgang started to write down directions on his memopad that had always had in back pocket for Cassandra on how to make risotto. He got to his third page in his memopad before he turned to Cassandra and asked her "Do you have a minute to go sit down!?" She willing agreed and Wolfgang went over to the stand up coolers up against the wall and got Will off his stocking duties and had hom watch the Service Case. He went in back and grabbed a few sheets of graph paper from his binder (which had the words MEAT BROTHERHOOD ONLY scribbled in King Sized gauged Sharpie marker across the cover) and grabbed one of the clipboards and headed out the side door of the Meat department where he took Cassandra over to the Coffee Shop inside the store where they took a seat in the Common Area between that and the Deli. "But I have these couple of things to check out." Wolgang reassures her: "Hey no worries, we will have the Deli check you out while I write these down." She smiled at him but he didn't notice. He wrote down the instructions on how to make risotto from start to finish. She made a joke about how "she learns better by watching", a mild suggestion that again Wolf didn't pickup on even in the slightest. He folds the three pieces of graph paper up and handed them to Cassandra. She thanked him for his help. She was about to turn and head out the door with her cart when Wolf pulled out his wallet in front of Cassandra and pulled out a playing card out of what appeared to be a secret area of his wallet. At first glance it appears to be a standard issued Bicycle 6 of Hearts card but upon further investigation it has 10 letters written in what appear to be random order. In the middle of the card are the three digits that are also the area code for Lake Geneva and the two of the corners of the card have 3 and 4 digit numbers written on them. "If you happen to run into issues in the middle of cooking, don't hesitate to reach out." Wolfgang says to Cassandra as he extends his hand, which is holding the unique 6 of Hearts. She took it and said to him "Thank you. For everything!" Wolfgang was just about putting his finishing touches on his Seafood Case when suddenly he heard the subtle noise of his phone go off in his pocket. He pulls it out and sees a new message from a number not in his address book. When would be a good time for you to "teach me how to make risotto"? A warming sensation rushes over the back of Wolfgangs neck as he reads the message from Cassandra. Tempted to show the message to Brian who was moments away from making his leave, he resisted to do so and just slipped the phone back into his pocket. He was tempted to fire a message back to her right away but he didn't want to make it seem like he was expecting to hear from her. And the honest truth is he didn't think he would hear from her, and if he had it would have been in the actual context of cooking. The way he saw it he was just doing the 'extra mile' shit that his work is so keen on having their employees do. BRIAN Brian is a slightly taller-than average male. He's very attractive, with only the slighest of peppered gray accenting his lovely short curly hair. He's always very well spoken with people and spent the majority of his working career in the law enforcement industry. He fell away from the industry after he felt his efforts were literally a waste of time. Saying that he would apprehend criminals for felony-level theft and crimes and these people would be out of jail by the time that he would be off of work that night. So he took up Meat Cutting an offshoot of what he had already sort of been doing as a pasttime. He was an avid hunter and outdoorsman at least that was the way he described himself anyhow to people. The reality was he didn't ever hunt any other animals other than deer and while he was knowledgeable about killing and butchering deer he was more keen on just simply being out and in nature than he was actually going out there for the sole purpose of killing something. That's not to say he wasn't a near-expert at butchering an animal. He spent many of his years as a youth helping his family out of a farm so he was familizarized with the harsh realities of Farm Life early on as a boy. A religious man, Brian has been involved with his church in some form or another ever since he was young. He says that he has never 'taken drugs' which is a true indication that he probably is being honest about that. People who have done drugs do not typically describe it as "taking drugs". Regardless, he revealed to Wolfgang in one of the conversations they had with one another that his Daughter who is a highly ranked Marketing professional for some Media Company out on the East Coast is one of "the biggest potheads he ever met" and he had "no idea" that she was the entire time he raised her. Wolfgang would quote one of his favorite movies if he brought this up in conversation with anyone, saying "Never underestimate the power of denial." The rest of the guys in the meat department like to be nice to Brian when he around but when he is away then they like to put him down in conversation with one another. Always these goings on about how he is 'always on the Floor talking to some MILF instead of getting shit done in the Cutting Room.' With how much effort Wolfgang has put into brining all the men of the department together despite all their differences, they have toned it down with how much they put Brian down but they still hold animosity towards him. Wolfgang feels that he is probably put down just as much when he not around as well, not being actual Meat Cutter yet himself and the fact that he is is the youngest among them. Brian might have several years of Meat Cutting under his belt, but Rafael being the sort of inadvertant ring-leader (having gone to High School with and despite being married having a Clear and Apparent Crush on Cait) and Robert both have the bulk of their working careers in food service and they like to make that quite clear when they are in conversation about themselves. That is not to say that Wolfgang is not quick to bring up his cooking background in conversation at work as well. Seems everyone who was in something else other than retail like to recall those days while they are at work at Kramer. Brian liked to participate in the banter at work but the reality is it was just banter to him. He didn't behave this way outside of work at all. He was sort of one way at work and one way at home. At outside of work he was a very loyal and devout Husband and Grandfather. He was also the primary man who was training Wolfgang as part of the Apprenticeship Program. Despite all the things that Wolfgang involves himself with outside of work that would without question make him no approve of Wolfgang they are quite close in relationship with one another. They talk about almost every topic under the sun in the downtimes at work and while they are waiting for the labeling machine to do work. There is only so much professionalism you can expect during the course of an eight hour shift from a Meat Cutter. ROBERT Robert used to be in charge of the Meat Department a couple of years ago at Kramer but he had recently stepped down literally days after Wolfgang had transferred from the Deli over to the Meat Deapartment. He has professional history working with Cait in a different grocer in the past and they have a very healthy Love/Hate relationship. Cait has been cited in the past as saying during their time at the other employeer (Kroger) that Robert 'put her hands on her'. This is something that no man in the Meat Department stands for. But like the sewing circle goes when Robert is not around the other Cutters like to go on about how Robert has also allegedly put his hands on his current girlfriend. Wolfgang is guilty of trying to see the good in all people of the world so he hasn't put much merit to the idea that Robert is that bad of a guy. He hasn't heard Cait tell him that he put his hands on her and the reality is these events happened so long ago that they could have very fell far into the Woods of Obscurity. Nobody therefore can or will know the truth. Nobody can however deny the way Robert is passionate about what he does. He's a solidly-built, average height African-American who works out every day at the Gym but is by no means a "muscle head". He simply does it to "get the stress out" he says. He's got tattoos related to being a butcher on both of his arms. There is a Butcher fully dressed in whites standing in front of a grind machine catching ground up beef with block lettering above that says "STEADY GRINDING". So in that regard there is no quesiton how the man gets down when he ties up his Cutting Apron. He dances while he is grinding beef and he's simply on a certain level when he's cutting thats hard not become totally entranced by. Wolfgang has learned a lot about maximizing the amount of money that can be made with meat by working with Robert. Something a former experienced Chef would obviously get on about with anybody. Robert stepped down from being the Leader of the Meat Department for various reasons. It was clear to Wolfgang having zero experience in the retail world about how incredibly vicious the responsibilities of being in charge at Kramer are. It's not like the title of being an executive chef with all the bells and whistles that come along with it. Your responsibilities are minimal outside of being the Fall Guy for all Things Gone Wrong. Soon as your time was up the company would create an enviorment that would make you want to do anything in the world other than work for Kramer. They have making people quit down to a Goddamn Science and they were Fucking Proud of it. Call you the middle of the afternoon on a Sunday and tell you that instead of working at the store that you've been working at for the last however long you've been somewhere to all the sudden a store 45 minutes drive time longer than your already long commute. They tell you it's "just for tomorrow" then sometime during that day the Lead of that Store comes to you and tells you they need at that store for the rest of the week 'at least'. Since stepping down from being the Lead of the Meat Department, Robert has enjoyed nearly every element of his job lately because he "just has to be a cutter" as he would put it and not "deal with the bullshit". The ladder is probably entirely true, but the former is getting the rest of the men fed up with is laziness as of late. One day in the cutting room Rafael was tearing through the room pissed off because he had to clean up after Robert. Pacing back and fourth doing everything except throwing the expensive part of the bandsaw around the Cutting Room, Rafael is swearing at the top of his lung in front of Wolfgang who is sort of just taking it all in and making sure nobody important intrudes upon the Cutting Room while Rafael is venting. Saying every four-letter word under the sun, as Rafael passes Wolf, he extends his hand and puts it on Rafael's shoulder just as Will comes in thru the back storage cooler: "If you want to call him a fucking nigger just say it!" Wolfgang says. "Have it out! Don't keep shit bundled up." Will had a look of shock on his face. He passes Rafael and Wolf and exits the Cutting Room and resumes his stocking. "Got a problem with blacks?" Rafael says to Wolf with an inquisitive look on his face. "Cos that sure was a heavy R at the end bro!" his look changes to a smirk. He lightly punches Wolf in the shoulder and walks over the bandsaw and takes off one of the guards. As he walked it over the the sink he looked back at Wolf and said: "Dirty fucking nigger!" as he holds up the guard. And so it would seem to Wolfgang that the way the store was setup with the people who are in charge are all just layer upon layers of protection for the big guy at the top of the mountain. There is no other reason to have this many people in charge of so few things. So many of the Daily Operations did not make any sense to Wolfgang and those in charge who saw him as such an asset to the company couldn't figure out why he couldn't wrap his head around the way things worked. MAKING RISOTTO It was going on 8 o'clock in the evening, Wolfgang steps outside to go on break. He walks around the building to his car and gets inside. Pops the data on on his phone and lets the notifications from all the god-awful apps roll in. He opens up his text messages and looks at the message from Cassandra. He replies to her: ``` `Just stepped outside for a break and saw your message. Schedule is typically always open if I'm not at work.` ``` He sends the message and opens the console of his vehicle up. Pulls out his vaporizer and takes a few pulls off of it. Amidst as large vape cloud in front of his face he hears his phone make that subtle noise once again. Its Cassandra. ``` `What about tonight???` ``` Without hesitation, Wolfgang replies: ``` `Typically I'm walking out of here at 20:45. I'll just need to go home and shower. Directions?` `8:45**` ``` She replies quicker than the first time. There is an attachment to the message with a pin that's been dropped on Google Maps. ``` `Just come straight here!` ``` "Jesus Christ!" Wolfgang says outloud to himself. He looks around him almost like someone else might have been reading these messages as well. He takes a couple more pulls off his vaporizer and purposely does not reply to her message. He was planning doing business as usual and going on lunch as he should be he instead decided to just work his shift right up until he would be forced to take his lunch. He'll then just punch out and leave. He heads back into the store and with an extra little pep in his step pounds out the closing duties with ease. He approaches the timeclock at precisely 20:15. He punches out, puts his badge back on his collar as he normally would and left the building like he would any other day. As soon as he got into the car and started hit, he takes out his vaporizer once again and takes a couple of moderate drags off it before pulling out his vehicle heading out of the parking lot. Soon as he got to the street through he picked up the pace and sped home. He's halfway thru a shower at his apartment, still doing things at two hundred miles and hour and his heart was racingin anticipation of all the things that might happen when suddenly the thought strikes him: 'What if it's an uniform thing she's into!?' he thought to himself!? He doesn't own any butcher jackets personally and he would feel a little bit funny as to show up at her house wearing a butchers jacket. Then the thought chimed in his head. He's got a barrage of embroidered, pure as the driven snow white Chef jackets in his closet. He quickly dresses himself clad in full Chef attire like he would be going to to work in a professional kitchen. While he buttoning up his Chef Jacket he asked his phone to display the driving directions to him on the telvision in his room. Suburban area. Expensive houses. No cars in the driveways on satellite view. He decides that there are probably some fairly nosey neighbors. He decides to take along with him on 12" cast-iron pan and a knife roll. In this way it will like there is an actual purose to the prying eyes of Cassandra's neighbors. He goes to the kitchen and pops open the cupboard and gets out his knife roll and puts only his steel and a 8" chef knife inside of it. Grabs his cast-iron, walks to the bathroom spritzes himself with some aftershave, takes four 30mg Adderall Extended Release tablets and heads back to his car. Driving to Cassandra's house the time is now approaching 8:50PM so he decides to send her a text message with his signature backwards smiley: ``` `On my way (:` ``` She replies, but not as quickly as he had earlier: ``` `LOOKING FORWARD TO MY LESSON!` ``` Unsure of how to take that message, Wolfgang just presses on with driving. Takes him only about 15 minutes to arrive at her house. When his GPS tells him he's about 6 minutes out he drops her another message asking her where he should park. The Driveway. Husband must be gone and not coming home for a while. She pulls up into the driveway of a beautiful home in a decent neighborhood. Wolfgang was a little underimpressed with the neighborhood, the way that Cassandra waltzed around the store she really sort of comes off as someone with a lot of money and as it turns out she's just a normal person like everyone else. Soon as he puts his car into park he sees a light turn on alongside the house. Two doors make noise and a much more casual version of Cassandra peeks her head from the exterior door. ``` "Hey you!" she says to him. "Come on in." "I got my knives and a pan in the trunk." "I've got knives, and I've got pans. Come on." She says. It was until he got closer and more in front of the light that she noticed he was in his Chef Jacket. "Oh! You really got yourself ready did you?" she giggles. "I hope I didn't give you the wrong impression." ``` She motions him into the house. As soon as Wolfgang gets his first foot in the door his whole world is taken over by the smell of Pachiolli and Sandalwood. In an urge to be clever he gets an urge to ask Cassandra if it is indeed Sandalwood and Pachiolli oil that he's smelling. But before he's about to turn around and ask her she slams the door and slams him up against her refrigerator door and starts kissing him. No questions here what her intentions are here. No time to even ask questions about where her Husband is at or anything along those lines. She tasted like a Red Wine. An Expensive One. She was treating herself to all the finer luxuries of life and Wolfgang was happy to give them to her. He picked her up and put her on the counter were she she sat tall and still wasn't quit up to his height. It was there where he started to remove hre shirt. She didn't give any body language that was at all out of bounds. When it was clear to her that he was going under her shirt she sort of pushed him back in between kisses and tore her own shirt off and then pulled him back in. He kept going at her. She was wearing yoga pants, and he could feel the heat coming from inside of her. She was going at everything with such intense passion. This is something she has been trying to get out for quite some time. Wolfgang puts his hands around her waist and slides his finger around her pantline and pulls her away from the counter while kissing her but before leaning back towards her he swoops her yoga pants off, ass cheeks on the countertop. Soon as she is sitting again with a single swooping motion flings off her yoga pants. She seemed impressed with him. He has her on the end of an island that's poking out in the middle of her kitchen. While he's completely dressed and she's now completely naked on her own countertop. Wolfgang kisses her one more time then starts to kiss her breasts until her nipples harden. She pushes her down flat and then takes off his shirt. He knows that she thinks he's about to fuck her. He's got her lined up perfectly on the countertop. Without a waisting a moment he looks down at her groomed vagina. He kneels down but before doing so he leans forward and kisses her below her belly button. Then he grabs her shins, one in each hand props the heels of her feet up on the endge of her counterop. She's opened up wide. Wolfgang kisses her lightly in between each of her thighs before he starts to go further down below. She climaxes twice before Wolfgang gets back to his feet. But he still takes her twice then again afterwards in the kitchen. She's quivering at the knees at this point, her legs fucking shaking. She guides him upstairs to her bedroom. But they can't make it that far without getting at each other on the way up the stairs. For the next nintety minutes they enjoyed each other in more ways than one. As they laid there in the bed together afterwards she asked him: "Why did you stop cooking?" She sounded like she could barely get the words out of her mouth the way Wolfgang just fucked the hell out of her. "Being a Chef is a Lifestyle, not a career and not even a job. There is no walking away from it. It's literally your entire day. You're at work even went you're not at work. The benefits to being a Chef no longer seen as benefits. I guess I wanted something different. You remember, when I started at Kramer those guys threw in the Coffee Shop because they thought my 'food experience' would somehow make me good at making a Fucking Latte!" He could tell that Cassandra was falling out, dozing off with her head on his chest. He just quiets down and remains still for a couple of minutes. He waits until he can feel her heavy breathing in his chest. He himself falls away as well, but almost into a conscious, dream or zen like state. Just staring at the rotating ceiling fan that is on the ultra low setting. His mind is blazing at two hundred miles an hour. The second and third waves of the Adderall he took are just setting in. Suprised his heart isn't waking up Cassandra due to how quickly it is beating he manages to slid from up underneath her and prop her head on one of the several pillows she has on her bed. Naked, Wolfgang rummages around the house reassmbling his Chef outfit. He got himself dressed. He started at the backdoor where she let him into the house and started to retrace their steps. He first went from that backdoor the bedroom where Cassandra is sleeping and collected all her pieces of clothing. He sort of loosely folded them and draped them over the end of the bed. Then he went back to the kitchen and used a paper towel to clean up the smudge marks they left on the counter. The smudge marks of the deepest desires and the bodily fluids of purely passionate sexual exchange. Wolfgang looked around the kitchen, replaying in his mind what had just prevailed. He saw the diffuser in the corner of the kitchen. He walked over to it and switched it off. The kitchen looks like it sees a lot of action. There is a chopping block setup permanately on the counter and it's got the knife marks to prove it's seen its fair share of knife edges in it's time. There wasn't a knife block on the counter, she a magnetic strip hanging above the stove. Silliest place to put such a thing, the way grease collects on that area behind the stove no matter how clean of a home-chef you might be. However she obviously knows what she is up to in the kitchen. Her magnetic stip only holds an 8-inch Chefs knife, a 5-inch serrated utility knife, a pairing knife and a Nakuri knife. He reached forward and popped the Nakuri knife off the strip. They're all matching Victorinox Grand Maitre knives. She spent decent money on these knives he thought to himself. She must have a decent set of cookware to go along with this type of shit. Often-used herbs sit in a neat little holder that looks it came straight off an Artist's Etsy site. Wolfgang spends ungoldy amounts of time looking at kitchen things in stores. The undying question of "what if" he never left a kitchen. He didn't spent much more time looking around before he opened the two doors which led outside, locking the knob on the inside door before he left. He figured that it was best to leave as maybe she hasn't been turned out like that in a while and had no intention of falling asleep. Whatever the case was, Wolfgang was out like a thief in the night, heading back to his place. SHELBY Arriving at his apartment, Wolfgang makes himself something to eat. Nothing fancy, just three over-medium eggs with salt and pepper. Zig-zagged with Sriacha sauce. He plops himself down at the computer and pokes around on on the various websites that he likes to lurk while he's eating at the desk. Simple things like upvoting things on reddit and resharing things on Twitter. Nothing that involved typing. He notices 4 unread messages on Facebook. Taps on one of them to see that they are. One of them are from one of the girls that he works work. 11:47PM, `What are you up to tonight?` Hadn't he been so riddled on his Adderall still perhaps he wouldn't have replied to the message, but despite the fact that it's well over an hour since the message was sent he replies. `Just got this. m'bad Not a whole, the usual - ya know!` The message is from Shelby, a girl who works up front at Kramer. She's a cashier, quite a bit younger than Wolfgang is but they've hung out and smoked pot several times at Wolfgang's apartment. He's never really asked why she likes hitting him up all the time to smoke, because she almost always doesn't have her own weed, in fact he's not even sure that she owns a pipe to smoke out of. She just comes over and smokes and asks Wolfgang questions about what he thinks of people at work, what he knows about food, general brain-picking questions. But she never talks about herself much, and Wolfgang hasn't cared enough to ask. Wolfgang is in the kitchen cleaning off his dishes that he just used for his late-night snack and hears Facebook make a noise on one of his tablets on the other side of the room. So he pulls out his phone and opens Facebook Messenger. It's Shelby, she's now asking how long Wolf plans on being up. Wolf replies: `If you wanna stop over that's cool.` Shortly the biggest possible thumbs up comes down thru Messenger. Shelby isn't exactly across the street so he doesn't plan on seeing her for at least twenty or thirty minutes. Time enough to run thru the shower again and put on a fresh change of clothes, and brush his teeth. It would be rude of Wolfgang to share a marijuna pipe with Shelby with a mouthful of resudiule remnant of Cassandra. He doesn't hesitate to make quick work of taking a shower, but he takes a moment to sort of enjoy the hot water running all over his body. The way it tingles down the centre of your spine and then back around again. So delightful, so elegant. He recalls feeling this precise way, with the rush of energy shot up the spine while he was having sex with Cassandra earlier. Which is why he took the Adderall in the first place. Quite literally does the drug turn of the sensations of all parts of your body and you become this internal warm, kinectic-sand mess with warm rushes and great social interaction and deep thought. So if the forced activity of nearly anything is forced upon someone who is on it only render unbelievable concentration and epic levels of attention to detail. Hops out of the shower and puts one of his many incredibly humourous tshirts and on top of that his adidas jumpsuit. No socks, but his Adidas sandals. As he walks out of the bedroom he can sense that Shelby is here. He walks out to the living room and sees her on the couch. She's always got this sort of happy go lucky look on her face, almost as if she's on the edge of bursting into outright laughter at any moment. Wolfgang walks over to the couch where Shelby is sitting and he holds up his right fist facedown to the ground offering a brofist. Shelby took what looked like extrodinary effort and reached up and lightly tapped him back. ``` `What's up sister!?` Wolfgang says `Something's clearly going on.` `It's Nothing.` she insisted. ``` Wolfgang didn't say any words to her he sort of increased his intensity on the way he was looking at her and tilted his head just a few degrees. Shelby looked down at the ground. "It's Zane." She said softly. Underground by Sine Here was playing quietly in the background and while Wolfgang is always concerned about the tempo the music is providing in the background he has a seat on the reclining chair across from her opposite of the concealment coffee table that's in front of them. It rotates and has a very solid top but there are drawers that run the width of the table. Wolfgang opens one of the drawers and pulled out his "party bowl" as he would call it, basically a marijuana pipe big enough for two people who can reef their fair share of good herb. He also pulls out a small glass Pyrex rectangular container with a lockable lid and pops it open. Instantly the pungent smell of skunk takes over the small radius by the couch, table and chair. He sends a decent sized bud thru his grinder and give it a few spins. Unscrews the middle section and dumps it back into the Pyrex. Pinches a small bit of what he just grinded into the bowl and passes it to Shelby. Reaches into the drawer and picks up a red Bic lighter and hands it to her. Wolfgang sits back in his chair and also grabs his vaporizer off the table. Shelby trys to hand him back the pipe after she takes a single hit but Wolf waves his hands away: "Double or triple tap that shit Shelby. he says. "Now have it out, what is this your on about?" But it wasn't Wolfgang thought that Shelby was going to start talking about. It was his family. She said he's been trying to sell the drugs he gets prescribed by the Doctor for Free by the State from their Free Health Care they get because the family doesn't make that much money between the two of them. She said that some guys he sold some of the drugs to came into their house while everyone was away and went into Zane's room and took all of his prescribed drugs, and anything worth any amount of money at a pawn shop or Craigslist. She said the people who broke into the house were not even people his age and that they were "probably around your age" in reference to Wolf. Shelby once again tried to pass the pipe to Wolfgang. "That one is on you. Lemme know when it's beat and I'll load it up again for you." "So did you guys call the police for the material things that were stolen from your house?" Wolfgang inquired. "Or did you not get them involved?" "Fuck no they didn't call the police. Zane's Dad is super supisious about having the police there. You know he's some crazy ass mother fucking conspiracy nut who thinks that Big Brother is out to get him and his family." Wolfgang interupts her: "Hey Google, What is the defintion of crazy?" The Google Assistant says the defintion over the speakers. Shelby laughs. Wolfgang is happy. "Hey you got Payments?" he quickly asks he can tell that she is pretty stoned at this point and she he might be able to catch her off guard. "Yeah, why?" "Look, I'm not taking no for an answer and I don't just say this type of shit to anybody. But I've known you for quite a bit now, I mean you started what just shortly after I did at Kramer, yeah? Pull out your damn phone right now and show me your Payments code and add me." Wolfgang gets up with his phone and vaporizer. He walks next to Shelby with his Payments app open. She pops open her code and Wolfgang scans it. He walks back to his chair and sits down. "Hey Google, make a payment to my friend Shelby." "How much in US Dollars, my lord!?" Shelby giggles at the 'my lord' response by Google Assistant "One-thousand-eight-hundred-and-thirty-six dollars and ninety-sevent cents, thank you" "WOL..F" Shelby is paused by Wolfgang throwing up his finger in front of his mouth. "Sorted! A Payment has been sent to Shelby for US Dollars One-thousand-eight-hundred-and-thirty-six dollars and ninety-sevent cents" "Accept that shit right now!" Insisted Wolfgang he pointed at Shelby's phone. "I'm never going to be able to pay you back that much money." she said "I can't accept that much money from you." "You can and you will" Wolfgang said with reassurance in his voice. He sat down next to Shelby and looked her deeply in the eyes and did his magic. "How could I expect you to pay back such an odd amount of money, who would remember such a random number anyhow aside from myself?" "And why is that?" Shelby looks at her phone. "Wait.. haha It's all threes!" "Damn you do like elephants don't you, Shelby!? That's a good memory you got there." Shelby accepts the payment. Wolfgang says "Good" when he sees her do it. "Look I don't expect anything back from you. Except one thing." Almost in a worried look, Shelby looks at Wolfgang like he's about to ask her for a blowjob or something along those sexual lines. "What??" "Spend that shit wisely. Make sure everyone is brought back up to speed on whatever it is you guys lost. Spend the rest on whatever you see fit. Just don't rush to the mall and fuck it off on new shoes or something!" Wolfgang says with a smile. "Fair enough??" "For sure, you know I wouldn't fuck off the money like that." She said to him with a smile. Her sort of signature smile. Her response is met with the sound of a god-awful noise coming out of her phone. "Jesus Christ, it sounds like a fucking fire alarm!" Wolfgang says jokingly. He stands up and goes back to his chair and sits down. Shelby reads what assumingly is a text message. She locks her screen and stands up. "I don't mean to smoke and run like this, especially after you gave me so much money, but I gotta go." She walks over to Wolfgang who stands up out of his chair. She gives him a hug, tilting her head to the side and buries it into his chest. Wolfgang towers over Shelby who is barely five-foot-two oen of those Cherry People who get all red flushed looking in the face whenever they start moving around a bit or get excited. Shelby doesn't look like this right now, she's always looking like taht at work though and that's part of the reason Wolf likes her so much. Becaause she is a hard ass mother fucking worker. She is good at what she does and she is a good person in the eyes of the people she works with. Except the people who are slackers. Those people don't like her much more than they like Wolfgang. She finds her exit out Wolfgangs apartment. She did not say goodbye to him because Wolfgang absolutely despises the idea of goodbye and so he does not use it in conversation and the people who know him outside of work now that is how he works. Wolfgang packs up a bowl of the weed and sucks down the party sized piece in one single hit. This is why he lets people just smoke and he just prefers to do it alone. He's got some super iron lungs that can take down some pot something fierce. He puts all the marijuana stuff back in the drawer he pulled it out of and got up and went into his office. He opened a closet and pulled out neoprene sleeve that was inside of a larger soft-case which had an actual laptop inside of it. An Apple no less. Wolfgang is sort of known for being a Google fanboy and a sort of anti-Apple and iOS kind of guy. But he uses this particular laptop for single use purposes. Financial transactions, conversations and other sort of activities that he does behind a Virtual Private Network. A Virtual Private Network or VPN is a network protocol that allows your internet traffic appear to be behind a different IP address than the one your internet service provider gives you. He plugs the Apple laptop in with a hardwired ethernet connection. He powers on the laptop and waits for it to load, which isn't long despite how much Wolfgang might not like to admit. Soon as the desktop pops he fires up Discord. As soon as he logs in he starts getting pinged in the #general-fucks channel on the "Songs on F Major" server. ``` Howdy fellas! (: Wolfgang says in the #general-fucks channel of "Songs in F. Major" ``` He then uses the channel-switching keyboard shortcut and got into the #nsfw\_pics channel and shares a picture of a guy getting a blowjob with an poorly sold reaction on his face. ``` I got a blowjob tonight that made my toes pop tonight. ``` Moments later a different phone, an iPhone, rings from inside his desk drawer. Wolfgang opens the desk drawer quickly and answers it. ``` "Hello?" "Coffee at nine?" "Works for me." "Cash or Credit?" "I've actually been using that app you told me about to pay for everything." "Alright, see you at nine." ``` Wolfgang is a longtime and highly regarded member of the Friends Stand United (Green) organization. It's an organization of (ironically) predominately white men who all shave their heads and have a single dash taken out of either their right or left eyebrow. They claim to stand for peaceful means of anti-racist, anti-drug, anti-violence. While nobody know where they originally started, popular theory seems to be that they were part of the original Friends Stand United organization but some of the upper-level members started to disagree that marijuana was a drug and therefore split from the group and started their own organization which held up the same sort of morle code of the original code but when it came to the drug element of the manifesto they did not see marijuana as a drug. The real irony in the group is the way they combatted a lot the situations that they stood against was by often highly-organized, unbelievably violent methods that has shockwave effects far-beyond reaching what they would oftentimes originally intend. The message and pictures about getting a blowjob were a request to meet face-to-face with another member of the organzation that might require a highly sophisticated effort. Coffee doesn't mean much of anything. It just has to sort of pair well with the time suggested. Had he said he got a blowjob that morning the caller may have just as quickly said "Dinner at 8" instead. Cash or Credit is rather straight forward as well. Because this is a situation that is going to require a lot of sophisitcation to it there has to be upfront decisons on how the situation will be paid for. Cash means it will be paid and credit means that it will be done for Credit. Credit is, depending on what the original request is for, is the repayment of the same level of task done for FSU-G. The Friends and Family of the Organization know with absolute certainty that if they ever needed someone with Wolfgang's expertise they would be able to reach out to him. But because he is trying to lessen his focus on the Organization and more on Real Life as the Organization calls it. Nine when in reference to the morning means 7. They will meet at the coffee shop by Lake and enjoy their morning coffee while they talk. The person meeting Wolfgang will get there approximately thirty minutes early and sort of post himself at the coffee shop so when Wolfgang arrives it lookes like a completely random crossing of paths. A routine any high ranking member of FSU or FSU G is familar with. Wolfgang looks at the clock and it's going on two o'clock in the morning. He shuts down his computer and lays on top of his bed. He doesn't get into his bed, under the cover and all of that - he just lays on top. He never does. He used to when he slept with women, but he tries really hard not to bring ladies that he might sleep with back to his place. As soon as he gets comfortable on top of his bed he says "Hey Google, wake me up at five-thirty, please." ``` "You're alarm is set for five thirty AM" ``` ENTER FIRST PERSON MODE, SORRY OTHERWISE THIS BOOK IS NOT GOING TO GET WRITTEN IN TIME FOR THE DEADLINE!!! There's something elegant about the way the Google Assistant makes it's alarm sound. I don't want up wanting to beat the fuck of what used to be an alarm clock when I was younger but then was a phone and is now something as easy as saying "Hey Google, I'm awake." There's something about using your voice that gets you in that proper sort of awake mode that you need to be in to start your day. I dreamt about Cassandra last night, which was odd because normally I don't dream about the women that sleep with when or around the time that I have slept with them. I dream about them when they are in the past or someone that I want to have sex with. Whenever I was with someone I was always good at fist then on immediately to sort a wonderous state that only lead me ending the relationship and seeking other pastures. This cycle just keeps repeating itself over and over again. So I just stopped with all of that and focused my energies on bigger and better things in life. When I stumbled upon the FSU the first time it was almost by mistake. This guy pushed me back at a concert and I totally knocked this guy over. I yelled to him "I GOT PUSHED BACK BY SHIT HEAD IN THE FAUX HAWK" and leaned over to help him up. He obviously didn't hear me because he instead sprung up and punched me hard as a mother fucker. I haven't been hit that hard in a very long time, I'll never forget it. But then the shit head that I was referring to came over and yelled loud enough to be heard: "I WAS ME MOTHER FUCKER" and totally started just annihilating this guy, because he was about as tall as I was. So I sprung into an almost natural reaction just starting unloading bombs on this guy myself. Just fucking whailing on him. Well this piece of shit must have known the security of the place or something like that because before you know it we were getting dragged out of that place and shit head was kept inside safe and sound. We got pushed out onto the street by three very tall and intimidating men and when we got out to the street they said to us: "You mother fuckers wanna cause more trouble we can get the mother fucking police involved or you guys can get the fuck out of here!" I walked up just a half step close to the guard who just spoke to us and said: "I'll take my leave, sweetheart." I could tell he wanted to hit me. But he didn't. The guy I got kicked out of the concert with was standing back watching this unravel and didn't say much of anything. He was pretty fucked up as he got beat up pretty badly. Side of his face was a little swollen. The guards went back inside and I turned around and looked at the guy who I now know as Brother Richard and said: "Hey man, you good?? You look pretty beat up." "Nah fuck that I'm all good. That mother fucker is lucky I got dragged out of there. I would have ate that cocksucker alive. I'm just getting started when I got knocked around a little bit I'm ready to go right now!" "I don't doubt that." I said to him confidently, "Yo man do you need a lift!?" "Nah fuck that, I got people that can come get me. It's all good, thank you tho!" "Come on man I insist, we both got kicked out of the show the least I can do is see to it that you make it home alright, 'ready to go' or not." "Alright, tell you what I'll take you up on that offer." Brother Richard said to me. This car ride and the whole getting kicked out of the concert ended up being an absolute life-changing event in my life. It is how I originally got tied up with Friends Stand United Green. I met the Organization at a very interesting time in their history as it was the Green Chapter of the original FSU was beginning to take it's initial shape. Brother Richard who got kicked out of the concert with me that night was one of The Original Three who was part of the the Organziation's core group members so by the time I was a member I was already highly regarded by so many in the Club because of how Brother Richard felt towards me. It was a good feeling in my life too, the way these guys really treated me like family when that's something that I never really got to enjoy while growing up. I arrived in town approximately fifteen minutes early for the meetup. Wasn't sure who would be meeting me there. I didn't really recognize the voice, but the person I'm meeting and who called me last night could very well not be the same person. I park my car about a block away and make way over to FrostCup, which faces Lake Geneva from an absolutely beautiful angle. I'm here often enough, and while I am social with everyone when I'm out and about, nobody here would recognize me by name. Nobody except the person who is supposed to meet me here. To by suprise when I make way around the corner of the building to the front of FrostCup I see Brother Richard of all people sitting in one of the tables in front of the coffe-shop. Instead of just pretending to be some random person he just nods to me while I go and order my coffee. I get an Americano with two extra shots and walk over to a now standing Richard. "It's been a while my friend." he says to me. "Let's go for a walk, shall we." extending his hand towards the Lake. As we walk to right in front of the lake we talk about random things as we pass by other people who are jogging or walking their dog. When we get closer to the lake we start to get a little more personal. Richard asks how I have been doing and how things have been going with my meat cutting apprenticeship at work. I asked him about his life as well and was happy to hear that he has been doing well. He told me that he came because he wanted to make sure that this overseen by Richard personally as he has so much respect for me. "And the Brothers all miss you and we could really use your help now more than ever." he told me "So if you would ever be open to the idea of helping us out with any free time you might have, please consider it." He always brings up how he would think I would be good for a more committed relationship with the group but I still have such a sour taste in my mouth about everything. Being involved with the FSU G organization is how I met Kara. And the guy she is with now is also a member of the club and seeing him at all the local events was just too much to deal with. Especially seeing as how part of the issue that they never got on too well is because Kara used to hang out with the original FSU chapter and more in line with their way of life than the Green side of the argument. Our marriage started to go south the deeper I involved myself with FSU Green and when the organization finally gained traction and started making money on it's own that's when things really turned sour. It wasn't before long that she was screwing around with an original FSU Member and so over a long enough timeline I just had enough and sort of fell away from the marriage. Focus lost on the original meaning of my Brotherhood I started to drink large amounts of alcohol and loose focus on what life was supposed to mean. Luckily my Brothers got me through that part of my life but it was not to say that it was still not extremely difficult. The love you get from your fellow brothers, no matter how strong they might be will not sort of replace the void that you get when you loose th person you slept with at night. The relationship that I shared with Kara was a beautiful one while it was good. The way we used to communicate with one another was beautiful and it was beautiful just like that until the day the commuincation started to break down. Richard and I started to walk down a less populated path around the lake and start talking about more serious business. "So what is it you need Brother?" He asked. I handed him an envelope. "Inside is the girls the name, it's her boyfriend and his family." I filled him in on the things that Shelby told me. When I mentioned that it was opiates that the guys had stolen among the other things of value from Zane and his family Richard said "Opiates, front of the line then." I told him that that envelope included the address of Shelby and Zane's houses and that I also included my work schedule because I wanted to involved with the people once they found out who they were dealing with. I informed him that I made Shelby whole with money and that wasn't to be that big of a concern in regards to a solution. Moreso just putting across a message to the community that shit like that doesn't go down to people associated to the organization. Richard took this information and said to me that they would get on it immediately. "Do you work today" he asked me "Yes" I told him. "I will take my iPhone with me to work and check it on my breaks." We continued to discuss the current state of affairs with the organization for a little while longer while we finished our coffee. He told me that there is an huge influx of non-white hate in the country among the groups since Trump took office. He said that a lot of their resources or being used doing covert operations of these sort of white supremisict groups. They're trying to derail them before they start to gain too much momentum but the types of connections these groups have are deeply tied to huge gray-money markets backing their causes. Many of the firearm places selling guns to second ammendment loving mother fuckers and end-of-the-world preppers are very much keen on the idea of Making America White Again. Friends Stand United and Friends Stand United Green were not very much keen on using firearms to get their work done. They were very much more of a hands-on organization. What they couldn't distrupt with fighting they would do on a professional or legal level. If they had an issue with someone they would aquire some drugs and perhaps plant them in a persons vehicle so they would get criminally convicted and therefore be unable to be continue their professional career path. They would get dirt on people and blackmail them for money. A lot of their methods for making good solid money are not in alignment wtih the rest of the beliefs of the organization so Green's primary focus is the operation of selling marijuana. By legal means. They only have direct operations setup in states were marijuana is legal. That is not to say that we don't have reports coming in that a lot of people who sell marijuana don't sell some to what is now known as the gray market. That is they take something that is legal in one state and participate in activities that transport these said goods to states where they are not. It causes a lot of distractions in the otherwise longly established drug and money relationships that existed in the country. Many of these people or started participating in that type of activity have said they are taking a page out of the playbook of the very white supremisists they are standing against as that is how they uprooting inner-city drug traffickers. Introducing and then saturating gray-market marijuna into an area that has been enitrely black-market will cut drug prices in half if not more and that will distrupt entire operations overnight. The gangs unaware of what is going on, turn on each other and start wiping each other out. Typically the drug dealers are the smartest of the illegal business enterprentuers so they don't find themselves the cause of many "innocent bystanders" getting hurt whiel they go hunt down their rivalry. They're always good for a good home invasion compared to say something more sloppy like a drive-by. I once again emphasized to Richard how well things have been going at work for me. How life without Kara is, while tough at first beginning to be one of hte best times of my life. How being at work making honest money is starting to feel like the right thing to do. Richard tried to reiterate how imporatnt the cause was and how no matter how difficult the odds may seem that they must keep up on the path. I told him that I wouldn't make any promises in regards to commitment but I would keep the Family closer in mind moving forward. He asked if I wanted to burn one before I headed back my apartment but knowing how heavily Richard got down with smoking I told him I had to pass because I had to get some shit done before work. I did need to head to the vape shop to get more liquid for my vaporizer and I wanted to stop in town and get some food as well before I had to head to work. As much money as I spent at Kramer I don't buy too much of my food there I suppose. Quick things like I need to have break food then I eat all kind of shit at work but not really stuff for home. I do most of the shopping at the other place I work at every once in a while as part of my apprenticeship. The produce is always extremly better than the stuff at Kramer and the people who do work the area of the produce area at Donald's Fresh Farmers Market are a lot friendlier than the jerk who runs the produce department at Kramer. So I part ways with Richard and head back to my car. As I walk towards the vehicle I pull out my phone to see if I have any messages. I do not, I put my phone back into my pocket and keep walking towards my car. I get into my car and head towards the Vape Shop which is down the road and around the corner from Donald's Fresh Farmers Market. There is such a beautiful scent coming off the Lake this morning and the air smells absolutely amazing. As I pass the store-frotn of the Vape Shop I confirm on the door that they open at 9 o'clock, and they do. This will give me plenty of time at Donald's and plenty of time to fuck around inside while I'm there. So I head around the corner towards Donald's and pull my car into the parking lot. When I find a proper parking spot, I pop the console of my vehicle and pull out my marijuna vaporizer and take three hits off of it before taking out my tobacco vaporizer and take a couple of hits off that as well. Walk into Donald's on that proper level and grab a basket as I pass the main entrance. I head towards the Coffee section and look at what blends they have to offer. Indecisive on what to get I just settle for the house French Roast and bag msyelf up two pounds of it. Before I'm done bagging up the coffee I notice that there is a lady looking at me from over the bulk bins, she must notice how tall I am. So I smile and nod to her and she smiles back. I put my coffee in my basket and keep going through the store. There are tons of things that I would like to purchase but the reality is I'm so unbelievably fucked for time lately with work. While at it for about a year, the "honest money" lifestyle is still something that I'm getting used to. I go at it with the same level of passion that I did for the Family or for the kitchen I've worked for but it's such a thankless job. It's why I find so much value in the relationships I have with the fellow Men from the Meat Department because without them the job would seem really really not worth it. I'm walking past the meat department when I notice David notice me from behind the cutting room glass. He leans towards the glass a bit to if I had a basket in my hand or not, that is to determine if I was a customer or there to work. I waved for him to come out and he nodded back. I turn around and look behind me and notice that lady who smiled at me is looking at me again from across the produce section of the store. Dave comes out and extends his hand. I put my basket on the floor and reach out and shake his hand and pull him in for a hug. I put my left hand on his shoulder ask we pull away. "What's up brother!?" I said to him. Dave isn't nearly as tall as I am but he's a solid Black man. Solid like any other meat cutter I know. Much as I was the only skinny chef people knew, I am the only sort of ultra skinny meat cutter in training that I know. "Oh you know, nothing but a whole lot." He said to me. "What you doing out here, Ubering or something!?" "Nah man, I haven't had time to Uber for quite a while actually. I always mean to get back into it, but I've been so busy at Kramer - you know how that goes." "How's Brian doing?" he asked. They used to work together several years back, back when I was still trying to make headway as a chef. They have some intense bad blood that I can't seem to figure out. But the Meat Cutting business is an ugly one. There is always so much money involved that it's hard not to work in a place where you have people that are quick to throw other people under the bus for their expensive mistakes. So I responded to him: "He's doing as well as I suppose you could expect. He's really enjoying not being the boss anymore." "I bet." David said to me. "Yo, bro, who is that lady over there looking at you!?" He's looking in the direction of the lady who was staring at me when I was bagging up coffee. "She's into you big time." "Think so!?" I said to him as I turned around to look at her again. At this point we're both looking at her so she turns away and pushes her cart downt the aisle a little bit. "Well there you have it, we scared her off!" We talked a little bit more about the business before making our closing statement and parting ways. I opened my wallet and gave David one of my new business cards as I had recently changed my phone number. "Kill that other number of mine you have" I told him. "That number doens't work anymore." David thanked me and held up the Six of Diamonds Bicycle Playing Card with my phone number written on it. "These are really cool man." "That's that one of a kind!" I smirked and flicked my head in an upwards nod as I walked away. I didn't see the lady down the aisle that she scurried down when David and I looked at her so I made way over to dairy section to grab some some Almond and Coconut blend. They only had two of the kind I was after, I know the truck has already been unloaded in the back. The stuff I'm after is on sale and that means that it would make the lane empty if I took these last two. The kind part of my sould puts the two back and takes two of a different brand which are only slightly more expensive but will be just as well. I hate to leave them with an empty spot like that. As I head up to the registers I find myself looking down each of the aisle as I pass. The cashier up front doesn't know me from working there, and she starts to scan my items. But then Meghan walks up from behind me and says: "Hey Wolfy!" Girls get a free pass on calling me Wolfy so I turn around and give her a quick side hug. "How you doing!?" I said to her. Then suddenly the cashier wants to be all nicer to me. "Did you see that lady who was staring at you!?" That's Shawn. "Who is Shawn?" I ask her. "And how is her name spelt." "Haha, you and your names!" It's spelt the normal way. S-H-A-W-N" she said to me. "She wants Cait's job at Kramer." This got my attention. I was punching holding my phone over the POS device paying with my phone when she said it but quickly turned in her direction, nearly dropping my phone. "Really!?" "You alright there big guy?" Meghan said jokingly. "You barely can keep your phone in your hand when Cait's name gets brought up." "Hey, calm down. Shawn's good people and some of the guys in the Meat Brotherhood knew her prior to Kramer so we got to protect her like one of our own" I told her. "Nothing more." "Sure, Wolfy Whatever you say." She taps me on the shoulder as she walks aways "You'll probably be seeing a whole lot more of her in the near future." "We'll see about that!" I said to her with a smile. The cashier gave me my receipt and I headed out the front door. I put the things in my trunk and headed over to the Vape Shop. I parked right in front of the building and when I went inside I saw my favorite person working behind the counter. We chatted a bit about the things we normally do. He was the one working when I came in super drunk several years ago and wanted to buy a vaporizer. He saw me go thru my withdrawl stages of drinking, he knew me while I was going to the god-awful idea known as AA and then he also knew me when I first started getting involved with FSU Green, although that part of my life I never really talked to about with him. Due to how much people are silly with how they share information over the internet it's not a suprise that people that can find out who a FSU Green member is if they do a few clever Google searches. The dashes in the eyebrow are the dead giveaway and one of the distinguishing traits between an Friends Stand United or Green member compared to say your traditional skinhead or white supremisict. I grabbed some of my favorite type fo juices and checked out on the square reader by the front of hte store. I don't even know the guys name but I've known him long enough to feel super weird about asking what his name is. One of those people who have known for long enough of a time to make such questions super odd to ask. As I make way back to my aparment the time is making way towards quarter after ten. I get back inside the apartment and tell Assistant to play the Soaring Morning radio station. I put my things away that I bought at Donald's and step in my bedroom and get undressed for another shower before work. I look in the mirror and run my hand over my hair. I could really use a shave on my dome but I don't have time to do it before work without walking in without a tiger stripe or two. That's the worst part of doing your hair yourself, walking in to the public with some large noticable stripe on the back of your dome that you somehow missed despite all the times you looked in the mirrors confirming that you were good to go. When I get out of the shower I hear my phone make it's fantastically suble noise. I got over to it and look at my messages. It's Cait asking me if I'm at work. Which is so hilarious because she makes my schedule. I respond in classic cocky-fashion and tell her: "IDK You made the schedule why don't you tell ME if I work today!?" She respods instantly: "I'm not at work. You work at noon I know that. You're always there early so I was curious." Wondering what she might be on about, I respond back to her asking if she needs anything done. She didn't respond nearly as quick as she did the last time and all she said was "nevermind" So I continued to prepare myself for work. Several layers of clothing are worn to work. Doesn't matter what the season is outside, I will always have several layers on for how many hours you spend in the cutting room. Now matter what season it is outside, the peak of winter or the peak of summer you are always going to be cold. You're nasal passages are constantly running. It's all just one of those things that you don't really realize until you're past the point of not being fully involved any longer. The responsibilities that a meat cutter has surpasses any job I've had in the past. As serious as being a chef might have been the reality is even the highest regarded restaurants I worked in were looked at as sort of part-time work as I ws not taking the stuff seriously and I was too focused on having a good time with pleasures outside of work to keep too much of a focus on my professional work. As I'm buttoning up my white butchers shirt I look at one of my several printed out sayings that I have hung on the walls of my apartment. The one above dresser reads: "Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right." a quote by Henry Ford. It's one of the more frequent ones that he writes on a random whiteboards thoughout the store or on a generic business-purchased Post-It note that I'll slap in some completely random place for someone to later find. These are all things that he did on the regular with people at work. I didn't really know how to behave in this type of enviornment. So because Kramer is so unbelievabely disorganized and how shady all the management is I really just go at full-speed-ahead just like a restaurant and that in turn has gained me a lot of respect within the store both with the people in charge but more important the people at the very bottom of the food-chain. The Hourlies as I like to call them both in conversation and when I'm thinking about things. I have been in charge in almost any restaurant that I've worked at in the past and because I'm not in charge at this god-awfully huge operation I get to spend a lot of time reflecting on how things operate and seeing the holes in their system. The same type of holes they like to go on about to the stocker who work there. Hourly Stockers who are mostly drug addicts and rehabbing drug addicts. There is no real future in the retail industry unless you finally kneel down on your knees and start to suck the cock of those in charge and become one of them. Kramer was keen on having their colour be the same as the slowly dying retailer, Target. So I like to refer to the people in charge as Strawberries. I suppose when you slap a Strawberry up against an Hourly employee at Target their red almost looks like a dirty red compared to the Stop Sign Red that the Kramer leads where. As I prepare the final little things of myself for the day at work I go over my pockets. Wallet, money, keys, knife, spare knife, knife in boot, memopad, a pen, two sharpies (make sure the pointy one is on the bottom) as I slide the pens between the buttons on my white shirt. One last look in the mirror. Always with that godawful creeping unibrow. Gotta shave soon. Head too. I wonder if I will see Cassandra at work today. I wonder if Shelby works. I wonder what kind of pizza the deli will have around 6:30. I wonder what time Cait works until. Oh Cait. CAIT, AGAIN So you might be wondering to yourself what the deal with Cait is. I can tell you the gods honest truth. She sort of reminds me of someone, but I'm not quite sure who. Perhaps there are dashes of this and dashes of that in her that remind me of all sort of women that I've been with in the past and her personality is an amalgamation of all those charasteristics and that's what draws me towards her. While nobody else in the store seems to remember, I swear to god that I remember her while we were setting up the store and she was not in charge. I thought she was jus going to be one of us. I really was excited about her early on. I know this is true because I would go on about her in this online journal that I always intend on updating so regularly but I just seemingly never do. It was going to be my little output for the whole world yet nobody at all to see. My ex-Wife Kara said to me once that the song Epiphany by the band Staind was written about me. I have lost count to the amount of whiskey I drank alone in my car while trying to decrypt the meaning of what she meant. The lyrics were straightforward enough and perhaps at the time she said that to me she was right. I know I need to stop dwelling on her when I think about every other women but it's hard not to. With how drastic my mistakes were I guess is my own personality fault that I can't stop NOT going on about her. I still think about her a lot all this time and all this hazy shit later. I just can't help the fact that I still care. I shared a part of my life with her and that will never go away. I just can't seem to let go. This is the common-thread that I share with Cait and perhaps that is what drives me to her the most. I think about Cait when I'm not at work. I think about Cait when I'm with other women. This is part of that process that I told myself several years ago. I literally called myself out and thought for a moment that maybe I was onto something. One night late in Evernote I typed the words: ``` if the day ever came when i could change my mistake i probably wouldn't and i would hate myself for it later my mistake will help make who i am for the next eighteen days and then i will slip back into the old, familiar skin and become the person i always i have been ``` And while I did apparently keep it for a reason, I do like to look back upon it and wonder what the hell I was on about at the exact moment I wrote it. Cait however has the longstanding obcession with the guy who was last in a serious relationship with. I'm not sure exactly what he did to her but he did whatever it was on a level that damaged her become even the most basic imagination. She says things about how she knows with about absolute certainty that she prefers the taste of cold blood compared to warm blood, however scary and dramatic that may sound ― turns me on beyond my wildest imaginations. The stakes of relationships of which she speaks turn my clocks back to a point that I no longer feel the need to observe daylights savings time. I've spend wild, crazy amounts of time daydreaming when I would otherwise be hard at work. There is just something unspeakable that brings me to a hault when I see her. I know with certainty there isn't any change in hell there would ever be a chance with her and I on a serious but I've decided that this isn't really my deal to begin with. I find myself only liking someone during what other people have called 'the chase' but then when I finally get someone who is with me then all my interest starts to focus on something else. And they just sort of become the background music of my life and this other sort of nagging thing that needs attention in order to live when I feel like I'm always on the search for something. I have this sort of undying need to be with someone but that only seems to fucking last as long as it takes to get them involved with my life and then it's something else. And it's just this cycle of over and over. But I can't deny that sometimes at work when Cait and I are in the back of the store tying to figure some sort of game plan about work and our conversations start to fall away from professional subjects and to personal ones she does leave me with this vibe that she just wants someone to destroy her sexually as much as she likes to go on about how she wants to find herslf a "man who is going to take care of her" and despite all of that she still does leaves me with this sort of feeling there is something else there. She leaves me with this dwelling feeling that she wants me to make the first move because her position at work is higher than mine and there are actually written down rules in their little Code of Ethics pamphlets that describe in great detail why you cannot fuck around with coworkers below you on the food chain at work. How it will sacrifice your future with the company and yatta-yatta-yatta. There are plenty of Strawberries who fuck the brains out of the new cashiers. Every petite, young, blonde who starts at Kramer who is naive enough to have started their retail experience out at Kramer have found themselves prey to almost anything that has a penis inside of that store. And that's not something that stops at the coworker level. Everyone who is female gets hit on by coworkers and customers alike. That whole 'the customer is always right' shit gets taken to a whole new obscene level sometimes. Especially with what the youngest female cashiers would describe as "creepy ass fucking hairy old men" who are the ones who makes the most obscene and akward social suggestions to the ladies. But Cait legitamately needs to have her future set in stone somewhere if she doesn't find this sort of Sugar Daddy that she dreams of so she takes her job rather seriously. While she does like to banter around with people at work and pretend to be cool with them on a social level she only does this to sort of gain information about people and she's not good at passing the shit off as real, let alone how she uses the information against the person almost instantly. So her subtle approaches are anything but that. I'm well-versed in the shady things that front of the house and back of the house staff puled in restaurants that I have almost a natural sense of what to expect from people. So I saw right through her bullshit right from the start. I feel that this is why she sort of pulled me in so close in order to get things done at work. She knew she wasn't going to be able to change how I operate, she sees how naturally well I handle people at work and she knows that it would be better for her to have me be her professional ally at work than someone who was always trying to play against her. But the way this lady goes on about how she is fat and how she's "the biggest women in her family" and all this other nonsense it just is blows my mind. She's not a frail, petite, blond cashier like these other male Strawberries gauk at while they are supposed to be working, but perhaps constantly being exposed to work and having these men sort of represent the majority of the men she sees during the course of the week is why here view of the world is so fucked up. She by the very definition of any man would call her "thick" and despite what a lot of women would like to think 'thick' is in no way, shape or form a bad thing. There seemingly has been a global shift in the sort of women that a majority of men seem to think is attractive. It seemed like 'back in the day' when I was young it was the frail, skinny, not enough meat on their bones type of women that were getting all the love. Now things have shifted and ladies who we would call 'thick' have seemingly taken centre stage. But be that as it may the ladies still dont like to be called 'thick' whether or not it is a compliment. They take it all as sort of offensive. Anything that's not the social norm is what they strive to stay away from. The problem is, nobody really seems to know what normal is anymore. Blame the internet, blame television, blame music. When I arrive at work I'm standing at the cashier side of the counter when I ask one of the baristas: "Is Red here!?" a reference to Cait. She has red hair, and when I came over to the meat department they were calling her "Big Red" both after the chewing gum and because of her 'thickness'. They told me she was in the building, which is odd because I didn't see her Lincoln SUV out in the parking lot when I arrived. Rafael of the Meat Brotherhood went to high-school with her and despite how much he would like to deny I know with no shred of doubt in my being that if he wasn't tied down with married and had kids he would be destroying that with all his might. He talks about her the way I do but just not in front of everyone like I do. The way I put things out there for the men of the meat department but nobody else. Rafael will tell me these things about "banging her out" and "pulling out the bird" and sometimes depending on the situation he will say this when it's all three of us, Cait included, standing there. I know this is proof in the pudding for how he truly feels about her. Because when your uncomfortable in discussing your feelings sometimes you like to bring them up in a humourous manner towards other people just to see how it will land with them on the social scale. The guy is too much of a prankster to ever actually act on half of the things he brings up when he talks risque but deep down I know this is true. You can tell that he actually cares about her. The way I care about her. I want to deny this fact more than anything in the world but I truly do find this woman to be amazing. If I was that still that guy that was trying to be with someone, she is who I would want to be with. But then when I think about all that work and what i went thru with Kara then it all just brings me back full-circle into the idea of what the fuck was I thinking!? I'm about thirty-five minutes early before I have to punch in. There isn't much happening in the store right now but I still make my way to be the back, pretending that I have to go my locker for some reason but the reality is I just like making a pass thru the store and say my hellos to people and to get my vibe spread throughout the building. These sad souls of retail all have such a cruddy view of life and they like to walk around with sad faces on their heads all day long. So having spent long, hard hours in a kitchen for the last two decades I find myself really troubled to be upset about the state of affairs. The things that these people consider hard world is laughable. So I'm always trying to make people remember that while I'm there. Giving them insane stories about incredible situations in kitchens and telling them: "Hey we could all be doing that right now, how would you feel about that!?" I'm passing through the liquor department, extending my fist to the guy Lawrence who runs the liquor department. Always having the most odd convrsations with this guy, who is more than likely a functioning alcoholic himself, always teetering between sober and hung-over when he's at work, especially on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Pass by the Pets Department where I'm once again met by this shorter dude that is reminiscent of that professional wrestler who would go around screaming YES YES YES all the time. The way his beard is trying to wrestle his shirt. The way his eyes look like their fighting to remain functionable to this guy on his face of fur. A quick friendly hi and hello. I do have my hoodie on over my nametag so he could very well have not yet figured out that I work here. Gold-star-1-year-club Mother Fucker step aside. Big dog in the building. The guy who went from zero to apprentice in no time. The one kicking shit over and keeping people in the right place mentally. That's me! I am passing electronics before I'm met by one of my favorite employees in the buildilng. Chris, a legit midget ― but these are one of those words you're not allowed to say anymore. So he is a 'small person' by the true definition of the word. I remember sitting next to him in the interview for Kramer when they first setup the store and were recruiting people. I was one of the initial wave of people that got that call to be part of a completely new idea. But then I got sucked away one last night shortly after I started there, and right before we were going to open up the doors to the public. That one last restaurant job that didn't pan out, that one last restaurant job that put the final nail in the coffin in regards to tapping out on restaurant work entirely. Or at least that's what I keep telling myself. I chit-chatted with Chris a little bit about random electronics-related things (mostly gaming) and then made my way to the back employee-only area. I guess the true reason I go back here is to see if I can get a peek of Cait in the Starwberry office. But she was not in the room when I passed. I took out my keys and opened my locker and pretended to look around inside for a moment. Relocked the locker and head back out on to the sales floor. Soon as I get out on the floor I noticed Joseph over by the edge of where the Do It Yourself section of our store meets sporting goods. Always good keeping a solid line of communication with Hourlies and Strawberries alike, I give him a nod from a distance and start heading in his direction. He's talking to someone who is standing further down the aisle and I cannot see who they are until I get closer. He's talking to the new furry beast who's often seen in the pets department staring at the fish and some other new sort of younger millenial chick who already has pastel coloured sleeves on her arms despite her young age. "Hey Wolf" Joseph says as I pass "Cait's arch-nemesis is here, did you see her!?" he says to me. He must be talking about that Shawn lady I saw at Donald's Fresh Market earlier that morning. So I say to him: "Her name happen to be Shawn?" "Yeah, how do you know that?" He asks "She must know who I am, I saw her earlier this morning at Fresh Market." I said to him. I pace towards him a little bit and the hourlies scatter away. "What is she really doing here?" I ask him seriously. "She really wants Cait's job. She lives in town here and works at our store in Menesha. She basically wants to switch jobs with her." "What do you think of her?" I asked. "Whoever is running the Food Line doesn't effect my job much, unless they can't get their job done." Joseph starts to get that giddy-exciting look to his face as he speaks, which he does when he's revealing things to people that he necessarily shouldn't. Perhaps it's my height that intimidates him, or perhaps he appreciates how upfront and honest I am about things and the way I can just call things out the moment I see them, whereas he has to sort of things before he does them because something he might do may risk the future of his job. Things that hourly employees don't have to worry about. And not only do I have that luxury, but I also have the protection of the Meat Brotherhood. We're not as resplaceable as anybody else in the building. We're also a dying breed. Which is another alluring element of why I took up the industry. There's no shortage of cooks in the world. But there is a growing shortage of people who know how to cut meat properly. And the actual butchers of the world would consider what we do a sort of laughing stock of a job, because we don't deal with animals until they're broken down to a certain part but the reality is we still know a lot more about meat and the process of food compared to the rest of the people. The way Joseph said that about people not getting their job done is a longstanding theme with Cait and him. He's not at all fond of the fact that Cait was basically handed the job she has by the store direction a little over a year a go when she came from a place that is a mere fraction size of the place that Kramer is and Joseph has been with the company for severl years. Cait is local, Joseph has relocated twice and followed the company wherever they asked him to go. The way he sees it she just got handed the job without much loyalties proven. Afterall she is the food-equivalent of what Joseph is to the General Merchandise side of the store. And what really gets Joseph going even more is the fact that when the store directory lists the managment that Cait's name is listed right under the food director when they are listing their Totem Pole of Power. This is primarily because Kramer's main focus is food but that is not the side of the store that Joseph represents so that's what really gets under his skin. Cait has no end-game on being a store director and to see her name listed like that under his is just too much for him to deal with. He's always going about 'when he's a Store Director' this that and the other thing. He would be a great person to work for don't get me wrong, but he's just not got that food mindset that allows him to mesh too well with the people who represent my side of the store. I've actually had a few customers tell me that I should have Cait's job. I wonder how that would play out with Joseph sometimes if they were just to hand me the title like that. But upon further investigation there was things that were discovered that said you have to be a Strawberry of several departments underneath the overall 'Food' or 'GM' side of the store before you even qualified for the position. But there are several qualitifications of myself that do put me over rather well for the position. Every month since I first suggested it to Cait, I've been a part of the Iventory Crew. A group of "non-slacker" employees who come in at the top of the clock, Midnight and work until eight-thirty in the morning doing the counting for Kramer in all of the Fresh Departments of the Store. The things I've done that get that whole process done efficently is incredible. Since I got trained on the whole process the entire Inventory Crew, with the exception of the men in the Meat Department the entirity of the crew has flipped over completely. And come to think of it one of the ladies in the Bakery has also been around since I started this process as well. But I've really made it become something that everyone looks forward to instead of dreads entirely. It was a whole lot of fucking off when I started bineg involved with the process but as time wore on and as my influence expanded as did my sort of approaches on how things should work. I didn't start to sort of fine time how they did things in the process of inventory itself but I helped embody this sense of family and community among the employees. I did this by making "dinner" and important element of inventory. Basically I would rally some food together and force everyone to sit around the table and sort of get to know each other and chit-chat about this or or about that. The first probably three months this was really not much of anything except me and one other person around the table. Sure people would swoop in for some of the food but that would be about it. They would go flock five or ten or in another room away with food in their hand but they would no interest in social exchange with the other department people. 'Why would you do that!?' they would often think but when they started to get blinded of the departments they worked in and started to see the other people just as they were, people then things become a lot more community-like during Dinner with the Inventory Crew. I realize as I approach the Produce Department I realize that I forgot to punch in. Not too far away to go back and do it now. Fuck it. No bother, I'll have Cait fix it later. But as I make it near the Deli I notice this elusive Shawn talking to both Rafael and Brian outside of the cutting room. She's in business casual street clothes, in fact and of course the same clothes I saw her wearing at Fresh Market earlier. 'Fucking traitor!' I say to myself in regards to Rafael, here he is playing face with this Cunt Bitch that is here to take Cait's job and fuck up the whole way we do business here. Shit we worked so hard to establish. We're not trying to have some newbie come in here and spew her Kramer Corporate fucking nonsense at us. Not at all. "There he is!" Rafael says to me as I get close to Meat Department. Right in front of New Bitch and Brian. "This is the Kramer Go-Getter right here" he says in classic half-sarcastic, half comedic voice. I make a point to hold my fist out to Brian first, then Rafael and then I turn to who I already know as Shawn, who has already made a point that I didn't aknowledge her first ― "Hello." and I extend my hand for a proper handshake. "Again." I see Rafael and Brian react "Hi I'm Shawn!" she make it look like she doesn't know what I'm talking about "Oh was that you at Donald's Fresh Market earlier!?" "Yes." I said "So what brings you into town?" "I'm new to town actually. Just bought a house not too long ago and I just wanted to lay some roots. I work at the Kramer in Menesha." "So I've heard." I said. Again I see Rafael and Shawn react "Word gets around fast in the retail world, you guys should know that better than I." "SINATRA" shouts Will out of nowhere. Thank the old gods and the new that he came over and broke up this akward social scene. It's one of his often-used nicknames for me, as I'm always listening to Frank Sinatra over the Bluetooth speakers in the back. I took this as my queue to leave the scene. Shawn knows exactly how I feel about her and now I can go get my day started. I reach out and bump knuckles with With and we walk to behind the counter. I grab myself a hairnet and we walk through the cutting room and into the cooler. 'So what do you know about her' I asked. He didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. I told him the things I knew. Only input Willa provided other than things I already had known about her is that he would fuck her. "But you won't let her take Cait's job, will you ol' Baby Blue Eyes!?" Will said to me. "HAHA Fuck off." I said to him. He's one of the coolest cats in the building. He's got some pretty dark histories and he doesn't exactly tell them to everyone. But I can tell you that he's another one of those prime examples that the Darker sort of History you have, the Brighter Possible Lights you can Create in the Future. "Wanna do a lap?" I ask him This is one of the greatest things I like to do to fuck off time at work. Simple walk a lap around the store. Doesn't matter what it is for or where we go. When Will and I walk around we just sort of magnetically attract customers to us with the most random questions. We could easily spend our entire day just doing laps around grocery alone helping people find their things. We often daydream off into ideas about how if we ran our own store we would have a position doing just that. Will says he'd like that position and I'd always tell him that he could just sit and back and count money. But he tells me that he's like being on floor. Closer to the pussy.