The last rays of sun spread a warmth of glow over my dark, tan body as I lay outstretched on the deck of a slowly rocking boat.  I could see the red glow behind my closed eyes and feel the small sprays of water on my face.  Pure contentment, this was the life.  In the distance there was laughing, splashing and …a ringing phone?

            Huh?  Another splash of wetness on my forehead.  What time was it?  I could hear a small distant voice screaming in the dark.

            Waking up to my reality, I stumbled out of bed and snatched the phone off the bookshelf bringing a shower of paperbacks down on my toes.

            “Ow, damn!”  I screamed as I hopped backwards and hit the bed just enough to knock me further off balance and fall sideways on the floor catching the corner of the bed frame with my funny bone.

            “Oh, Shit!”  I screamed louder.

            “Shaz!”  The tinny voice said on the phone. “Girl, unhook the cell from the charging cord and answer me!”

            “What!  What!  What!”  I said as I pulled the cord from the tiny blue phone.

            “Girl, whatcha doing?”

            “Huh?”

            “Do you know what time it is?”

            “No.”  I said struggling into a sitting position.

            “It’s 6:20 in the am, girl!  If you don’t get your ass outta bed and down here you’re gonna spend all day in the Pit.  Remember we got several places to hit today so get up and get going!”

            “Uh, Jay let’s skip it today.”  I whined not wanting to leave the floor.  It was safe down here and I couldn’t ding myself if I just went back to sleep.

            “Can’t sweetness, remember we got rent to pay.”

            “We – meaning me, just paid rent a few days ago.  You live with your momma, you don’t pay rent.”

            “Semantics!  How much you got left for the next rent check?”

            There was silence as Jay gave me a few minutes to run through my other options.  I sighed realizing I didn’t have any left.

            “OK.”  I said.

            “Good, - so get up and get ready.  Take a military shower and meet me at the Pit in forty-five.”

            “Do I have time to wash my hair?”

            “Do you have time to straighten it?”

            “No.”  I said.

            “Pony tail, put in the cute chongito holders, the ones with the sparkles.”

            “You got a list?”

            “I mapquested it last night.”  He said making it sound like mapquesteded it.

            “OK, see ya in a few.”  I said as I hung up and turned over to crawl into my closet and check out my options.

            Jeans?  No, that would work for the Pit and the temp shops but without a clue where we would end up today I had to be careful.  Skirt and heels?  Nah- that was a broken ankle waiting to happen.  Black pants and boots?  Too hot.  Ahh, there we go – white shirt and khakis, casual but clean, the perfect job outfit.  All I have to do was take a few accessories to match the building décor.

            I got up, grabbed some panties and headed for the bathroom.  When I flicked on the light and turned to close the door I noticed a dark spot on my pillow but because half the lights in the bathroom were blown I couldn't see it very well.  Reaching out I turned on the bedside light and leaned close to inspect the pillow, that's when I felt a drop of wetness on the back of my head.

            "Damn!"  I said looking up to the ceiling, another leak.  No wonder my dream felt so real, at least I didn’t dream I had jumped in the sea with a need to pee.  That might have made life a little bit wetter.

            I mentally added a call to the office (for the umpteenth time) to my list of things to do as I turned on the shower and sighed when the water began to flow, it was brown again.  Yup, it was official, I live in a shit hole.

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