Ordinary Person

This is part 1 of a many part series about my experiences at a job I worked in recently. Whether this series is fact or pure fiction is up to the reader to decide.

I woke up that crisp, winter morning hungover and went outside to get myself a cup of tea and a cigarette. As I walked the deserted streets, skirting ribcage showing mongrels with menacing teeth, and puddles of slush, I noticed a man in a pink jacket. He was wearing grey, stonewashed jeans, and everything about him screamed ‘dandy’ or ‘flamboyant.’ I don’t know what thought possessed me and where it came from, but it urged me to follow him, and I did.

He had a peculiar, effeminate gait, and brown hair. He held an unfiltered cigarette in one hand and a can of Red Bull in the other. I followed him as he turned a corner, and then another, and realised that I didn’t know where I was. There was nobody else in sight, and an eerie mist had settled on the streets, obscuring my view. I panicked, but kept following him.

Looking back, I don’t know why I did it. It might have been obsession or curiosity, but I walked for miles, my eyes focused on the pink jacket and the grey jeans. Who is this guy? I thought. Why dress like that? I needed to get the answers to my questions, and so I turned right and left when he did.

A part of me wanted to stop him and ask him questions. I connected him to my life in some profound way, and I knew for certain he had answers. I couldn’t see his face, but he had this messianic aura, a seraphic glow that didn’t show but was there, and every step he took beckoned me to keep trailing him.

I’d spent years in a dull apartment, cloistered like a nun. My friends had forsaken me, and my mind was no longer in my control. Everything had become a strain — from brushing my teeth to showering to taking a shit. All I did was drink wine and watch porn. I was slipping away from reality, my world becoming a hazy, prison maze chock-full of fiendish apparitions and gargoyles. I needed solace and a spiritual reawakening. Now I didn’t believe that any mortal could give me that, but I did, however, believe that this stranger knew some secret that would help me unlock the door to a better life and guide me to a more pleasant reality. One that didn’t involve assiduously scanning the pages of the past, looking for morsels of wisdom.

After what seemed like hours, the man entered a house. It was a ramshackle one with ageing cornices and crumbling walls. One of those old mansions that barely stood the test of time. I stood outside, wondering whether to follow him in. I looked up at the blue sky with its shining sun, showing that dawn had passed and noon approached, bringing with it heat and languor. Lassitude overcame me, and I wanted to go back home, but I didn’t know where I was and didn’t carry my phone with me. So I mustered up courage and entered the old house. I passed an old dog who did nothing except look at me, and walked to the dining table, where the man sat with his family. I expected him to be confused and outraged, but he smiled.

“Come. Sit down. We’ve been expecting you,” he said, in a high-pitched voice, and I did.

His wife served me some rice and chicken curry, and I ravenously gobbled it up, wondering where my appetite came from.

“I take it you’re looking for answers,” he said.

“Yes. I am. But how did you know?”

“You are here and that’s all that matters. I’d like to offer you a job at my burger joint, Pinky’s Burger House. Work hard, prove yourself, and the possibilities are endless.”

And so, I wore a pink jacket and stonewashed grey jeans, the next day with a baseball cap, and smiled at the first customer.

“Welcome to Pinky’s. What can I get you?” I asked them.

Photo by S. Tsuchiya on Unsplash