Chapter Four

I wiped the moisture from my face with a crumpled shirt and finished getting dressed. My work shirt was definitely just that. The warehouse isn't dirty and dusty, but it isn't spotless either. No amount of Glad detergent could get out the various stains that it had acquired over the past three years. But I can't argue with eleven bucks an hour. Not in a million years, especially in this weathered economy. Illinois hadn't been hit that hard in the means of jobs. Some government and state jobs had been cut, along with minor layoffs in the medical sector. The only thing that got bad were gas prices. It was up to nearly $4.50 a gallon in Newfield, and probably well over 5 in Peoria. I'd definitely be paying my day's wages before I even got there. I hopped in my Dad's old GMC Jimmy and pulled out of my complex, driving forward into the waning twilight. Newfield isn't a huge town, but there's plenty here.
                A couple gas stations, an imitation Walmart, a movie theater, and a million and a half fast food and pizza joints with a couple restaurants thrown in for good measure. And everything else inbetween, all packed in a ten mile radius. Not to mention they have the cheapest single room apartments in Illinois(MUCH to my personal and financial benefit). I stopped at the BP on my way out of town and set the pump on auto-fill while I went inside to grab an iced coffee and a ham sandwich. I walked in and was immediately met with a warm wave of central heat, which managed to stave off the creeping cold slowly settling over Illinois. It was mid-september now and the frost was gonna hit the crops soon if it hadn't already. Farms that didn't grow the cold-resistant stuff were packing in for winter, which came slightly later this year. I walked through the wonderful heat to the hot foods counter and filled up a cheap plastic cup with a steaming latte and sprinkled a little shaved ice on top(well, who am I kidding? I filled half the cup).
               Much to my disdain, they were out of ham sandwiches. I instead grabbed one of the pizza slices they kept handy. It looked a few hours overdue, but it would do to keep me moving til lunch. I walked to the counter and saw Angie transfixed, her eyes glued to the small television in front of her. I broke her out of it gently. "Hey Angie." Her head snapped back as if I had cut an invisible cord between her and the tv. "Hey hon. That gonna be all for ya?" I nodded warmly and tossed a five across the counter. While she was ringing me up, I listened in on whatever channel she was tuned to. It was news, an anchor from Chicago was reporting that United States military personnel worldwide were being brought high alert in response to several attacks on military bases in the Middle East and active splinter cells in the United States. Just more terrorist nonsense gobbledeegook. I collected my nine cents in change and made for my car. I pulled out of the gas station and drove towards Minerva as the sun began to crest the horizon over the endless fields.