I get to work but I’m late, again. Mr. Gonzales notices I’m tardy and takes me aside to have a few words with me. “Mr. Marks your late for work again. I like you but if you’re late for work again, I’m going to have to let you go.” His voice is firm and swallow hard.

“I’m so sorry Mr. Gonzales. I missed the bus and I had to hot foot it here. It won’t happen again.” I replied.

“Make sure that it doesn’t. Now get to work.” He answers.

I leave without responding and get to work. Work is hectic and I’m distracted. I can’t stop thinking about the strange girl with the wild sneakers and electric touch. It makes it hard to complete my tasks in a timely manner and my co-workers are clearly irritated with me but it doesn’t matter. I would love to run into that girl again but something tells me that isn’t going to happen. Still, she did tell me her name so maybe if she wants to run into me again she could make that happen. What am I thinking like that for, a girl like that wouldn’t waste time with a guy like me. I try to put it out of my mind. I had work to do.

When my shift was over I remember the envelope I was given. Anticipation overwhelms me as I wonder what is inside. I slowly open the envelope which reveals a single sheet of paper. On the paper is a list of instructions.

Instruction #1. Read everything before doing anything.

Okay, I think I can do that.

Instruction #2. Quit your job.

Instruction #3. Go to the downtown library.

Instruction #4. Check out the book “War and Peace”.

Instruction #5. Buy a bus ticket to Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Instruction #6. Give the bus ticket to the first person you see after buying the ticket at the bus station.

Instruction #7. Eat lunch 2 days from today at Dave’s Taco Shop.

Instruction #8. Order the Grande Burrito.

Instruction #9. Put an AD in the local paper with the caption “Lisa, please call me 661-245-6532”

Instruction #10. Pay for the AD to run for three days.

Instruction #11. Go visit your mother in the hospital.

Instruction #12. Bring her flowers.

Instruction #13. Go to the downtown library.

Instruction #14. Return the book “War and Peace”

Instruction #15. Say my name out loud.

That’s a really weird list. I can’t quit my job, if I quit my job I’ll be homeless in two weeks and my mother is not in the hospital and at the end whose name am I suppose to say out loud. The whole thing didn’t make any sense to me. This girl shows up seemingly out of nowhere and makes me sign for an envelope that tells me to do crazy things and I’m just suppose to do it. I have a life. It might not be much of a life but it is a life. I put the piece of paper back in the envelope. Now instead of thinking about the girl, I wrestle with whether I am going to actually follow all these strange directions.

I hardly get any sleep that night. The next day I made up my mind. I go into work the next day and I tell Mr. Gonzales that I quit and after that I walk downtown towards the library.

If you want to read part I, you can find it here

https://theprose.com/post/242913/the-package

I feel amazing. I feel totally hyped up so I just walk around for awhile. I'm not going anywhere in particular I just need to burn off some energy. I can't help but smile. What are the odds that the first person I would notice would actually need to go to

alburquerque? I start to think maybe some higher power is pulling the strings in the background. That maybe I've been chosen to be some kind of messenger or something. After a while the 'high' I got from helping the young mother wears off and I start to feel tired. I take out the list from my backpack.

I'm suppose to have lunch at Dave's Taco shop 2 days from today but the list was given to me yesterday so that means I need to have lunch there tomorrow. I head back to my run down flat and decide to chill for the rest of the day. Once I get there I take out the book War and Peace. The book is huge. It's got over a thousand pages in it. I was wondering if I should start reading it. I open it up and start but after three minutes I'm bored as hell with it and close it back up. I'm glad the list didn't say I actually had to read it. I decide to read a summary of the book online though just in case there's a test later. I start flipping through the pages just in case there's some kind of note or something someone left in the book. That would be super cool if I found a map to a buried treasure or something. I feel kind of ripped off though because after I flip through the pages I don't find anything.

The next day I decide to have any early lunch so I start hot footing it around 11. Dave's Taco shop had been around as long as I can remember. In fact it's been around so long that I don't think Dave is around anymore. I've eaten there on occasion and the food is really good so it's the one item on my list that I was really looking forward to. The building itself has definately seen better days. The paint is peeling off and from the outside it looks pretty rundown. Once you get inside the impression doesn't get much better because it looks rundown on the inside too but don't let that fool you. The food is still really good. I stand at the back of a line that almost goes out the door I came in.

By the time I get up to the counter it's a quarter to 12 and since I skipped breakfast I am really hungry. I scan the menu but I don't see a Grande Burrito on it. Now that seems a bit odd, I was told to order the Grande Burritto but it's not on the menu. The woman behind the counter asks me what I want and I pause for a moment. After a few more moments she informs me that I'm not the only person in line and that if I want something I should make up my mind. I finally get the courage to ask for a Grande Burrito. The woman tells me that they don't have a Grande Burrito but I insist. After arguing with her for a few minutes she calls the manager.

The manager comes around and asks what the issue is. The woman explains that I ordered something that wasn't on the menu. The manger turned to me and asked me to name the ingredients that go on a grande burrito. I rattled off a list: Ground beef,refried beans,shredded lettuce,diced tomatoes,sour scream,spanish rice,jack cheese,guacamole,chopped onions,salsa. After I finished the manager thought for a moment and then told me that would be no problem and charged me $4.99 for it. The guy waiting in line behind me told the woman that he wanted the same thing I was having and the effect seemed to cascade because after that a lot of people wanted to buy one.

When I got my burrito I found a spot and started to dig in. The food was just a good as I remembered so I ate slowly and savored every bite. After a few minutes the manager came over and started talking to me. He said that my idea was starting to catch on and that he would be including it in the main menu. I thought that was really cool. Although I can cook I never made up a recipe before. The other thing that was cool is that he offered me a job. My menu item impressed him and he said that he needed a cook for the night shift and if I was okay with that I could have it. I told him that I didn't really know that much about cooking but he said it wasn't rocket science or anything and that he could teach me everything I needed to know. I accepted the position and told the guy I couldn't start until next week because I had this thing that I needed to do. He said that was cool and looked forward to having me on the team.

This was turning out to be a really strange week. A couple days ago I was told to quit my job and now I had a new one. I was feeling a lot better about things now. Once I was done eating lunch I took out the instruction list to see what the next thing I had to do was. I had to put an ad in the local paper so I started walking toward downtown.

It's another hot day in Bakersfield so I was more than happy to enter the newspaper building downtown. The air conditioning hit my face like an artic blast and it felt really good. I walk up to the receptionist and asked where I needed to go to put an ad in the paper. She pointed to a desk in which a woman that looked like she was in her mid forties was sitting. I walked over and told the woman I needed to put an ad in the paper and that I wanted it to run for three days. I copied the ad from my instruction list and gave it to the woman.

She said it seemed like a strange thing to say but as long as I was paying she would be happy to do it. She didn't seem all that excited about her work or anything else for that matter and I wondered if that's what happened to people when they got old. I told her I didn't know any Lisa's or whose phone number it was but I was placing the ad for a friend. She said okay and gave me a wink. It was one of those winks where they know you are full of crap but are willing to play along anyway. I figured I would never know if whoever Lisa is would see the ad or call the number. I was tempted to call the number myself just to see who would answer but then I thought it was really none of my business and I have enough problems of my own to worry about.

Once that task was accomplished, the next thing I needed to do was go visit my mother in the hospital. I hadn't talked to my parents for some time because life happens and all they ever do is yell at me because my life isn't going anywhere. I know they mean well but all that yelling can wear a guy down. As far as I know my mother was fine but since strange things surrounded the previous tasks on my list, there was a good chance I would find my mother in the hospital.

Since I was already downtown and the hospital was just a few blocks away, I didn't have very far to go before I was there. I stopped by the hospital gift shop and spent my last remaining cash on some flowers. It wasn't much but it's the thought that counts. At least I would like to think it's the thought that counts. I go up to the information desk and I inquire about my mother. The lady behind the desk types a few keystrokes on her keyboard and tells me my mother is in the cancer ward. I'm a bit worried at this point because I don't remember anybody saying anything about my mother having cancer. I hurry to the cancer ward as fast as my feet will take me there.

Once I get there I see my father and he doesn't look well. The years have not been kind of him and the added worry about my mother has seemed to age him considerably from the last time I saw him. He gives me a big hug and tells me he has been trying to get in touch with me for the past week. It turns out they just found out that my mother has stage 4 liver cancer and could die at any moment. I've never seen my dad look this volunerable.

I go in to see my mother and give her a light hug and I tell her that I love her. I also give her the flowers that I bought from the gift shop downstairs and my mother tells me she loves them. It nice to know that the thought does count. When she asks me how I knew she was here I just tell her it's a long story. She insists that I tell her and since my mother can be stubborn I show her the sheet of paper with the instructions on it. I tell her that some crazy girl gave it to me and I've spent the last couple days performing the tasks. I tell her about the young mother and my new job. She smiles at me like she knows something I don't know and is keeping it to herself. I tell her that I love her again and I don't want her to go but she said it will be alright. I suddenly get worried about my dad. He doesn't talk much and so it's hard to guage how he's handling the news. So we just sit together in silence.

If you've missed a part.

https://theprose.com/post/242913/the-package

https://theprose.com/post/242914/the-package-part-ii

https://theprose.com/post/244138/the-package-part-3