Gunnar Ross

 

Chapter
1

Another
Day  
 

BZZT
BZZT BZZT BZZT BZZT. Click.

 

Gunnar groaned. He pressed snooze for
the 10^th time today, a new record. He knew it was
fruitless. Just like every other day, he had to get up. He took his
time to sit up and stretch. “Time to make the donuts,” he droned.
His feet rested on the carpet, crumbs and dirt stuck to his bare
feet. “I need to vacuum,” he said for the 6^th time
this week. Chances are there will be a 7^th. Light peeked
through the cheap curtains hung on by a nail and dreams to the window
to the fire escape, he has not opened it in months in fear of the
whole system falling apart. Even if he did, he would only see the
back of a billboard.

He checked his watch, 11:20 am, 10
minutes to clock in. Looks like I’ll be an hour
late again, don’t want to waste that half point on my record,
he thought. He stood up and surveyed his urban kingdom, a studio
apartment that wasn’t even as big as his boss’s garage. It wasn’t
a rats nest by any means but was definitely in need of a weekends
worth of tidying, a pile of laundry here, three trash bags needing to
go out there, and stains on his small table that he got from the
dumpster behind the complex. It lost a leg at some point and Gunnar
fashioned a new one with an old hockey stick he found.

Gunnar went to the bathroom for his
important meeting of the day. Afterward, he showered, lukewarm at
best, due to the long outdated water heaters in his apartment
building, and took a good look in the mirror. Thank god I’m
cute, at least, he thought. Gunnar has soft features. His hair is
dark brown, naturally always a little greasy, despite his best
efforts, combed forward to a peak in the front. His eyes were a deep
hazel brown. He was only 21, yet already had some stress lines
around his eyes as well as bags underneath them. He was overweight,
yet he was physically active. He brushed his teeth and got dressed
for work. He donned his uniform of a black polo shirt with a logo of
a smiling cartoon cheeseburger, a pin that says ‘Hello, my name is
Gunnar’, black slacks, and black non-slip shoes. He turned on the
stove and made his favorite; eggs, rice, and bacon. He also refilled
his flask with honey bourbon, and loaded it into the bottom of his
backpack. He isn’t an animal, however, he threw away the beer
bottles from the previous night in the recycling bin. For a
sustainable future, he thought rolling his eyes.

After eating, he checked his watch
again, 12:10pm, his phone was already in do not disturb, yet has five
missed calls from his boss. He finally picked up as call number six
started coming through.

“Hello Arnold, what can I do ya for?”
Gunnar asked in his best customer service voice.

“Gunnar, what the hell is keeping
you?” a gruff middle aged voice came through. “This is the third
time this month, what do I keep you around for? This is going to be
another half point on your record, that’s a point and a half this
month if you can do simple math!”

Arnold Schaffer, manager at Boys Burger
Barn, a popular fast food restaurant chain. If you asked Gunnar, he
would have told you that when you think of a manager on a power trip,
whatever is in your mind is Arnold. If he wasn’t barking orders at
people making minimum wage, he’d be outside smoking cigars.

“Yes sir,” Gunnar continued the
charade, “I’m well aware, sir. I’m on my way now, sir.”

“You better, or else-” Gunnar hung
up. He put his phone away and grabbed his backpack. He wasn’t
afraid of Arnold. Gunnar has been the only consistent employee since
high school. Arnold can’t fire him, he’s too important.

Gunnar opened the door to a sunny
Tuesday morning in summer. He was immediately hit with the smell of
roads and the sounds of cars as the morning traffic on the highway
rolled by. In the distance he saw the capitol building among the
jungle of constant construction in the city. He put on his
headphones, then descended the three floors to get to his bike. A
green, beat up, rusted 10 speed he got for helping a neighbor move.

It wasn’t pretty, but it worked. He
spent the better part of a month to scrounge around dumpsters looking
for parts to fix it back up to working condition. He had to borrow
tools, and at one point, he even fashioned his own out of sheet
metal, glue, and rubber bands. He unchained it and started riding to
work. It was the middle of June, school was out, and it was very hot
and humid.

Gunnar never owned anything new in his
life. Growing in the environment he did, it was always hand-me-downs,
thrifted, or found in the garbage. He learned to scrounge for the
pittance that he would call his own. He learned basic coding,
engineering, and his hero was MacGyver. At least in theory, he never
had the means to watch the show.

He navigated the streets with
familiarity, passing by homeless people in droves, trash, and cars.
Boys Burger Barn was only 10 minutes away by bike, but it always felt
so much longer. He passed by Laura, a local beggar who always had a
sign saying “Magic is dying.” Lady, magic died when I found
out Santa wasn’t real.

He pulled into the parking lot, and
almost got hit by a car arriving as well. Gunnar slapped the hood,
“Watch where you’re going! Some of us actually have somewhere to
be!” He didn’t even care to look at the driver. He looked at the
restaurant and knew he was in for a day. The drive thru was already
wrapping around the building, the line was out the door, and there
was a sign for a new menu item Gunnar knew nothing about. An item
called “Burger Fries.” Gunnar sighs deeply.

He rode around back and locked his bike
up, the smell of the dumpster penetrated his senses. He reached his
hand to open the back door, when suddenly, WHAM! The door
swung wide, cracking Gunnar in his nose.

“Aaaugh!” Gunnar yelled. He threw
his hands to his nose, already dripping with blood. This was not the
first, second, or third time. A scrawny, pimply teen rounded the
corner in a panic.

“Oh no, Gunnar! I’m so sorry!”
John exclaimed, rushing to Gunnars side. John was a high school
student in his first job to help his family. He’s short, scrawny,
always extremely broken out, and has scruffy blonde hair.

“Sorry doesn’t pay the medical
bills, John” Gunnar said, tilting his head back to stop the
bleeding. “Didn’t you see the sign? Open S-L-O-W-L-Y”

“I know, I know, its just been really
busy today with Arnold’s new item he concocted last night, he even
went early today to print off the posters for it and took an ad out
on Spotify,” John lifted the trash bag to throw into the dumpster,
but halfway up, the bag bursted, dropping all the trash and mystery
liquid all around.

“Shit!” John cursed, “sorry again,
Gunnar, I’ll be out here for a minute, Alice and I need help ASAP.”

‘Have fun, then,” Gunnar said
throwing a bloodied tissue into the dumpster. “I’m off to face
the dragon.” He took a deep sip from his flask, and opened the
door.

Chapter
2

Another
Dollar

Immediately after walking through the
door, Gunnar wished he hadn’t. All senses were blasted all at once.
The sight of hundreds of flashing lights and the fluorescent lights
blinding him, the smells of all the fried foods, the sound of
hundreds of beeps and boops from various machines, the feel of grease
and wet floors, all culminated in a sour taste in his mouth as he
felt a clap on his shoulder. It was Alice, wearing the same uniform
as everyone else, but with her short Afro poking out of her visor
hat, dyed purple this week.

“Gunnar, where the fuck were you?”
She spat, “We needed you an hour ago, we have a new menu item, as
you hopefully saw. Its easy don’t worry, just divide patties into 4
sticks, deep fry it and serve in a fry cup. Not complicated, now
clock in and hop on fryer!”

Which he did. He punched in at 12:29pm
and the system made note of his tardiness, and gave the notification
that he has accrued another half point.

As he turned around, he bumped into
Arnold, who was pulling out a cigar on his way out the door.

“Good AFTERNOON, Gunnar,” he said,
with sarcasm, “Did you get lost or something?” Arnold was a big
guy, wearing brown slacks, a pinstripe over shirt with the same logo
of a smiling cartoon cheeseburger, and leather suspenders.

“No, sir, I just slept in by mistake,”
Gunnar said, not meeting Arnold’s eyes.

Arnold sighed and put away his cigar.
“Come with me, Gunnar.”

Arnold led Gunnar to his office. When
Gunnar walked in, he smelled tobacco and what seemed to be a gym
locker room. Arnold’s office was always dark, with only a medium
sized lamp shining onto the desk with a flickering fluorescent light
from above with only one working bulb, buzzing and flickering. Arnold
sat at his desk and motioned for Gunnar to sit, who silently refused.
Arnold Pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

“Gunnar, what the hell is going on?”
He asked, exasperated, “You’ve been a good worker here since you
were in high school, what happened?”

Life after the orphanage threw me
into society which chewed me up, spit me out, and ground what
remained. “I’m not sure sir, this past year has been pretty
rough, and I think its just getting to me,” he said, truthfully
enough. “Money is tight, and a promotion or raise might get me out
of my funk.”

Gunnar looked at Arnold with that last
statement. He knew it wasn’t going to happen. He worked here for
five years and not a single word of any upward movement was mentioned
in all that time.

Arnold sat there, staring at Gunnar for
a moment. His eyes considering the proposal.

“Tell you what, Gunnar,” he said
slapping his desk. “Its the middle of June now, if you can go until
school lets back in in August, following a plan that I will design
for you in the next week, including coming to work on time, I will
make you assistant manager, and work with me in here with more
responsibility. Which, yes, will include a raise.”

“Oh! Y-y-yessir! Thank you! I will do
my best to do that!” Gunnar replied, surprised.

“Yeah, we can talk about it next week,
but for now, get out there and resume your normal duties, we’re
slammed out there, Alice and John need you and your eventual
guidance,” Arnold said, escorting him out the door.

The door closed behind him. Gunnar was
surprised, he did not entertain for a moment that that would have
worked. He left Arnold’s office with a mote of motivation to
actually succeed. He began his day.

Somehow, to Gunnar, the day was both a
blur and a slog. He got into a fugue state pretty quickly, and felt
like he zoned out for hours. When he looked at his watch for the
first time since clocking in, it was only 2:30pm. After that, he was
unable to get back into that state. Fully aware of everything
happening around him now.

BEEP
BEEP BEEP. Fries were
done

BEEP
BEEP BEEP. Burgers were
ready.

A swig from the flask. Gunnars feet
hurt, just one more step. He could always go one more step.

“How
are you so incompetent?” a woman complained to John, “We asked for no pickles!” Gunnar heard an impact and
splat.

Another hour passed.

BEEP
BEEP BEEP. More fries.

BEEP BEEP BEEP. Nuggets
were ready.

Another swig from the flask.

“What do you mean you don’t serve
grilled cheese sandwiches? I order that here all the time!” A man
yelled at Alice.

BEEP
BEEP BEEP…… BEEP BEEP BEEP… Can’t
get to fries, c’mon Alice, its your turn.

“Gunnar,
I can’t believe you were that late on a day we had a new menu
item!” Arnold shouted, now
on the register.

“I’m sorry, sir.” Gunnar shouted
from across the kitchen.

Gunnar made burgers. Gunnar took out the
trash. Gunnar swept the floors. Gunnar cleaned windows. Gunnar made
more burgers.

After some time, the lunch rush died
out, and Gunnar was finally able to slow down a little to do a better
job cleaning. He began bussing the tables, collecting trays and
crumpled up burger wrappers.

“How can you be out of American
cheese?” A woman screamed. Her hair was bleached blonde with a
classic bob haircut. She was skinny and old, with a flashy pink
outfit and big bedazzled sunglasses. Gunnar saw her take out her
phone and recorded herself, pointed at the one table Gunnar hasn’t
cleaned yet because he was working on another. “These workers are
so lazy, its no wonder that I am giving this place a 1 star review.”

Hearing this, Arnold put on his best
brown nosing face, and approached her. “I am so sorry, ma’am, if
you’ll allow me, I’ll comp your whole meal and throw in a coupon
that wont expire, just for you!”

“That’s more like it,” the woman
smirks. She walks away with Arnold, and Gunnar began to clean the
last table of the lunch rush.

“Hey kid, want to see a magic trick?”
an old man that Gunnar didn’t really notice before was sitting with
a half eaten meal. He’s wearing a ragged trench coat, an old hat,
fingerless mittens, and a big gray beard. Gunnar thought he was a
homeless person who scrounged up enough for a meal.

“Sorry, sir,” Gunnar replied. “Busy
cleaning.”

“Are you sure? Won’t take but a
minute, if you can guess how I do it, ill give you a twenty, but if I
fool you, you owe me a ten, sounds like you have a lot to win here,”
The old man gave a smile that could warm an ice queen.

“Why not?” Gunnar said, “Hey
Arnold, I’m taking five!”

“Kay!” Gunnar heard in reply. Arnold
usually doesn’t mind a five minute break every once in a while when
its not too busy.

“Fantastic!” the old man said,
digging in his pockets and pulling out a deck of cards. He fans them
out. “You know the drill, pick a card, any card!”

Gunnar smiles a little, he thinks this
man is just lonely and needs a moment of human interaction, he
reached for dead center of the deck. He grabbed a card and pulled it
out.

“Go on, memorize your card,” The old
man says hopefully.

Gunnar looked at his card. It was the
red joker with the letter j scratched out replaced with a drawn
version of the Ace of Spades. Gunnar thought that obviously he might
have lost a card or two on the streets. He memorized it as the Ace of
Spades.

“Got it memorized?” he asked,
pointing his finger to his temple. Gunnar nodded.

“Fantastic!” he exclaimed again, he
shuffled the cards with such grace and skill, that Gunnar could not
comprehend where cards go and how they seemed to defy gravity. Like a
hurricane in a bottle, cards seem to have a mind of their own. After
a few moments, they settle back into a deck again. He fans them out
again. “Put it back in anywhere.”

Gunnar was stunned, he’s played some
cards with some fancy shufflers, but that display was like nothing
he’s seen before. The old man gestured with the deck again for
Gunnar to keep the show going. Gunnar put it back in, closer to the
top.

“Watch closely, I’m going to move
around your ‘Ace of Spades’ around,” Gunnar was already
impressed, unless it was already part of the trick, and he was about
to be duped. He watched as the old man began using nothing but his
“mind” to move the card out of its original spot, and made it
dance around the deck. The joker stood on one corner on the top, and
Gunnar blinked in disbelief as he saw the joker wink at him. He
rubbed his eyes and looked close again. Then he started thinking
there was something in his water today, because now, the joker gave
him a little wave, grabbed the J in the corner of his card and bent
it into the shape of a spade, and put it back, went back to his
original position, and went back to being still before falling down
on the top of the deck.

Gunnar stands up and dug out a crumpled
ten dollar bill and gave it to the old man, “Good job sir, you
stumped me, don’t spend it all in one place,”

The old man gives Gunnar a perplexed
look, “Aren’t you going to guess how I did it?”

“I could try, but I don’t think I
can compare to your genius,” Gunnar gave a small smile to the old
man, “But thanks for the break, my feet also thank you.” With
that, Gunnar walked back to the table he was cleaning, finished it
up, and walked back into the kitchen.

He spent the better part of the next
hour thinking about that trick. He came to the conclusion that it was
sleight of hand, strings, and a tiny, card sized screen that he
probably spent a long time investing in to fool people and earn some scratch. He didn’t want to
spoil the old mans fun though. So he let it be.

The rest of the evening was more of the
same. More tickets, more burgers, more fries, more “Burger Fries,”
and finally, at 8pm, Gunnar happily turns the neon open sign off.
Alice and John were working in the kitchen closing down. Alice was
cleaning the stoves while John filtered the oil. Gunnar was stuck
cleaning the restrooms and dining area. The bathrooms are the worst
of it, so he does that first, after bottoming out his flask for the
day.