I told Shannon that I love her today. That was an awesome
feeling. If she knew how much I am truly fascinated by her. I'm also
a genius. Thank God, for I had almost forgotten so.
It's been a while. I finished my rigorous studying routine which
I really didn't feel like talking about because I had no idea how I
did on my exams and when I could only miss a very tiny percent to get
an A, that's kind of stressful. I did call Busch Gardens that Tuesday
and asked if I could verify their receipt of my summer letter. The
fellow explained that they haven't sent out the post cards yet as
they usually do because of an ordering mix up, but he'd be glad to
find out for me and call me back. He then asked for my name and when
I told him, he repeated it with a hint of surprise and saId that he
remembered me from Christmas. It was Conor. I smiled and felt pretty
damn special as he remembered that I go to the University of Florida
and so forth. That was something to brag about later. He said that he
isn't doing the letters this time, but asked me when I would be home
and then asked if I'd like to go ahead and interview on Monday!!!
That was fucking awesome and really made my week. He said that we'd
work something out when I came in for my position.
I suddenly was very eager to come home. Before that I wasn't
quite ready to because I had finally gotten into an awesome routine
after spring break where I was getting all kinds of shit done yet I
wasn't really ever tired that much. I was actually having fun for a
while and had been enjoying the pool and all that. It was like I was
finally free from Leigh Anne and was making up for all of the lost
time. Once I did find out that work would be immediate like I was so
strongly hoping for, but not expecting, my excitement for leaving
took hold. I kind of wore myself out during my exams but not any more
than is to be expected.
I spent the last night packing and joked that father was already
driving up and was ready for a new day when I finally gave in to my
severe fatigue and slept for an hour before he arrived. I had gone
down and visited Ashley for quite a while a couple of times at her
request mainly, but I did pop in unexpected for the first time ever
when Ed had to go down and sign up for a check out time on Nick';s
door. I helped her study and everything for her test Friday morning
and she really seemed to enjoy the company, and of course I did with
her. Father and I then essentially carried everything down the stairs
and that wore out the last of the physical strength I had. I was
shaking once on the way down, it got so bad. I made him buy me a
Pepsi for the caffeine which helped me out, though. We then went and
had a big lunch at Burger King before heading to Granny's for a
little while. Father would probably be pissed at such a short mention
of our visit to Granny's, but it was long ago, and I'm worn out right
now so it can't be helped.
I was ready to travel to Busch on Monday for my appointment at
two. The phone rang at nine and I ran out to get it just in case it
was for me. It was this fellow form Busch named John and he had my
summer letter and told me that I could come in that day if I'd like.
I told him that I was already supposed to for I had talked to Conor.
He said that was great and said that Conor had referred me to him
which is cool. He then said that I would have a position as ride
operator on the Kumba, my first choice as he emphasized!!! that as
awesome and I was extremely happy. I figured I might have to settle
for less because of my early start but no such luck. Cool!!! I then
went through my interview, was recognized by the girls in the
operations department, and even started talking to a lifeguard from
Adventure Island who was hired at the same time as I.
I started Wednesday only to discover that Ronnie was supervising
for the morning. He was excited at my arrival though because a bunch
of people had called in and he didn't know that I was coming. I
immediately got to go and park patrol and later did both the button
and control panel with no additional training whatsoever!!!!! That
amazed me quite a bit but I was glad that it worked out that way.
I had noticed this pretty cute girl on the first day but since I
was new and all, and it didn't seem like she liked the third person
on platform, we didn't at all. I ate lunch with Chris, the big black
guy, and Andre from Flume, and caught up on all of the latest girls.
I found out that there isn't much up for grabs at the Kumba right
now. He said that this one girl Lisa is engaged and Shannon has a
boyfriend and a baby, but she will flirt with you. Of course that
caught my eye right away. I said that she seems like a bitch and he
said that she'll be pretty cool once she gets to know me.
On Thursday I hoped that would happen as my horoscope said that
it would be a good day to interview and be interviewed. I arrived a
little early for work and watched ad Melissa walked by. I could have
hurried and caught up with her, or asked her to wait, but something
told me not to. I then started to get out as I heard a car pull up
behind me. I wasn't sure who it was but I knew not to look as I
finished putting on my shirt and name tag. It was Shannon and she
asked me if I am a Gator fan. She kept walking as I told her I am a
Gator student and she said, "Really!?," with quite a bit of surprise
and she stopped as I grabbed my stuff and caught up with her.
Perfect!!!
We started talking about ourselves. She's going to HCC part time
and wants to eventually go to Florida State to become a paralegal. I
asked her if that as why she seemed to hate my Gator tag and she said
that she likes them because they are a Florida team, but she just
hates Steve Spurrier. She also hates the Hurricanes. She led me into
the service area to take the stairs up to Kumba. By then I was
wondering if she was thinking that I am trying to befriend her, or
hit on her. she of course didn't know how much I already knew, that
she has a boyfriend and a baby, so I was careful not to let myself
look too bad.
When we found Ryan he said that we were it and had to prep along
with this short blonde from Monorail. Her name was Jenn. He sent
Shannon out to help Jenn clean the coasters while I went and park
patrolled. I walked with her out to the maintenance shed and we
chatted along the way. I found $1.20 and a Swiss army knife, and also
had to cut down a bunch of huge bamboo "trees" that had been hitting
people when the wind blew. Ryan was glad that I had accomplished that
and I joked with Jenn later that I'm not used to such physical labor
yet as cutting down trees!
We three went on break together later and I was hoping she'd
come sit with me. I chose the seat but I knew that she has been there
quite a while and might have a different pattern. It felt so
different to be the leader and felt awesome when she came and sat
with me. Jenn then came and sat to my side and we all talked and got
to know each other kind of quickly.
Shannon worked at a Winn Dixie for eight years and had made it
all of the way up to assistant manager and maxed out on pay at
fourteen dollars an hour. She said that she's getting tired of Kumba
and wants to go maybe to this new Publix that's opening in Valrico.
My eyes opened and I took over the conversation. I asked her where in
Valrico is there room for a super Publix as she called it. She told
me and then I said that I am more familiar with the Bloomingdale side
of Valrico. She said that Winn Dixie is the one where she worked
which is awesome because that's where Shar¡ bought my card today and
we ran around in there once during the time when Shannon would have
been working there. What a small world when four of the girls you
know come from what seems like a square mile of land although you
meet them everywhere but there.
She said that she dated this guy for four years before marrying
him and they ended up getting a divorce. She then emphasized that it
was her one and only short little marriage, and that he threw her out
one day. Jenn acted surprised and Shannon said that she just came
home one day to find her shit all thrown out of the house. She's
cute, tan, not refined (says "shit" a lot), is a hick and everything.
I was liking everything so far. I found out on the walk in that
morning that she loves country music because the mechanics were
playing it over the speaker system. I told her how everyone used to
hate it and how I always wanted to freak everybody out by sticking in
a Garth Brooks CD.
We were talking about her living in the boonies and I quickly
told her about Shar¡. She said that she used to be from some Fort
something place near Wimaumau which is really small with one grocery
store and a convenience store with "the coldest beer in town."
However, she didn't know this because she was little but their Cokes
were freezing. She's cute. She also later said that s
he lives on 92? out by 540? on Faukenburg Road which is on the border
of Tampa and Brandon. I laughed and told her not to give me detailed
directions to her house. She also told me that it only takes her
about fifteen minutes for her to get to work.
We then went back and Shannon worked button so I talked to Jenn
a lot. Ryan even told me to train her, freak. I later went on lunch
with Shannon which proved even more exciting. I had mentioned wanting
to take the Skyride up to Crown Colony and getting Pizza sometime
soon and would have gone if she had expressed any interest in doing
so. But she had already brought her own lunch. What sucked was the
employee line in our breakroom wouldn't be opening for twenty
minutes. I sat down catty corner from her and she said that he was
going to wait to eat lunch until the line opened and she could buy a
drink. That was cool that she wasn't going to eat in front of me.
We then started talking about her again and I asked her if she
has a child. I think she quickly blurted out something about her kid
in the morning but I know Jenn didn't catch it. This was my chance to
let her know what I already knew. She said that she does and said
that her baby is a little girl!!! (awesome!!!) who's fourteen months
old. And she's twenty-four!!! That's amazing because I feared she
would say the baby is three or four or maybe even older since she IS
a hick and an older one at that.
I then asked her the ever pressing question of whether or not
the guy she married was the father. She had already mentioned that
she has everything at home now that she wants when she was talking
about why she hadn't done her hair or put on makeup. She said that
there's nobody at Busch Gardens worth a shit anyway and I smiled on
the inside and thanked her to myself. She said that it wasn't his, it
was the guy who was in between him and her current.
She told me the father is a real asshole and left her when she
was two months pregnant. He is Italian which got us talking about our
bloodlines. She said that her daughter is going to have a real
attitude because she is half Italian, part Irish, and part Cherokee
Indian!!! I smiled. So is Shar¡, so am I. She said that her
grandmother was a full blooded indian. That's awesome and I told her
of my Cherokee blood as well. That's a trait that I really love. She
told me that she and this guy were fighting over child support and
how he had signed a paper saying he didn't think the baby was his. He
then wanted to see her on weekends and Shannon said no, because he
claimed she wasn't his. I joked that a simple blood test will tell
and she said that they had just gone through one. She said that it
made her feel weird to see the nurse take the blood out of her baby
because she couldn't find a vein and had to keep jabbing her. Plus it
is a tube that sucks the blood out for little kids but she said her
baby only yelped (not her choice of words, she actually made the
sound) once and was fine the rest of the time.
She told me that she did get pregnant during her marriage to the
first guy and didn't tell him until she was four months pregnant
because she knew he would want her to get an abortion. Somehow he
forced her into getting one anyway and it cost her $2500 because it
was after the first trimester. She said that the guy didn't even go
with her to the hospital, he sent his best friend. She said that it's
one of the most awful feelings in the world to go through an abortion
because she really didn't want to. This is where my superb sympathy
paid off because I was able to use my experiences to let her
understand that I know how she feels. She said that she would have
rather given the baby up for adoption but I told her that she
wouldn't have wanted to because she would have gotten really attached
carrying one for nine months. She said that she was really attached
after only four months and felt so bad when she had it done. She kept
saying what an awful feeling it was.
All I could think to myself was how much this girl had opened up
to me and I assume that I had gained her trust by then because how
often will a girl talk about such emotional subjects with a guy she
has just met?
Mark came in and was surprised to see me and we caught up on
school really quick and I told him about all of my hard classes in
front of her and how well I did and found that a cool way to maybe
impress her without seeming like I was bragging to her. She had
already told me earlier that she had failed and dropped out of her
sociology class because the teacher was really bad. The food line
then opened and we rushed over to get in line. I only got fries and a
Cherry Coke because I hate their chicken. Shannon kept offering me
her food and was telling me how she always eats. She tried to give me
her chips, and then kept offering me pieces of her Philadelphia
pretzel, which was really from Philadelphia because her mom brought
it back from there. She had been telling me about it before we got
our food and had offered me some then. After her asking me
repeatedly, I finally took a little bite just to taste it. She ripped
off a huge piece and I told her so she quickly cut it down to size.
She really seemed intent on making me happy, or she has a hell of a
lot of nice country hospitality.
We soon headed back and were talking about her baby again. She
told me that childbirth is awesome and she loved that experience.
Shannon, as Chris warned me, is truly an awesome girl. She does seem
a little shy however and talks kind of quietly, but that's fine with
me. We went on break again later and she was telling me about where
she lives now. She told me that her boyfriend had an 89 Mustang that
he had just installed a nice stereo system in at Christmas, only to
have the car get stolen. She said that really pissed her off, but I
found it kind of funny. We were talking about cars a little bit and
she has a newer and pretty nice Buick something.
I worked across from her later up on the platform and I couldn't
help but think about how she resembles Shar¡ quite a bit. However,
the physical similarities are much more refined and look so much
better on this girl. I loved it when she let down her hair once and
had this very sensuous appeal to her. She took off and practically
ran as we left for the night although I hoped she would wait up for
me. I think now that was a situation where I should have caught up.
Today she came in looking very nice with her hair all done and
it looked really good. I said hi to her and chatted briefly every
once in a while when I'd see her throughout the day. I even asked
this new guy Brian about her, and he says she's pretty cool.
I worked half of my shift in the booth early in the day right
after lunch. Shannon came in from boardwalk and mentioned the heat
and we talked then for a little while. she ate a lifesaver and then
asked if I wanted the last lemon one. I said no, and then asked if I
could have it because I remembered my pizza breath. She told me that
she has peppermints too and asked if I'd like one of those instead.
She pulled one out and I asked her to sit it on the control panel
because I was dispatching a coaster and then thanked her. How nice
she is!
She bitches a lot about the people she doesn't like there,
especially Melissa who she thinks is two faced as hell. She says that
Melissa likes you if you are a guy, if you're a female, then fuck
you. She also thinks this guy named Jamey, or Elvis, is the rudest
piece of shit to the guests and is slow as hell. She was in the booth
and got tired of him and actually traded places with me early. Lisa
asked me to tell Shannon to bring her a pan and broom at the height
stick. I told Shannon and she immediately lashed out about Elvis and
said that he is the biggest faggot she's ever seen. It was hilarious
and I then sent her on her way.
I worked the button in the morning for three hours and she was
the one to finally relieve me. That's when I told her that I love
her, and went on break. As the day finished up, Melissa and I were on
opposite sides of the coaster waiting to be released and Shannon came
over to my side and we started talking. I then followed her as we
left and started talking to her and she waited and walked with me. We
had a pretty cool conversation then which pretty much sealed things
up as far as I'm concerned. I think she liked me enough, because
she's the kind of person that would completely avoid me if she
didn't.
She was bragging that she has the weekend off and would be
partying to celebrate Mother's Day on Sunday and was going to get
wasted. She said that they were going to have a cookout and grill
some food. She then changed her mind and said that they were going to
smoke it, and then said, "not pot, we don't do that anymore!!!" I
though that was hilarious because I almost asked her earlier if she
smoked or not. I should have continued that conversation but I was
surprised she had said it and didn't. She was complaining about her
car and I told her to stop because I have to pray that mine will
crank each time and her problems are minor. She watched me go up to
mine and then laughed and said it is because I have a Ford. Cute. I
was blasting country as I took off and headed right to see if she'd
come up behind me. She did and then sped off North down 34th street
but she didn't fail to give me a little honk goodbye as she passed.
I talked to this guy named Brian who was my break and lunch
partner for the day. I asked Paul if we could take our lunch and
break together and he said yes so I told him I was going to try th e
pizza at Crown Colony. He came along and we caught the Skyride up to
the front. As we walked in, Ron Jones was doing a trash run and we
three talked for a while and he said he'd come down and eat with us
if we stayed so we did. Kelly Bo Peep walked in and soon remembered
me and we hugged and I felt pretty damn special. We then chatted
about who was still there and who had left and all of that good
stuff.
Of course I flirted with the girls in the good old fashion way
of last summer even though they are still kind of young since it is
early May. On Thursday I had a girl who kept coming back and thought
it was funny that I kept seeing her so I started flirting with her
and that was cute. There was a young one whose camera I had to take
and she ended up having to take off her entire belt and fanny pack to
get it off. I told her that she doesn't have to strip just to give me
her camera and she laughed and said but she wants to and asked if she
could! I then begged her to and acted disappointed when she came back
with her clothes still on. It was really funny.
Why am I a genius? Well, I came home to find my report card
sitting on the table already. I wasn't expecting the stupid thing for
a long time but they surprised me. I opened it and covered the grades
so I could hurt my ego one step at a time. I first uncovered art
history and had a tinge of optimism because I swore I saw the point
of an A as I was covering them up. There it was!!! I screamed and
danced for joy through the kitchen. I then looked at my chemistry
grade, another A!!!!!!!!!!!! I ended up making the highest grades I
could make in those classes despite only being able to presumably
miss only four out of thirty in chemistry, and two out of forty-five
in art history. Both were cumulative and seemed extra hard but I
pulled it off because of my newly introduced study habits. Damn I'm
good!!!
I ended up with a 3.67 for the semester which pulled my overall
up to a 3.47. Most important was the A in chemistry since I am a
science major. Cool!!!!!!
So now all of the memories of exam week come flooding back
because I obviously did something right this time. Before now I had
completely blocked that week out of my mind in case things came out
worse enough so that I didn't even write any journals about it all
until now...
No comments:
Post a Comment