Housewife

Dawn knew that something was wrong when she heard Jason's car pull up in the driveway. It was the middle of the day and her husband never got home this early. Something must have happened.

Her fears were confirmed when Jason came inside. He looked all beaten-down and he carried a box of his stuff from the office.

”Baby, you'd better sit down,” he said.

Jason had lost his job. There had been a merger between his firm and another bigger one and the new head office had decided to close down Jason's branch. The section hadn't made good enough results and it would have been too costly for the company to keep it. Dawn found it a bit odd that they would close down a whole branch without giving any notice. Perhaps he wasn't telling her everything. But she trusted her husband and she felt bad for him, so she just hugged him and told him that everything would be fine and that he would find another job, and she didn't press the matter further.

Jason had a severance pay and he would collect unemployment benefits, but until he found a new job, things would undoubtedly be tough financially. They had a big house and two cars and Tyler would be going to college next year. And then there was the pool, the landscaping service, the vacations, the yoga and spinning classes, the clothes, the new iPhone model, the beauty parlor and the lunches and smoothies at the mall. Dawn was a ditz when it came to numbers, but even she knew that they were living beyond their means, probably even before this happened. But Jason didn't want to talk about it and assured her that everything was going to be okay.

But as a few weeks passed and the bills started piling up. Jason had no luck in finding a new job. He didn't seem to try very hard though. He spent most of his time playing Xbox in his sweatpants.

One day he brought up the idea that Dawn should find a job. ”Perhaps only part-time, and only until I find a new job myself. I've already got a few interviews lined up,” he assured her.

Another suburban housewife might have hated the idea, but not Dawn. She was determined to contribute and to get her family back on its feet, and working might be a good way to get out of the house more.

But where should she look? Dawn hadn't had a job since high school when she worked weekend shifts at a coffee shop. She was 37 now, but not really qualified for anything.

She didn't know that many people who could help her out either. But she could probably ask her friend Sandra. Sandra's rich and older husband was a corporate lawyer and he might have something for her in his office. Her friend Dani, who worked at the local newspaper and had a large network of contacts, might have a lead too. Then there were some acquaintances, neighbors and former colleagues of Jason's. As a last resort, she could probably call Jason's father, who ran a successful business of some kind. But Jason didn't get along with his dad and he was to talk about what her father-in-law actually did for a living.

Sometimes she saw ”help wanted” signs at the local stores, bars and restaurants too, and she figured that it wouldn't hurt to ask around. Or she could just check out the employment ads. Who knows, there might be something for me, she thought.