Summer Waitress

Brian had grown up in the small town of Hopsville. His dad had left before he could remember but his mom did pretty well. At least, as far as people in Hopsville did. The local factory had closed years before he was born and now the town mostly survived on servicing traffic for the local freeway and the local High School's football team.

Brian would have liked to make a name for himself on the team, but is small stature and slight build made that unlikely. Several of the jocks joked that he might do better on the cheerleading squad, a taunt he'd learned to shrug off.

Now, with his high school graduation behind him, Brian was looking towards his future. He tried to be optimistic, but his grades just weren't good enough to get him the scholarships he'd need for college. He'd have to find some kind of work, but what? His mother worked as a cleaning woman at a few local businesses, but he'd helped out with her before and wouldn't again if he could help it. Everyone else was just trying to keep the staff they had. He thought about just trying to hitchhike a ride to the city and try to make his way there, but the thought of trying to get started with only the $15 he had to his name scared him.

He was close to the point of despair when his mother told him that one of the serving staff at the local trucker's diner had quit. Gone off to get married to some fella who'd driven through. "Like as not, she'll end up on the street with nothing to show for it," she said.