It had been such a lovely autumn in Kalamazoople. Joseph "Bon" Riley was feeling sublime as he delivered for the tech giant PuberTreats. He was almost in bliss listening to different radio stations or CDs as he drove fast food to students in apartment complexes, Italian food to families out in the country, and all sorts of food to perfectly normal folks of all stripes in all kinds of Kazoople neighborhoods. Surprising to him was how beautiful the fall colors were this year, almost otherworldly in their surreal hues, in town and out of town. The trees of western Michigan are large and lovely, and after a decade in the more conifer heavy Pacific Northwest, it was striking to drive down boulevards through caves of branches resplendent in the warm hues of fall, bright red-oranges, yellows, dark reds, purples, and half greens.
With a dreadful pandemic wiping out hundreds of thousands of people, and the economy sputtering after having shut down completely, Bon was very thankful that his formerly 'shit job' was now considered a very essential service, and he, formerly seen only peripherally as just some slob, now almost a hero to the public. People were thanking him. Children were waving out the window at him. Millions upon millions of folks were unemployed, but he was making enough to keep the wolf away and then some.
He liked delivering, because he could do it when he needed to versus having to adhere to some corporate managers schedule. The longer he delivered for a living, the more he appreciated the independent feeling of it, and even the somewhat dangerous aspect at times. Sure, he was putting a lot of miles on his car, but he had to make money, especially because of how uncertain things felt in the world. He was trying very hard not to despair. After all, things weren't so bad, he and his wife were going to be buying a nice home on a nice street and it was something that, though it was a hundred years old, would be theirs to do with as they pleased. Renting a home is less worry, perhaps. He'd have to see.
His sons would grow to know the place as the house that they grew up in.
