The Brickyard

Just an Errand

The phone rang while Annie was almost finished reading the passage. Studying for finals would have to wait. Sighing, she picked up her phone, and went bug-eyed to see that it was Mr. Grosskreutz calling. That made her fumble the phone, and she bobbled it, then juggled it, trying to keep it up like a balloon, falling out of her seat and onto the floor, finally catching it.

"Wow, ten out of ten, real graceful," said her roommate, totally deadpan. That made Annie turn and glare at the woman. "How many times is that, now? A zillion?"

Annie sighed, shook her head, and turned her glare away from her roommate to answer the phone. "Hallo?"

"Hallo, Annie!" Mr. Grosskreutz said, brightly, on the other end.

Annie sat down at her desk, sighing, and picking the book off the folded laptop. Sailor Moon (the character and franchise) decorated the laptop, covering up almost the entire thing, except for the D*ll logo in the middle. Character figurines and manga tankoban rested on the shelf built into the desk, above the laptop. Her textbooks, all related to her business degree, were nestled in between the manga volumes. The rest were either stacked up on the windowsill overlooking the (American) football field, or other places in the apartment.

Her roommate, "Wednesday" Guthrie, going with a gothic "hime cut", dark clothes and a perpetual scowl, curled her legs out from under her, sat cross-legged, and watched as Annie's expression turned from intrigued, to disappointed. She knew that face. It was the face of a worker being asked to come in on their off day right as a shift was about to end.

She was right.

"I need you to do a favor for me," said Mr. Grosskreutz.

"What is it?" Annie asked.

"Could you go and check on Kathrin?"

"Is she in trouble?" Her voice went up an octave, nervous.

"Oh, no, no, no!" Mr. Grosskreutz chuckled. Then... why was he calling her? "But I just wanted to fill her in on some of our plans for the Grand Prix. You're not too busy, are you?"

"I'm... studying for my finals," she said.

"It will not take long, perhaps an hour or two," said Mr. Grosskreutz. Annie tilted her head back and sighed, her ponytail dangling. She really wanted to ask if she had to do it, but asking if she had to, or saying "no" would potentially put this hard-earned job, which she just started, at risk. "We'll pay you your regular day's salary for this," he said.

"Alright," she answered. Hey. She needed the money. "Can't I just call her?

Mr. Grosskreutz paused on the other end. "Oh, silly me. Of course, you could do that. Even better, she has an iPhone, so you can FaceTime her. Just do it soon, alright? Danke!"

"Bitte," she answered, and hung up. "Wednesday" was still listening intently, but from her expression, she didn't know what they'd said.

"What was that?" she asked in her deadpan. "Sorry, I don't speak Frankfurtian."

Annie chuckled and rolled her eyes, standing up from the desk so she could get dressed. She was still visibly frustrated, though, as she released a long sigh.

"Going into work?" "Wednesday" asked, causing Annie to turn and stare at her. "I saw that look in your eyes. Don't worry. I get it."

Annie signed and shook her head. She was lucky she was even graduating in a few days, and within the four-year window. Middling grades and lack of academic work effort dogged her ever since she was a kid in Grundschule, forcing her mother to hire a tutor just to get her grades from 4 or 5 to 3 or 2. She wasn't dyslexic, didn't have Autism, ADHD or any other learning disability, she just... didn't do well. She preferred to hang out with her friends, either going to movies or having waffles in the park after school. Her mom, normally soft-spoken, had little tolerance for this. At least her tutors gave her some leeway.