A couple of girls in feathered gray tshirts and I walked through the amusement park's "Employees Only" entrance. The staff room had dingy fluorescent lights hanging from the ceiling, a cracked concrete floor and white cinderblock walls. There were around 4 rows of lockers, each including only about 8 lockers per side. To the left of those lockers and across a wide aisle was a door with a small two-step elevation to it.
I walked through that door, being greeted by Hank, a man I met 3 weeks prior when he was training me. He was the one to give me my upcoming schedule and my two tshirts, one printed with games on the front and another with rides. I asked him if there was anything else he'd want me to know before my first official day as a Cherry Hill employee started.
"No, son, you're set. You're put together with Samson on the Storm Racer. If you have any questions, he'll answer 'em. If he doesn't just let me know. I'll have a talk with him," Hank nicely informed. I nodded and thanked him, exiting the small room.
I chose a locker without a name, next to one with a sticker saying 'Hello, My Name Is Ophie'. The name was written in the same sloppy handwriting as were the rest of the four locker's name tags next to her's. They read 'Sam', 'Griffin', 'Milo' and 'Harvey'. I hadn't met anyone with the names ever, except for Sam. I presumed he was Samson, though, therefore adding to my never-known names.
I could tell that a sticker had been ripped off on the locker I'd chosen. I ignored this, though, took a water bottle out of my pack, and headed for the grounds.
I used to go to Cherry Hill with my mother, father and younger brother when I was a little boy. It was something that was a part of everyone in the county's childhood. The grounds were familiar as I walked on the gray brick. The Log Jammer, I remembered as I passed it, was my all time favorite ride. A 30-feet plunge from the top ending in a dramatic shower of water over everyone in the cart.
The air was chilly for a summer day, even though it was around 8:20 and the sun had been well up for around an hour. I expected it to heat up as the day continued.
I walked into the operator's booth, being the first of two. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and took a seat on one of the stools placed behind the controls.
About five minutes into scrolling through twitter, I faintly heard a girl speaking to someone. Her voice grew louder and soon her and a boy with blonde hair entered the rollercoaster hall.
They didn't seem to notice my presence, but I watched as they made their way up to the operators booth I was occupied in. The blonde, presumably Samson, opened the door and immediately noticed me.
"Hey! You're Lou, I'm guessing. I'm Sam," he said, interrupting the girl's story. He put his hand out for a handshake and I accepted it.
"Yeah, it's nice to meet you," I said awkwardly, looking at the two. The girl seemed unamused by me in the instant and looked around the booth.
"Did you get a key to unlock the door?" Sam asked me, turning on a few things that I knew I should have already. My eyes followed him as I replied, "No, the door was unlocked already. Are we all supposed to get a set of keys?"
"Oh shit, you know Milo didn't lock up last night. Don't tell Hank," he said in a tone that was seemingly directed towards the girl, ignoring my question. She paced the floor once.
"Well, I'm going to head over to the ball toss. He's probably waiting for me," she said, turning on her heel and exiting. Sam shook his head, taking his seat.
"That's Ophie. Sorry if she comes off as bitter for the next few weeks. She is. Her best friend, Lacey, just moved away and you're kinda her replacement. Just give her a little while to warm up to you. I swear she doesn't suck that bad," he said, making me feel a bit more comfortable in my atmosphere. I laughed awkwardly, as that's the only way I can do things around strangers, and took a sip of my water.
"So, do you live in Wayward?" Sam asked me, meaning the borough that Cherry Hill was located in.
"No, I'm from Magnolia. I just graduated from MHS," I told him. "How about you?"
"Oh, I'm from Wayward. Born and raised baby! Do you know Harvey Taylor?" he asked me.
"I don't, no. How come?"
"He just graduated from Magnolia, too. Your class, I presume. You ever take any engineering classes or anything?"
"Oh, wow. I'm not very sociable in school so I'm not surprised. I didn't, though. I'm more of an English and writing guy," I told him. He nodded and pointed at me.
"That's it. Harvey's some intelligent genius that's still a fucking idiot. He loves engineering and math and stuff but the dude can not even tip a waitress right. Street smarts versus book smarts, I guess. But yeah, I may as well tell you this now to warn you. I make the schedules here so I just replaced you with Lacey's name. Therefore, you're going to be working with the same five people all month until the next schedule's out. Then we'll see if we like you enough to keep you in our cycle," Sam winked.
"Oh, wow. Who are they?" I asked, unconsciously chewing on my fingernail.
"Well, me, Ophie, Harvey, Milo and Griffin. We've all been working here for around 3 years, so we created that super sweet bond of friendship my friend. Hey, do you want to smoke a joint?"
I was taken aback by the sudden question. I'd smoked week once, in Rochester, with a group of friends after a long shift of work. It was fine, I did get high unlike most first timers, but quickly went home and to bed. I do admit that I had a great sleep, but I wasn't raving over it.
"I'm good, man, thanks though. Did Lacey leave abruptly? Only asking because her name was already on the schedule and all."
"Yeah, don't be ashamed of your question. Her dad's one of those dudes that follows oil or gas or some shit. Super rich, but she would often move. We're lucky she was here for so long. The four of us guys only knew her for the three years she was here, but she was a family friend of Ophie's, so she's taking the departure a little harder than the rest of us. I mean, we're all upset too, but she's like, real down. They were really close," he told me. I nodded and stopped myself from chewing my nails.
"Oh, wow. That's really sad," I said, unable to think of a well enough reaction.
It wasn't until about four hours into my shift that I realized how hot it could get in the New Jersey air on a mid-June day at noon. The humidity was not too bad, to my advantage, but the heat definitely set me in a more comfortable position. It was dehydrating, though.
Later, Ophie, with her hair in two braids from the top of her hairline to the tip of her hair, walked into the booth and announced to Niall that she was going to lunch. Niall said goodbye to me, stood up, and shut the door on his way out with the girl. I assumed that someone, of course, had to stay stationed at the table. I started a run of the carts as I watched the two exit.
Niall, a half an hour later, returned with a guy that I had yet to meet.
"Lou, this is Griffin. Griffin, Lou," he said, taking his seat. I put my hand out first this time, shaking Griffin's as I told him it was nice to meet him.
