On An Unrelated Note: Short Stories

Rodger

He dropped out at 16, the youngest you could be to legally drop out. It was his first stop after getting his license. He had been planning it for a while. School didn't interest him. He wanted to be out in the world, experiencing things. He wanted to get a job as a mechanic (he loved cars) and open his own shop. Knowing world history wouldn't help him there.

His mother didn't approve. She told him about what a mistake it would be, how he would regret it. That no place would hire without at least a high school degree, and a GED was a joke to any "real job" Rodger didn't want a "real job". He didn't want ties and bosses and coffee stains and grumbling "Mondays..." to coworkers. He wanted to work on engines, patch tires, fix things with his hands. Report to no man, just run his own business. Do his own thing.

His dad encouraged it. That was his only place of doubt, was his dad's support. He didn't want to turn into his dad. Balding, a beer gut, an anger issue.

His parents fought. His mom walked out one night, 3 months after he had dropped out. He had been floundering, and his mom kept saying "I told you so." The fighting started up again. Screams. Yells. Broken glass.

Then she left. Rodger's dad spent the next years depressed and angry. Rodger moved out, worked in the movie theater and Home Depot and Chipotle, anywhere that would hire.

He would see people from school, see the concerned look in his eyes as they smiled at him. He reconsidered going back. But no, that would be too embarrassing. He got a GED and a job at CarMax, close enough to owning his own place.

He never settled down, never held a job for more than 5 years, never had a wife or kids.

He never knew if he was happy.

He died before he got the chance. 45. Heart attack.