Elijah

Chapter Two

It was warm in the car. Outside, the rain was gentle yet, uncompromisingly persistent. There's a certain level of comfort, I think, that comes from being so sheltered from such visibly miserable weather.

Stones crackled and periodically spat out from beneath the car under the weight of the slow moving tyres. The winding country road on which I was driving was incredibly narrow, and appeared to be made more out of compacted dirt and stones than it did any legitimate road surface. A small cluster of trees stood tall on the grass verge of a sharp left turn that I was slowly approaching, completely obstructing my view. Attempting to glance in between them, a flash of blue caught my eye, and, as it was quite literally a 'flash', I assumed that this car was coming in hugely too fast. I stopped and slammed on my horn in the knowledge that there was no possibility of us fitting through that tight turn together - I simply hoped that he would realise where I was and, subsequently not kill me.

The blue car, too, came to a stop as it rounded the bend; the two vehicles seemed to be in some form of stand-off as we faced each other. It was an old man - driving the car - perhaps in his late seventies though, I must admit that my age-guessing skills are considerably low par. Like me, he was entirely alone. Unlike me, however, he showed no signs of acting in a polite and reasonable fashion, glaring into my soul as he thrust his arms out questioningly. I scanned the area around us, in search of somewhere to pull away from the road and allow the other one past. Opposite the trees, the grass verge running along the edge of the road became shallow enough to drive up, and hence remove myself from what was a largely uncomfortable situation. I started quickly towards it; desperate to escape before I assumed that this man would quite literally explode with unjustified, unnecessary anger.
But then I stopped. Instantly. Winding my window down, I yelled for the old man's attention and gestured for him to do the same. His windows remained closed - what was once a simple look of anger had become one also of confusion. Frustrated, and bereft of ideas, I retained eye contact and began aggressively gesturing towards the large white water tower in the open field ahead of me.
At first, I had assumed it was a maintenance man, pacing the thin walkway that circled the top of the tower. But it soon became very clear that I was mistaken.

Jodie had caught my eye as I attempted to slip away after the interview. Beckoning me over to reception, she appeared genuinely excited as her eyes darted back and forth between myself and the computer screen in front of her. She rested her chin upon folded arms and leant over the desk towards me.

"So? How'd it go?"

"Okay, I think. No I definitely think it went well, I mean, it's always hard to know for sure with these things, but, I'm feeling pretty good".

Now, in truth, it most probably could not have gone any better than it did. Everything that I had planned to say, I had said, and the interviewers appeared relatively impressed throughout. Though I suppose that, even had I been offered the job there and then, in some shocked response to an unprecedentedly good interview, still I would have left that room with doubts. This conflict within me, between confidence and uncertainty, leads always to my answering questions such as Jodie's with such little conviction.

"Brilliant!" She grinned, squinting her eyes to an extent where they were practically closed. "Make sure you come and say hi on your first day". I laughed.

"Will do".

Jodie was handed a form, which she quickly held up and in front of her face. Beginning to read, she waved in my direction, signalling for me to leave. As I walked towards the door, she called out: "I'm rooting for you, Elijah".
I felt naive; assuming that she was telling the truth, that she wasn't simply doing her job as a receptionist and making me feel warm and welcome. Yet, I decidedly embraced that naivety. Everything about Jodie seemed genuine and it was needless to dispute that; questioning her true intentions would achieve nothing. To dismiss the good in people out of pure scepticism would be to embrace a level of negativity which I have no intention of reaching.