Dear citizens,
From this day forward, January 1st, 2009, every child on their 18th birthday must choose their occupation in the city hall employment office. They will be required to stay with this occupation until they decide to retire. No other occupations may be taken after. If these decisions are not made by midnight on their 18th birthday their local government has the right to assign the citizen with any occupation of their choosing.
Thank you, The United States government.
If she simply closed her eyes it was as if she had been transported. The buzz of the bee's getting louder and then slowly drifting from her ears. The warmth spreading across her face till the breeze cooled it off again. The busy feet hustling past her. Sitting on the park bench with her coffee and croissant always made the smile on her face last a little longer through the morning. She knew she would be late for work if she waited any longer but, the birds singing to each other and the smell of the flowers behind her in the garden had her locked in a trance.
Finally getting up she shuffled her feet to the office as if she was a child protesting leaving the candy store. She thought back to the beautiful day it was and looking forward to her lunch break she put on a smile and greeted her coworkers,
"Good morning John," she said.
"Morning Ms. Kennedy. How are you today?" said the door man.
"Same as always. How was your weekend? Ohh wait, tell me about your daughter's wedding. Was it as magical as I pictured it to be?" Kennedy said.
"It was truly heartbreaking. I walked her down the isle in the big poofy dress of hers and she was just beautiful. Look at this!" John said motioning for her to look at his phone.
"Wow, she certainly went all out, she looks beautiful John. Where was the venue?"
"It was in this small barn near the water, just outside of town." John said.
"That sounds lovely, I wish I could have made it. Well I better head in I don't want to get scolded for my tardiness" She said even though she knew her employers barely would have noticed she wasn't there in the first place.
John uttered a good bye as he did his job, he had been opening the doors to this building for as long as he could remember, which wasn't very far back since he was developing a touch of Alzheimer's. He was one of the few people Kennedy really knew in this building, or even in this city. Kennedy had moved around a lot throughout her childhood because of her mother's job so, she didn't have too many friends. She started the internship at the firm a few years ago to get experience and figure out if she liked being an accountant. But other than John, nobody really talked to her and she never got real experience, just all the work that the accountants felt too high and mighty for. All she really determined while working for the accountants is that sitting in an office all day is just as dreadful as getting a tooth drilled.
Kennedy clocked in and went straight to her desk. She picked up the stack of papers that her superiors left her to do and dropped them with a thud in front of her. She opened the first file recognizing the summary report and filed it into the right account.
"Ughh this is going to be a long day" she uttered to no one in particular.
After saying her last goodbye to John, she started her walk home in the dark. As beautiful as it is in the day, the dark just makes her feel more alive. She knew there was nothing going on in the park yet she felt this unexplainable energy that made the hair on her arms jump. In the distance on the bench she had sat on that morning she saw a dark figure. It appeared to be an older man, his head hung towards the ground at the level of his shoulders, and his short, silver hair glistened from the moonlight. She continued walking towards him with a bit more apprehension than before but upon finally seeing his face she knew he wasn't a threat.
"Sir are you okay?" She asked.
"Oh, hi there. Yes, I'm just fine thank you. Well you know, now that you ask I'm really not" He said.
"Pardon? Do you need medical attention sir, I can call 911?" Kennedy said.
"No, no I'm fine physically I just don't know how to see into the future" she took a seat pitying that he was alone in his troubles.
"Sir,"
"Charles, call me Charles"
"Well Charles I'm not sure any of us really know how to but maybe I can help you with whatever is bothering you" Kennedy said trying to do one good deed that day.
"No, no I don't want to burden you"
"Well how about a listening ear, I'd say I'm somewhat an expert on not knowing the future" His frown lifted slightly.
"Unfortunately, I am so tired of my job. When I was young they put the occupation law into action and I had only a month to choose my job because I was about to be 18. It started out as an okay job but good money, and now I'm stuck doing the world's most boring job simply because I was more focused on practicality than what I enjoyed. If there was one piece of advice I would give you, it would be to follow your dreams, forget about money, forget about relationships, forget about the future. What do you truly enjoy doing? I'm only 60 so I cannot retire yet, but man I wish I could. But if at the time I had choose what I really enjoyed doing I could be happy continuing my job and not feel the sence of urgency for it to just be over already. I could have waited and settled into a retirement community in just a few years and have enjoyed the journey getting there rather than regretting it each day with bounds of money with nothing to purchase"
"Well Charles I'm afraid I'm in the same dilemma as you were so many years ago. I can't decide between practicality and happiness. My happiness right now is limited even though practically I am in an okay position with the accounting firm I work at, if I follow the path I'm on I'll be okay. But I want to be happy, I want to enjoy every day and be able to have my own time to breath in the world, rather than breath in the burnt popcorn from the office microwave every afternoon"
"Darling, if I knew what I knew today back when I had to choose, I would choose to be happy. You never know what life is going to throw at you so take the path that brings you joy, not the path that brings you money and materialism"
"But what makes me happy that I can still survive on? I'm sorry I couldn't help you with your troubles. Thank you for listening to my rambles you seemed to be more help than me. I'm afraid I must get going now, my mother will be worried. I hope everything works out for you and that you do find your happiness"
"Good bye my dear" he said.
Kennedy finally arrived home and went straight to her bedroom. She laid her head upon her pillow and immediately her eyes dropped shut.
The piercing light of the morning flooded in through her eyelids as her alarm went off. She recalled the night before but was unsure whether it was a dream or real. Either way she knew it was time. The creak of the door interrupted her thoughts,
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Kennedy, happy birthday to you, Happy 18th Kenn" Her mother sang.
