“Mom! Daryl ate the last of the peanut crunch!”

“Did not! Just this box.”

Sonny looked up from the binder he was reading from, anticipating.

“Vladik! “

He smiled to himself, his mom’s voice barely raised above the din but carrying perfectly.

“Kate, the new box is on the bottom shelf of the pantry, on the left, behind the ramen. SynthIA, please add to shopping list. Peanut crunch cereal “

‘Thanks Sonny!”

As his sister thanked him, the SynthIA smart speaker lit up yellow, then blue.

“Peanut crunch cereal added to shopping list. Next shopping trip is scheduled for Saturday May 23rd. Would you like to hear the items on the list?”

Four voices raised in unison. “NO THANK YOU!”

Sonny felt his father behind him, reading over his shoulder, more than he sensed the light being blocked.

“Utilized online calendar software to schedule and maintain a cadence of weekly meetings for a team of four to seven teammates. Created an agenda for each meeting in order to create engagement and interaction among the team for four to eight hours each week.”

Sonny craned his head backwards to see his father’s hairy chin.

“Junior, did you really add your rpg gaming group to your resume?”

“I checked, extracurriculars are acceptable, not just paid work.”

“That wasn’t my point. You’re applying to be a bag boy. This seems a bit much.“

“First of all, they prefer the term courtesy clerk. Second of all, you were the one that always taught me not to half ass a job. If I'm going to be an ass about something, be a WHOLE ass. Third of all, it's good practice for later.”

A chair scraped and slid on the wood floor as his father sat down, glass of orange juice clunking on the table. Sonny narrowed his eyes at the level in the glass, then looked up, raising his voice.

“SynthIA, please add to the shopping list. Two half gallons of orange juice, pulp free.”

The speaker again lit up yellow, then blue.

“Half gallon of orange juice, pulp free, quantity two, added to shopping list. Next shopping trip is scheduled for Saturday May 23rd. Would you like to hear the items on the list?”

“No thank you SynthIA.”

“See, if you were going to add anything to your resume, it should be that internal database of what the household has in stock, and your spreadsheets of household usage you made to keep track of what we need and when. That’s an amazing extracurricular.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Sonny grunted lightly at that, and angled the sheet towards his father as the man continued reading.

“You didn’t put your science fair project on there?”

Sonny rolled his eyes back. “Again. You and Chuck both. No, I’m not mentioning the science fair from SEVEN years ago. I’m going for a job as a bag boy, not a stocker. And even a stocker doesn’t need that kind of skill, they have corporate drones with MBAs doing that.’

“You mean ‘courtesy clerk’.”

Sonny glared at his father, though the man could see the humor threatening to turn his son’s lips up at the edges.

“The kind of corporate drone you want to be, eventually.”

“No. I mean, yes, but no. They have people that work on making a single logistics path that works adequately for all stores. I want to be able to work for mom and pop stores, smaller chains, helping bring them the kind of efficiency and cost savings that they need to compete with big chains like Thaymark when they move in.”

Sonny turned his glare back down at the one page resume he’d printed out at the library, reading it for the hundredth time. He ignored the heat starting to flush his face. Something that became much harder as his father gently laid a hand on his shoulder.

“You’re still worried about Charlie, aren’t you? You shouldn’t be. He mentioned that Charl… Chuck told him you were worried that applying at Thaymark would be, what was the word she used? Treason?”

“Betrayal. And I know Mr. Stone isn’t worried, but taking over small town infrastructure and putting stores like him out of business is what they do.”

“Well, if they fail to do so in this instance, you know it's because of what you’ve already done for him, and that was done as a kid with no more training than native talent and books you found online.”

Sonny put the binder down on the table with a sigh.

“Maybe. If I’m going to do this, I better head out. Open interviews start in an hour, and I don’t want to stand in the heat in line for too long before being seen. Sweaty does not look good on me. Chuck should be here any minute, he’s going along for “broral support’.”

“Stand in the heat? Why would you stand around outside?”

Sonny turned to look quizzically at his father. “They’re doing interviews at the construction site. My assumption is they probably have a small temporary building to use as an office outside the hardhat zone.”

“Resume? How can you resume a job you haven’t even started?”

Sonny turned to look at his youngest sister, reading his resume while leaning over the back of a chair.

“Hmm, that is a good question, Kate. Just like, how can I tell you to stop being funny when you never started?”

Sonny stood, picking up the binder and folding it closed. He tucked it under one arm and cocked an eyebrow at his father, a strange smile on the older man’s face.

“So, Junior, you, uh. You haven’t walked by the place in the last couple days, have you?”

“No…. why?”

DING DONG DONG DING

Sonny’s father smiled. “You’ll see.”