by Beth Hoyer
clock woke me up. I felt tired. I didn’t feel refreshed and relaxed. I felt tense. I fed the cats. I walked to work because the Taxi service was out and Jeff was busy. At work it was Sue’s day off according to the schedule. Bruce didn’t show up. I wonder where he is. Lad showed up. I asked him about Bruce. He explained Bruce went home in Canada to do some father/son thing with his dad. Oh.
The customers were messy but polite to me. I’m glad they’re polite to me. I looked in the break room and found a refrigerator was added which appeared to be stainless steel with two doors. I had some lunch. Sue showed up to do some shopping. I asked her about yesterday what she did. She told me Kurt drove her to Canada to a restaurant on a beach next to a waterfall. They had fish to eat with water to drink by candlelight. The rest Sue wouldn’t tell me. She said it was embarrassing. I suspect I know what it was. Break time came. I’m glad to have break times. It is nice to have break times. I feel I could use a rest from working too much. I have been cleaning after customers all day. I hate to clean. I haven’t cleaned my house.
I went grocery shopping after work. Then when I came out the store a taxi was waiting for me. The guy in there told me to get in which I did and he drove me home. At home I had dinner and checked my video messages. I got only one from Lad who told me to check the news. I turned the TV on. The news talked about Penny Smith. They talked about her slashing my bed sheets and clothes. The jury found her guilty of violating my house. They sentenced her four years at the island prison. I won’t have to put up with her for four years. I’m happy. I no longer pity her. I’m mad at her for slashing my clothes. She slashed my one hundred-year-old clothes. I’m upset. There the only clothes I have from Earth. It was a gift from my parents. Victoria rubbed herself against my legs. Demeter jumped up and I caught her. I held her for a while then I fed them. They eat the food fast. I cleaned the litter box. PU. It stinks. Oh great Victoria now stinks too. PU. It oddly smells like perfume which doesn’t make any sense. I can’t wait for the flying classes. At work today, I asked Anna about them. She told me the stimulators are coming on a ship in a few days. She didn’t know what days the ship is coming. I have the cats in my room. Demeter is sitting in my lap. Victoria is exploring my room. Demeter is purring. I hate having to move her. I need to lie down to sleep.
This morning I woke up by Victoria scaring me. She scared me by jumping on me while I was snoozing. It felt like someone threw a cat on me. I can’t believe I left the bedroom door open. Aw. The ghost must have let them in my room because I know I had the door closed. Work was not fine. The customers were messy. Some of them were kids who took items from the lowest shelves and played with them. It was like I was a babysitter because the parent would walk away shopping and leave their kids in my section making a mess. This was awful and I was annoyed. For some reason I can’t explain, Anna came by and yelled at me when I complained about the parents leaving their kids. I think she’s in a bad mood. I saw her yelling at the other store employees. I wonder what has gotten Anna so mad. Sue showed up to work. I don’t think she’s feeling well. She looked a little pale. I hope she’s fine. I was glad my break time came. I can’t stand Anna and cleaning up after people. Who cares? I asked Anna what made her mad. She told me it was Georgia. That was all she told me before she walked off. I’m glad to have my break time. I checked the schedule which shows me working tomorrow. Sue and I have different break times. I asked Georgia what made Anna mad. She wouldn’t tell me. I walked home from work. I walked with Sue. We talked mostly about work.
At home I had dinner. I checked my video messages, nothing new. I got a video message from Anna. She apologized for being rude to me today. Demeter was sitting in my lap purring. I like her. She’s cute. The wall light flashed letting me know the phone rang. It was Kurt. He asked me to come over for dinner. I told him I already ate. He sounded upset about that. I think he was flirting with me. I hope he and Sue won’t get a divorce because of me. I’m a little tired of working in that store and putting up with the rude customers. I rather do something else. I don’t know what. Maybe I could be a teacher. I could teach history. History class would be nice. I checked online there is a university school named University of Terra. The university is in Canada. Maybe I could do some teaching. I need to go to school first. I could get a car and drive myself to school. I need to think of what I want to do for the rest of my life. I could get married sometime. I don’t know.
Yours Truly,
Elizabeth
February 17, 2101
Dear Anne,
I didn’t have a good day. Anna was in a grouchy mood. She yelled at me. I later learned that Georgia was fired without a warning. I’m upset about this. It was Sue who told me Georgia was fired. She overheard Anna firing Georgia. I feel bad for Georgia. I watch her leave. I saw Anna put a help wanted sign on the door. She snapped at me. I asked her what did Georgia do wrong but she told me to go back to work. I worked the best I could so I won’t get Anna annoyed. I was glad my break time came. Sue told me Anna fired Georgia for not doing her work. I saw Georgia before her firing. She looked like she was goofing off. I’m disappointed in Georgia. She’s a nice lady.
Mrs. Yulien wandered by the children’s area. I don’t get to see Mrs. Yulien very much. She works with the food part of the store. She was still wearing a white kimono with green trees on it under her red apron. I don’t know whose idea was it to dress like that, Hmph. I work with clothes. She was looking at baby stuff with longing in her eyes. It was like she wanted a baby. She ignored me when I talked to her. Her husband Nathan works in the food section of the store. Sue is working a different shift today. I hope she is okay with her baby coming. I saw Sue. We had a short chat. We made sure Anna wasn’t around to see us talking. We talked about Georgia and her firing. Then we went back to work. I saw Sue at the credit register. People would swipe their credit card after their purchases are registered. Sue would put their purchases in a clothing bag. Then they leave. There were alarms in case a person tried to steal an item.
I got my check which Anna gave me. I got two hundred lei or credits on it. It’s good to earn money. I hope I get a better job than this. I think I’m complaining because of the customers. I walked home after my shift ended. Oh I brought some groceries. I didn’t ask Anna about the flying class. She was in a bad mood. I didn’t ask her. I walked home. I called Bruce on the videophone and received a message. He’s in Canada. Demeter rubbed herself against my legs. It’s feeding time for them and for me to eat too. The cats are bound to be really excited to be fed. I fed the cats then I turned the TV. I ate dinner in front of the TV. After the show I washed my dishes. I have a big pile of dishes to wash. Some of it looked like someone else was in my house and ate some food. Then I sent a video message to the town police. I asked them if I could clean my house.
I went look in the boxes in the basement and look for gymnastics stuff because I was in the mood for gymnastics. I spent an hour looking for gymnastics stuff. I didn’t find a thing in the boxes. All I found were stuff from Science fiction TV shows, toy dolls, pins, several outfits of the main characters on the show and pins including some things to put in my hair. I put the clothes in the laundry room. I left the crew neck tops in their boxes. One top was v-necked which went to the laundry room. I think I might want to wear some of the clothes besides this dress I’ve been wearing mostly. I went upstairs and the phone rang. It was from Bruce. He was still in Canada. He wanted to know how I was doing. I told him I was doing fine. I should be okay then we signed off. I took an early shower. Demeter and Victoria got in the bathroom. They sat watching me shower. Peeping toms! They followed me to my room. Demeter is sitting in my lap purring while Victoria is sitting sprawled on my bed staring at me. Weird cats. Next thing they’ll talk in human language. I'm glad I have two days off. I can do whatever I want to do. I want to explore the town. I want to walk around and see people. I had a creepy experience while writing this letter. I felt like there was someone in the room staring at me. My journal
was suddenly knocked out of my hands. I think the house might be haunted. I'm not scared because it’s good to have company even it is a ghost. I think I’ll go to bed. At first I have to move this cat off my lap. Good night.
Yours,
Elizabeth
February 19, 2101
Dear Anne,
I didn’t sleep very well during the night of the eighteenth. I had a really boring day and my journal wound up missing. I couldn’t find it yesterday. I search all over the house and still couldn’t find it. This is what else I did yesterday. The cats were perfect. I kept having nightmares of Penny trying to kill me. She had a knife posed to strike me. I also felt someone tugging my arm as if waking me up. I woke up at 5am. Good thing I went to bed early. My lamp flickered waking me up at 10am. I went downstairs in my pajamas which was an orange jumpsuit to the front door. I looked through the peephole and saw Kurt dressed like me. I opened the door and asked Kurt what’s his business of waking me up at this hour. He seemed happy to see me. He handed me roses in a pot. I thought that was
