The radio in PopPops truck was barely audible with the static white noise interrupting every other word in the song. PopPop was humming and nodding his head as if he was agreeing with the singer. Yes! You did write this song. Yes! I like it! I knew the song. Catchy. It’s not what I’m into, but I doubt my PopPop would be into my rap songs blaring through his speakers. “Life is a highway, I’m gonna ride it all night long.” I was thankful for what we could hear of the song because I didn’t know what to talk about, and I hate awkward silence.
“IF YOU’RE GOIN MY WAY….” Oh, God, now he’s singing. PopPop is singing. Singing and nodding now. I definitely would prefer awkward silence. “ALL NIGHT LO--OOOOOOONG,” continued my grandfather. He really liked this song. How long until we get to the rink? When I was staring out the window wishing for time to speed up, PopPop made things even weirder. “Oh! Fed Ex truck!” he said excitedly. “Are you... expecting a delivery?” I asked. “Nope. I just like the trucks.” So weird. “Because if you think about it...there’s more,” he continued. How much further to the hockey rink? “Oh...ok.” The truck now merged over into our lane, and we were directly behind it. “Seriously. Look at it. What do you see?” he asked. We and the truck pulled up to a red light. Stop delaying this ride! I shouted at the stoplight in my head. “Uh, I see a white truck and a Fed Ex logo.” “No. There’s more. Look again,” he pushed. The truck slowly rolled forward increasing the distance between us. The roar of the exhaust silenced the static radio. I looked at the truck rolling away from us, and I saw nothing but the white walls and purple and green letters that made up the logo. To my excitement, I also saw the neon lights of IceWorks hockey rink. Freedom from this awkward conversation! I said to my PopPop, “All I see is a purple FED, and a green EX on a white truck.” PopPop pulled into the parking lot, and the FedEx truck continued off into delivery land, out of my sight. “Well, then you’re not looking hard enough. There’s more.” Totally weird. “Thanks for the ride,” I mumbled as I grabbed my bag, shut the truck door, and shuffled into the rink as fast as I could without being too rude. My PopPop is really freaking weird. There are few things in life better than getting paid overtime as a teenager. You just have to go out and find them. “That’s $11.45,” I told the man on the other side of the counter. “For two hot dogs and a drink?” He didn’t make any motion to reach for his wallet- he wanted an answer to his question first. “Dude, I don’t make the prices, I just sell the stuff,” I responded. “Well, dude, tell your manager, that these prices are crap.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of money. What the heck does he care about $11.45? He’s loaded. He handed me $11 and two quarters. Balancing his hot dogs and soda cup, he grumbled, “keep the change.” Five whole cents for me. Fan-freakin-tastic. The job wasn’t bad. I got to use the rink for free whenever I wanted, and I could usually sneak a few snacks each shift without anyone noticing. Making $7.00 an hour wasn’t ideal, but when the games were in session no one was coming to the snack bar. I used that time to get my homework done to keep my grades on the average-side and keep my mom off my back. Today was really busy though because it was New Year’s Day, and we had teen tournaments all day. Teams from all over the state were rolling in, and the rinks were all booked back-to-back. Lots of hungry teens today meant I had no down time. However, I was making bank, because the rink is required to pay employees time and a half on holidays. Winning! As the night went on, teams were eliminated, and the rinks started to empty out. I found myself staring at the clock and bored out of my mind, so I started doodling on a dispenser napkin. Without really thinking about it, I started to draw the Fed Ex logo. From memory, I was having trouble remembering. Was this the shape of the letters? Is it one word? FedEx or two? Fed Ex? Are all of the letters capital? Is it an acronym for something? Why do I care so much about this? “ Hmmm Hmm.” I was jolted away from my sad attempt of artwork. “Oh, sorry! What can I get for you?” I asked. The woman in front of me had obviously been here all day. She looked cold, flushed, and like she wished she never let her son take hockey lessons. “Can I have a bottle of water and a soft pretzel?” I got off my stool and went to the cooler. I grabbed a bottle and on the way back I took the rubbery pretzel out of the heater. “That’s $7.50 please.” “Seriously? For a pretzel and a bottle of water?” She shook her head and sighed as she rummaged through her bag. Where was her money? “Here.” She pushed the money into my palm, grabbed her outrageously priced refreshments and huffed away. Happy New Year, lady. For the new year, maybe get yourself a new attitude! There are few things in life better than an unexpected day off from school. You just have to go out and find them. Three days back from Christmas vacation, and we get hit with a massive, wonderful snowstorm. It’s a good thing too- we hadn’t had a break in a while. Back to bed I went to sleep until mid-afternoon. “Get up!” Suddenly I was being shaken in my bed, and my covers were being pulled away. I grabbed the blanket with both fists and pulled with all my might to bring them back up to my neck. “NOW,” I hear. My mom thought she was stronger than me, but I had the blanket up over my head now and my legs wrapped around the majority of it. She wasn’t getting it. I’m winning. My mom took one final blow, and she stripped it right out from my grip. I was instantly freezing, and instantly pissed. “What? We don’t have school today!” My mom started big-rolling up my comforter in front of her body as she left my room. “Yeah, but I have to go to work. Which means YOU have to shovel the driveway so I can get out. UP! NOW!” Why? Why? Why? I flopped over onto the floor, trying to savor any warmth that was lingering from my sleephood. When are we going to invest in a snow plow? How about a snow blower? Shoveling sucks. Maybe as a thank you, maybe as a peace offering, my mom made me breakfast, so I couldn’t be too mad. As if I was trying to stall, which I wasn’t, I ate my breakfast slowly. Mom seemed to be more and more annoyed, so mission accomplished on my part. Fine. I’ll Shovel. “Thank you! I wish I could stay home like you, but you know how it is. Call PopPop and let him know that you won’t be needing a ride to the rink today” my mom said as she gathered the remains of my breakfast. “Why won’t I need a ride? I’m still going to work later” I said. “Oh, no you’re not. Not in this weather,” my mom replied without making eye contact. “You’re going out in this weather!” I said a little too condescendingly. “I’m an adult, and I’m not going anywhere unless you get out there and shovel.” Mom continued to grumble about she wasn’t in the mood today for this kind of attitude and how she wished that she had a job where she could work from home or maybe have a million dollars and wouldn’t have to work and then she could get a maid and a cook and her life would just be perfect perfect perfect. But I had already left to go upstairs and change. I put on my jeans and hoodie because snowsuits are for losers. It’s really annoying to shovel when it’s still snowing. It’s all in your eyes, and your hands are freezing. You put a little dent into the snow piled up, and then it just fills back up with the fresh little shits. I cleared mom’s car and enough of the driveway that she could get out onto the road. She gave a quick wave as both a goodbye and thank you, and she started sliding away down the street. A few more passes with the shovel, and I’m calling it done. As I was getting ready to call it quits, I heard a truck struggling to come up the hill. The engine was revving, but the tires were just spinning. It was a Fed EX truck I saw, and it tried to reverse then slam the gas to jolt it up the hill. No use the second or third attempt, but eventually it started slowly making its way up near my house. Nice! A snow day, a snarky convo with mom, and a package delivered? What a good day. My anticipation grew as it always does with the possibility of a secret package being delivered but my excitement quickly died as the truck drove right past my house. No surprise deliveries for me today. I was just about to roundhouse kick a major pile of snow I just created when something caught my eye. I stopped and looked at the Fed Ex logo getting smaller and smaller in my view. And I saw it. Pop Pop was right- there IS more. Do you see it?
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