Rainy Day (Talese)

Joe was an angry, impatient man who believed that he would one day succeed in the business world and make the six figure salery he did four years ago. He was twenty-six years old when he was laid off from his job in Michigan and had to move back in with his parents in Flushing, New York.

The temporary situation eventually lasted a year, then two, then four. It was 2010 when he finally heard back from a potential employer who first suggested they meet at a job fair. After passing the initial interview Joe was invited to the company headquarters the following Monday where he'd he questioned again. He was prepared with a freshly printed resume in an aqua folder he borrowed from his girlfriend after sleeping over the night before. The black Duane Reade umbrella he held up with his left hand was his own and while the rain drops were few at first, they began to multiply at an alarming rate as the time inched closer to 8am. The bottom of his black suit jacket with thin gray stripes flapped against his sides as he tucked the folder under his left arm and stuck his right hand out from under the umbrella.

Yellow cabs drove by, thier windshield wipers furiously waving from side to side. Joe kept his arm extended above his shoulder despite how none of the numbers above the cabs were lit. Dark circles ranging from dime to near quarter sizes appeared on his suit and while the damp bottoms of his pants clung on to his leather shoes he imagined using the weather as an excuse for being late. Finally, a cab pulled over and stopped. And while he wondered why the car didn't park closer, a woman wearing a beige trench coat walked out from between two parked cars and pulled the cab door open.

Joe clenched his jaw and tightened his grip on the umbrella handle but before he could say anything the woman turned around, "Want to share a cab?"