All About The Timing

It's All About The Timing

Chapter 1

Jenny’s alarm went off at 6:30 as usual, she rolled over slamming it off. Stretching her arms up and yawning she dragged herself out of bed and into the shower. The warm water felt good on her chilly body as she began to wake.

Fall was coming, the air was chilly. She quickly dried off and began to dress, putting on her slacks, long sweater and new boots. As she dried her hair she thought of her day head, making mental notes to herself, “Remember to pick up the dry cleaning, stop by the post office for stamps, pick up eggs and bread.” She had a busy day ahead and her list of chores was growing.

Jenny had long light brown hair, dark eyes, she was thin and had a nice bronze tint to her skin. She was twenty eight years old. She put on her usual simple makeup, lotioned up her hands and headed downstairs.

She lived in a beautiful condo on the main road with cobblestone sidewalks easily accessible to all of the trendiest restaurants and shops in town. She didn’t have a need for a car, everything was accessible to her by walking or a short cab drive. She liked living in the busy city.

Her job was fulfilling, being the activities director at the local seniors residence. She had worked there for nearly five years now and she was financially secure. Her mother taught her to be independent, to be assertive as well as kind and caring.

Jenny drank her morning tea and quickly ate a piece of peanut butter toast, grabbed her purse and briefcase then headed out the door to start her day. She flew down her stairs outside as she caught a glimpse of a cab coming down the block. She stood at the curb, waving her arm up in the air towards the driver. He abruptly pulled to the side of the road and smiled as she got in the back seat.

“Good morning,” he said as he glanced up in the rear view mirror. “Where are you headed?”

Without looking up, Jenny searched through her large purse to be sure she remembered her cell phone. “26 Anderson Ave please, it’s the Anderson Center for Seniors.”

The cab driver pulled into the busy traffic, “Yes ma’am.”

Jenny’s day was like most others, she went to her office, checked her calendar and messages. This is a busy time, with the fall and winter holidays quickly approaching. There were many activities she wanted to schedule for the residents. The Anderson was a huge seniors residential home. They housed 500 or more residents from independent living to assisted living patients. Jenny had two assistants who she was constantly brainstorming with. She takes pride in her work and is meticulous with the details of each and every event she puts on. The residents all took a liking to her right away and many have become extended family to her.

“Hello Miss Jenny!” Jenny heard from an elderly woman standing in the doorway.

“Hi! Miss Mary, how are you feeling today?” Jenny replied.

“Good, good. I wrote down a few announcements for you to please put in the monthly newsletter,” she explained and entered to hand Jenny the paper.

“Ok, I can add most of these, umm...except for this one Miss Mary, you know I can not call out Miss Beatrice for not being friendly,” she said sternly.

“That woman is the rudest person I have ever met, you know she doesn’t even say hello when you pass her in the hallway, it’s not right! She won’t even make eye contact and it’s not just me, I’ve been asking around…”

“Miss Mary, let’s not judge others…” Jenny continued to lecture the elderly woman, knowing the feud between these two was never going to be resolved. She dismissed Mary as quickly as possible so she could finish checking her emails and then get ready for the group activity of the day.

Today was craft day, one of Jenny’s favorites. She had a passion for creating things, half of her nights were spent looking on Pinterest for ideas for the residents. The Anderson Center had a huge separate room that Jenny had organized into a craft room. There were shelves filled with plastic tote boxes individually labeled with everything you could imagine, from paints, to beads and glitters, glues and more! There was room for twenty five seniors to attend during one session and Jenny’s classes filled up each and every week.

There was a knock on the glass door and Jenny could see it was Ericka, her assistant. Ericka had just graduated college, Jenny had hired her personally and was happy with her choice. “Come in Ericka,” she shouted.

“Hi, Miss Jenny, ready for class today?”

“Yes, I’m excited, look at this pumpkin,” She took out her sample to show Ericka. It was a hollow pumpkin made from pipe cleaners, decorated with a huge fall bow on the top.

Ericka exclaimed, “How did you do that?” as she felt the pumpkin, “it’s solid, but it’s made from pipe cleaners?”

“Yes!” Jenny explained, “it’s pretty easy to make, but the prep work is a pain, that’s why I asked you and Nancy to come to class early today. We need twenty five balloons blown up but don’t worry, I bought a pump for us.”

“Hi!” They were interrupted by another.

“Good morning Brenda! Are you ready to start pumping balloons today?” I said and handed her the small hand pump and a bag of balloons. Brenda was Jenny’s other assistant, she was in her late fifties and had been working here since before Jenny came.

Jenny explained, “Watch, once you have the balloon blown up, then the ladies can twist the pipe cleaners around it,” she demonstrated, “and then they simply take this white glue with a paint brush and coat it over the pipe cleaners and onto the balloon. While the glue dries, we can make the large bows by hand. Once it’s fully dry, you simply pop the balloon and this is what you’re left with!” She held up the pumpkin with pride.

“That is beautiful!” Ericka smiled in awe.

“I also brought these ear plugs, so no one has a heart attack on our watch,” Jenny laughed.

The three chit chatted as they prepared for the senior ladies to come to class.

The pumpkins came out simply beautiful! Everyone loved the idea. Jenny’s day came and went in no time, as usual there was not enough time to accomplish everything she had wanted to and by the end of the day she found herself stuffing files and notebooks into her briefcase to take home and deal with later after dinner.

Jenny walked out of the parking lot and onto the busy curbside, waiting for a cab to pass by. She looked to the homeless man, sitting near the bus stop and smiled. She sees him here everyday and several times a week she brings him food from her cafeteria. She has tried to convince him that there are organizations that could help him, but he never seems too interested. He is however, appreciative of the food she brings him. Jenny went to the corner grocery store and picked up the items she needed, “Hi Jonathan!” she smiled at the man at the register. “How have you been?”

“Hi Jenny! Busy as usual,” he replied. “We need to get more help in here.”

“I’ve noticed you’re getting busier and busier, the area is growing.”

“It is,” he smiled at me and hesitated for a moment. “It’s always nice to see you.”

“You too,” I grinned. Sometimes I think maybe he’s trying to flirt with me? But then, if he wanted to make a move he surely would have asked me out by now. I’ve been coming in here for a year or more now routinely several times a week. He is very handsome, tall, thin but with a broad chest, he has a slight five o’clock shadow beard that he keeps nicely trimmed.

She sat and ate dinner at her table. She had a large bay window with a view of the city street. She opened the blinds and gazed outside for a while watching the busy passerbys she often saw coming and going.

There was the business couple across the street, they seemed to be the perfect couple, both good looking, smiling and kissed each other goodbye each morning as they went their separate ways to work. Then there was the elderly woman who fed the stray cats every night. Jenny knew the condo association frowned upon them doing so, but would never report her. She didn’t mind them around and they kept the mice away. There was the police officer, he had crossed Jenny’s mind a few times last night! He was a bit older than her but that uniform was definitely appealing to her. He just moved in a few days ago. Jenny liked having him next door to her, she wasn’t afraid to be in the condo alone but certainly having a police officer as a neighbor was nice. She hadn’t had the opportunity to actually meet him yet.

Jenny readjusted her focus to her work, then closed the blinds and went to get in her pajamas and head in early. Tomorrow was sure to be another busy day at work.