Operator

Chapter 1 rough draft

                                                                                                    Operator


                                                                                            “A Novel in the Works”


         


              Jennifer woke up that morning with the same stiff feeling anyone would get from sleeping on the couch for numerous nights in a row. But this was just another one of the choices she made just to please her husband, who never really showed the appreciation needed to justify these actions. Even though she hated tending to his every need without much in return, she knew it was the only way to keep her family intact. Ultimately she did it for her children. A true provider of love, but a tendency to overreact over small occasions would be an understatement for Jennifer. She has been married to her husband for 32 years, and only considered about 5 of them to count as a real marriage. Daniel, the hard working husband, was a stiff nosed perfectionist who believed that the key to life is not looking as low as the next family. It was a perfect materialistic heartfelt combination as a marriage. As each day goes by, another lose is counted in each of their minds because of the constant bickering between themselves which in turn filtered down to the children. Happiness was hard to come by these days, and with the added stress from the lack of incoming money, life had been difficult for this family. Especially with their oldest son, John, just getting ready to start his junior year in college, their middle son, Adam, getting ready to start college, and their youngest daughter, Ally, just getting to her senior year.


         


                John had been the first in the family to attend a big university but still didn’t seem to have much encouragement in his journey to success. Adam had been seemingly following in his brother’s footsteps but with barely surmounting to his brothers accomplishments. He seemed almost a failure in the eyes of their father. The daughter, Ally, being the youngest, seemed to get the brute of the problems. This was a combination of her being the only daughter and the last child left in the nest. She was going through many girl problems that most teenage girls go through, but since this was their first daughter, Daniel and Jennifer were still trying to figure out how to handle it. Also, with her being the last child left in the house, her parents just couldn’t find how to cope with letting her go. The fact of the matter is that they loved their children so very much but could not seem to find the right ways to show it.


         


                Christmas break has come too soon. Especially since the recent hip surgery Daniel has gone through. This was just another one of the problems adding to their money situation. It’s also the main reason for Jennifer having to sleep on the couch. All she could hope for was for her oldest to come home and bring some encouragement that her and Daniel have done something right together in raising him. John was always the oldest and most in charge of the bunch. Whenever he came back home he seemed to bring a since of encouragement that life will get better. He had been the most successful of the family so far excelling in every sport he played in, school, and most importantly to him, his girlfriend he has held onto for close to 4 years. You could say he was the families light whenever it was dark.


         


                  Since the surgery, Daniel, who used to work construction, has acquired a job as an OnStar operator to help people who just got into accident stay calm until the police came. Pretty ironic, seeing as he can barely keep his own family calm through the smallest of problems. Jennifer, on the other hand, who just recently got laid off her job from interior designing, had picked up a waitressing job. Coincidently, this is the same restaurant John worked out throughout high school, and the same place Adam was currently working at. Money was money, though. Any way they could acquire it was better than having no income at all. Since, the pay was a lot less than their regular jobs; they saw it as an opportunity for their children to get better financial aid towards college. College was taking a toll on the family’s money flow and would only get worse when the other two started to attend. But work never came as a problem to Daniel and Jennifer on account of the fact that these two actually had a characteristic in common. They were both very hard workers. Perfectionists in their own fields, and their tight pocket ideals seemed to be a plus in these economic conditions.


         


                  Five days till Christmas and John, who already had late finals, now has a delayed flight on account of the five feet of snow fall that had fallen the night before. Still optimistic, he decided to search online for any last minute gift ideas he could come up with to help out his parents. He didn’t have much money left because he had spent at least twenty dollars on crossword puzzles and other puzzle books to pass the time until he could finally go home. Also, the incoming snow storm has knocked out any signal for his internet. “Happy holidays,” he said to himself in a sarcastic tone. As he looked around the dark dismal airport he noticed a few dark areas where the lights have gone out due to a power shortage. The blizzard had been played a sad song on the window behind him for close to an hour now and John decided to go find some quit so he could have some peace of mind. “I’m so thirsty,” said John “there has to be something around here.” As he searched the long halls of the airport he found a small kiosk selling coffee off in the distance. As he made his way towards his future delight he say that his phone service had been totally knocked out leaving him with no way to contact his family and tell them about his recent misfortunes.


         


                  Daniel was barely staying awake while sitting in his wood backed chair at work. “This is ridiculous,” He muttered under his breath, “Who is going to get in an accident during Christmas, people are too worried about their houses and presents to be driving out all night.” It wasn’t that Daniel hated the job; money was money in his mind. It was just that he believed there shouldn’t be a full staff when there is absolutely nothing going on. Disregarding his morals, he prayed someone would get in an accident so he could actually have something to do. Maybe some excited to get his mind away from his home life. “It’s Christmas” He thought “why wouldn’t my dreams come true”.


               


                “Finally I have a night alone,” sighed Jennifer with an exhausted tone in her voice. With the kids out at their friends’ houses, John not yet home from his flight, and Daniel at work, she decided to take a drive and observe some of the gorgeous Christmas light put up around town. It had been raining the past couple days, and since it had slowed to a drizzle for the rest of the night, she wasn’t too worried about the driving conditions. Even though Jennifer was more than tired from her week of stress, fighting, and work she knew if she could just get some fresh air and some good light viewing in, it might calm her down enough to get a good night sleep on her luxuriously dolphin skin couch. She laughed in her head, “Look how easy these families have it, who would have known Christmas could be so stressful.” Driving down the street, Jennifer noticed an immaculate assortment of lights on one of the bigger houses in the town. “Now isn’t that just a sight for sore eyes,” she noted with her eyes glued to the enormous structure that a single family called home. It was a large perfectly structure tan colored mansion. With two protruding matching balconies, it seemed to summon even the most unnoticing eyes as people passed by. Its assortment of lights perfectly meshed with each other and the light up Santa looking as if climb into the chimney would cause even the most stubborn of hosts to grin.  As she turned her eyes towards the road, she quickly noticed a small creature in the middle of the road and swerved instantly out of the way to avoid hitting it. “Good lord,” she exclaimed with her heart racing. But before she could calm down she found herself face to face with two beaming headlights. Without thought she threw her steering wheel to the right and skidded off the side of the road. Before she could even scream she was upside down in the ditch adjacent to the road. She was going in and out of consciousness and trying as hard as she could just to stay awake. As soon as she came to her senses she felt a warm stinging feeling in her stomach. As she glanced down she notice a pole from the speed limit sign lodged into her abdomen.  The instant numbest alerted her that she had lost all feeling below her chest and could only pray for someone to come to her rescue. “Please lord,” she cried out “give me something, a voice, anything”. Before she finished her thought a familiar voice came over the speaker of her car. “Hello, this is OnStar; we were alerted that you have gotten in an accident. Is everything alright?”