College Jobs Continued

This story is a continuation of College Jobs. To read the beginning of this story please click on the link for the posting titled “College Jobs” on the right side of the screen. Thanks for reading! And please feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think.

I looked down at the pile of money sitting on the table; the thousand dollars didn't look like all that much, but I realized how beneficial it could be. Being a poor college student, the opportunity to get my hands on a thousand dollars in tax free money was too much to pass up, but there was a lot I still wanted to know about the job and about Efrain. He sat in silence across the table from me and let me mull the situation through in my head. I leaned forward on the table and rested on my elbows. In my head I continued to tell myself, “This is a bad idea”, but I sat back against the booth and reached for the cash.

“What exactly do I need to do?” I asked Efrain, trying to sound as tough and to the point as I could. If I was going to get roped into something that made me uncomfortable I wanted to assert as much authority as I could. I wanted him to know I was going to do the bare minimum.

“It’s very simple. You are on her street when she leaves in the morning and you let me know everywhere she goes until she goes home at night. You let me know who she is with and where they go, and most important you don’t let her or anyone else know that you are following her. If you do a good job, who knows, I may require your services again.” 

Efrain was right about school being out next week, so the timing was pretty good for a full time gig; if that’s what I could call this. “Are there any more details?” I asked. “How do I contact you?”

“I will take care of the details. You’ll be at the Wal-Mart this week correct?”

I nodded my head affirmatively to Efrain’s question. The waitress approached our booth, and we both grabbed our menus. I ordered a plate of fish tacos, with a side of beans and rice. Efrain ordered something called a sour crème enchilada and a pitcher of coke for us to share.

“The fish tacos are good, man.” Efrain said with a smile. “Don’t worry about the details for now. I’ll get you everything you will need.”

“Why do you want me to do it again?” I asked. “Don’t you have a friend or relative that could do something like this for you?”

“No, this girl, she is close to me. She knows all of my friends and all of my relatives. I need it to be someone she has never seen before. You’ll do fine, I’m sure of it.”

I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Efrain didn’t seem to be interested in talking about my assignment anymore; instead he leaned to the side in an attempt to see a television mounted on the far side of the room. It sounded like there was a soccer game on, and Efrain became engaged in watching it. After about ten minutes of silence, the waitress returned with our food and we began to eat. Efrain was right, the fish tacos were good.

I glance over at Efrain as he cut into his enchiladas with a knife and then took a bite with his fork. He shook his head and began to call to the waitress. She walked over at a quick pace and smiled down at both of us.

“What can I do for you?” she asked softly.

“These enchiladas have a lot of sour crème in them.” Efrain said. “I think maybe too much sour crème.”

“Those are the sour crème enchiladas. Is it not what you ordered?”

Efrain was visibly annoyed and responded coldly, “I guess I expected something with less sour crème. It’s a lot of sour crème, ok?”

The waitress reached down quickly and began to ask if he would like anything else. Efrain cut her off and replied that he didn’t need anything else. He stood up from the booth and began to reach into his pocket.

“Look” he said, “I’ve got to go. I will get you more details, and you will start on Monday.” He pulled his hand from his pocket and threw $20 on the table. He looked me square in the eye and said, “Don’t ever order the sour crème enchiladas” then he turned and walked out of the restaurant.

My meeting with Efrain had not been even remotely similar to anything I had expected or could have imagined. He was such a strange person, and I wasn’t sure I could figure him out. Sometimes he spoke with a lot of confidence and made me think he could possibly be part of a mafia group. Other times he seemed to be some kind of insecure loner. Whichever way I looked at Efrain or the situation I couldn’t believe that I had accepted his offer for “employment”. I didn’t know what would happen next or how he would contact me, but I was sure of one thing; that I wasn’t sure about this.

… … …

A few days had passed since my second encounter with Efrain. He had not tried to contact me, and honestly I was hoping that he wouldn’t try again. I began to doubt whether the whole job offer was legitimate or not. 

Could it have all been some kind of weird joke? Or maybe he had changed his plans and was looking for someone else to work for him. There was just one problem with these kinds of hopeful thoughts; I had an envelope with a thousand dollars in a drawer at home.

It was a Saturday night, which meant there was only one more day until my assignment was supposed to begin. I worked the evening shift from 5:00 pm to 10:00 pm, the whole time expecting Efrain to sneak up on me again. In preparation for the next week of sleuth work I had requested the week off at Wal-Mart. I figured that if this “job” didn’t work out with Efrain I could probably get my name put back on the schedule and wouldn’t miss out on a pay check anyways.

My shift came and went with no sign of Efrain. I was sure he didn’t have my phone number or know where I lived, so I expected that the only way he could contact me was to find me here. I wasn’t scheduled to work on Sunday, so it seemed like Efrain’s chance to get me the rest of the info I would need had passed. It was actually a huge relief. I still couldn't psych myself into any kind of positive thinking in relation to the situation. I said goodbye to a couple of my coworkers and headed towards my car. As an employee I was expected to park at the far end of the parking lot to allow customers the better parking spots.

Due to the late hour the parking lot was essentially deserted. There were a few cars here and there from late shoppers and some employee cars scattered along the edge of the lot. It was well after sunset and pretty dark outside, but as I walked to my car I could see through the flood lights that there was nobody around. It looked as though Efrain had no-showed and I was relieved. Now I just had to figure out what I was supposed to do with the money he gave me.

I reached my car and slid the key into the door. As it opened I saw that something had been placed on the driver’s seat; it was a large, manila envelope. My heart skipped a beat as I realized what it must be. I sat in my car and opened the envelope to see the contents. In the dim light cast by my overhead lamp I saw a picture of a blonde woman who appeared to be in here late twenty’s. There was also a hand written note. It had an address and at the bottom it said, “She leaves around 7:00 am. Be there by 6:30.”

I knew then that I had made a huge mistake.

To be continued...