“Thanks, Mr. Dennis,” Mario said, taking one of the cups of coffee from me.
“Here—I got some meat pies for us too. I got coffee and a breakfast burrito for Vernon.”
“He should be along any minute,” Mario said.
We enjoyed the beautiful Sunday morning as we sat at a table on the deck of the Holiday Hotel.
“I missed seeing Vernon this week,” I said. “It’s odd that he wouldn’t make it to our darts tournament night.”
“He’s been trying to pay a lot of attention to his new job. Vernon’s not lucky with jobs.”
“Why did he have to get a new job?”
“He had a problem with the foreman at the last one. You know how the foreman is the guy that stands around and watches everybody else work?”
“Yeah?”
“Everybody was always mistaking Vernon for the foreman.”
“I see how that could be a problem.”
Vernon came walking up the beach and took a seat at our table.
“Good morning, guys,” he said, before digging into his burrito.
“How’s the new job going?” I asked.
“I don’t think it’s going so good.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think I may have got fired.”
“You think?” Mario asked. “Did the boss tell you you’re fired?”
“Not exactly.”
“What did he say?”
“When he gave me my pay yesterday he said, ‘Vernon, I don’t know how we’re going to get along without you but starting on Monday we’re going to do our best.’”
