I met Jennifer in G&B cafe in Green City Missouri. When I first walked in there were 3 other men in the cafe. All three seemed to be farmers of some sort and all three were smoking. So was Jennifer. They talked about the upcoming election and bad cops in the area. One of the men was running for Mayor of Green City. I wished him luck. They also spoke about how we should let kids be kids and make some silly mistakes. I didn't chime in much on their conversation but I agreed with a lot of what they said.
They soon left and it was just Jennifer and I in the establishment. This is what I learned:
Jennifer was from Brookfield Missouri and I actually have some distant relatives who live there. She had heard of them before. She moved to Green City to live with her boyfriend and to get away from the drama that was going on in Brookfield. She has one daughter who is grown, but the two are not on speaking terms. She currently works here and at a restaurant in Unionville. Between the two jobs she works 7 days a week, but really needs the money. She has had numourous other job offers since moving to Green City, but two jobs is enough for her. She told stories about working in a meat factory and how it was the best job she had ever had. 7 days a week and they paid $9.50 an hour. She lost that job because she smelled rotten meat once and got sick for over three weeks. She also worked at IHOP in Kansas City and loved the money but hated all the kids who would come in minutes before they were supposed to close. She would rather be bored than busy. She is very concerned with the weather and talked in great deal about the past, present, and future weather conditions. It made for decent small talk. She has had a wild past and got into somethings she shouldn't have, but "you live and learn". She has tattoos on her neck but didn't want to go into what they stood for. She also sent quite a few text messages to her boyfriend and you could tell in this new place she felt a sense of being reborn and a fresh start. We talked about drama that goes on sometimes in the cafe and she mentioned how she really tried not to listen to it or get involved in anyway. She has been a part of drama for so long, she didn't want that to be part of her new life.
She was a strong person, yet so young seeming. I still feel sometimes like a little boy sitting there but she made me feel old and wise. She gave me a free refill on my orange juice and told me not to tell anyone she did that. She was sweet, but reserved. For only having lived in this new city for three weeks she had a lot of say about it. There was a lot going on inside her head. It was refreshing. Jennifer was incredibly candid about some things and I don't feel comfortable going into those, but she has lived a rough life, but has found a way to sprout up this spring with new hope.
Thank you Jennifer.
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