1.1 A New Beginning

The taxi pulled slowly away through the foggy misted tree lined back roads of Twinbrook. She was scared, leaving it all behind. The life she had grown so comfortably into within the safety of her parent’s small home in the bogs. But Amiee had bigger dreams, dreams that couldn’t be fulfilled in such a small and dreary town. She had one small suitcase in the trunk, a little money in her pocket and big chip on her shoulder.

She sat in the back seat with a big smile on her face and bigger dreams in her heart. This was her beginning, her life. She would step out of the shadows of her parents for the first time and into her own. She imagined pulling up to a lavish apartment in the city, bright and cheery with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the city below. A doorman to greet her each day as she came and went a pool to dip her toes into when the mid-day sun was hot and radiant. Oh yes she was a dreamer.

She took one last look back as the taxi crossed over the border of Twinbrook and the neighboring town. She breathed a sigh of relief as she let go of who she was, and moved forward onto who she wanted to become.

The taxi stopped in front of drab outdated building. Amiee blinked her eyes as if when she reopened them it would have been replaced with something much more appealing. It was still there, screaming out for attention, desperately needing work.

“Are you sure this is it?” She asked the taxi driver.

“1550 Bayshore Highway.” The taxi cab reassured her. She wasn't reassured, she was mortified. She could already see her dreams slipping away slowly, starting with the great condo in the sky.

“Alright.” She sighed as she handed the money to the driver. She got out and opened the truck, pulling out her small suitcase. She walked into he building and up to the 18^th floor. 

She slowly opened the door to her apartment, she wasn’t sure what to expect, but as she looked around, her expectations were nothing like this.

The walls were off-white and looked as if they hadn’t been painted in twenty years. They were dingy and speckled with holes from previous tenants.

The kitchen was almost nonexistent, with outdated appliances, minimal counter space and only a sink, no dishwasher. There was a small room for a couch –if that, and a tv.

The bedroom was open to the kitchen no door for privacy.

The bathroom was quite small with only a standing shower, toilet and sink, and barely enough room to navigate around them.

The place smelled just as musty and old as it had looked. There was no character, no light and no homey feeling. Amiee stood in the doorway with her hand cupped to her chin.

“It needs some work Amiee, but it has potential!” She said to herself, trying desperately to stay positive. 

Amiee pulled out the tattered old phonebook from the kitchen drawer. One good thing about living in the middle of a big city, in a dingy apartment or not, food delivery was at your disposal, anything and everything you can possibly imagine at your fingertips with just a simple phone call and a wait.

She dialed the number to a local taco joint and the food was delivered within ten minutes. That’s a luxury you just can’t get in the swamps.

She propped herself up on the counter and bit into the taco. The grease gently sliding down her throat, the warm melted cheese sticking to her teeth, the crunch of the shell with each bite, Amiee was almost in heaven. 

When she looked down at her dwindling stack of cash she knew she had to get a job and fast. She picked up her keys and headed out.

“One hour until the moving vans arrive, I should have time to fill out some applications.” She said as she closed the door behind her.

“I could get used to being a city girl.” Amiee said to herself as she strolled about the streets. The tall buildings, the bright lights, the sounds of car horns near and distant, it was a nice change from her quiet life.

“Well what do we have here…” Amiee said as she approached one of the oddest and most modern building she had ever seen.

“The True Modern Art Gallery.” Amiee said reading the sign out front. The smile on her face grew from ear to ear as she mouthed the words. She stood there for a moment soaking it all in before entering.

The moment Amiee entered a lanky woman with a bad hairdo was standing behind the counter eager to greet her.

“Good morning, welcome to The True Modern Art Gallery, how may I help you today.” The woman said in an overly upbeat and cheery tone.

“Hi, my name is Amiee Sullivan, I was wondering maybe if you had any openings for a position?” Amiee said politely.

“Positions for what?” The woman asked.

“A job?” Amiee said with a hint of sarcasm. The woman took one look at her and let out a small chuckle.

“I am sorry but we do not take walk ins for job opportunities, there is a process one must go through in order to be employed by the gallery, maybe you should try bar up the road.” The woman said.

“Excuse me Mrs…” Amiee said rudely.

“Mrs. Littler…please.” The woman cut in. Amiee let out a chuckle of her own. Littler? What kind of a name is that! She thought.

“Well Mrs. Littler, surely you didn’t intend on insulting my intelligence with a remark like that. I am an artist and have studied in school and though I may not have experience working in a gallery, I am confident I am just the type of help you need to bring this gallery back to life.” Amiee said with a strong confidence.

“Help, surely you can’t be serious?” Mrs. Littler replied with a condescending tone.

“I am serious and don’t call me Shirley.” Amiee replied with the same condescending tone.

“Look around, this place is a ghost town, I mean I have heard of the starving artists, but I have seen galleries in smaller towns with more people and character in it!” Amiee added. Mrs. Littler gasped, outraged at the insults Amiee had descended upon her and the gallery.

Mrs. Littler composed herself quickly turning her tone back to the overly upbeat and cheery one she had just moments ago.

“I am sorry Miss Sullivan; we are not accepting applicants at this time. I am sure you are a wonderful artist, everyone thinks they are after all, we do not need your help at this time, but I can take your number down and call you if anything becomes available.” Mrs. Littler said. Amiee could still detect the slightest amount of condensation in her tone.

“Do you really take me for some sort of a fool Mrs. Littler? I have heard that line before, it’s a nice way of saying ‘no way in hell will we ever give you a job and we have no intentions of calling you back’ only you forgot to say it nicely, don’t patronize me, just because I am young, doesn’t mean I don’t have the know-how or the experience to work here…I think I would call that discrimination, don’t you Mrs. Littler?” Amiee replied.

Mrs. Littler stood there with a dumbfound look on her face. Everything about her changed in an instant right before Amiee’s eyes.  

Mrs. Littler bent down and pulled a three ring binder out from one of the drawers behind the counter, she pretended to skim through it, though clearly it was blank. Amiee figured she didn’t want to admit that she had discriminated against her. She threw her hands in the air when she finished thumbing through it.

“Well my apologies Miss Sullivan it seems we do have an opening here.” Mrs. Littler said to Amiee.

“May I have an application please?” Amiee said self-satisfied.

“No need.” Mrs. Littler replied.

“I thought there was some kind of process for getting a job here?” Amiee asked.

“Don’t push it, look kid do you want the job or not.” Mrs. Littler said as leaned on the counter with her palms. She had grown increasingly agitated by the moment.

“Yes I will take it.” Amiee said with a smile.

“Tomorrow, nine a.m. sharp.” Mrs. Littler said as she returned the binder to the drawer.

“What exactly is it that I am doing?” Amiee asked.

“Janitorial work.” Mrs. Littler replied with a coy smile.

“That would have been good information to disperse beforehand.” Amiee grumbled as she walked out of the door. Okay, so it wasn’t her dream job, but it was a step in the right direction.

When Amiee returned home the first thing she noticed was all her boxes and furniture stacked throughout the house, a pizza and boxes of Chinese food laid out on her dining table and a thin framed strawberry blonde standing in her kitchen hovered over a counter full of unpacked dishes.  

“Shelby!” Amiee exclaimed. 

“What on god’s green earth are you doing here!” Amiee asked as she ran over and gave Shelby a hug. She hadn’t seen Shelby in nearly five years –since they graduated high school and went their separate ways. They kept in contact through emails and text since Shelby’s life had become completely scheduled when her modeling career started to take off.

“I came by to welcome you with dinner and found the moving guys standing outside. So I let them in and decided to wait for you…where did you go anyway?” Shelby asked.

“Out looking for a job.” Amiee replied.

“Really, you just got here!?” Shelby asked.

“And guess who is the newest employee at The True Modern Art Gallery?” Amiee said as she made a motion with her body.

“Shut the front door!” Shelby screeched.

“How on earth did you pull that off?” She added.

“It wasn’t easy, and it isn’t exactly a dream job, let’s leave it at that.” Amiee replied bitterly as she remembered the conversation with Mrs. Littler.

“Well I am happy for you! When do you start?” Shelby said to Amiee.

“Tomorrow morning…” Amiee replied.

“And see you did it without needing any connections from me, you are going to make it in the big city just fine Amiee.” Shelby replied.

“So anyways…we are going to go out tonight and celebrate your arrival in the big city! I got the perfect little place you will just love it!” Shelby said excitedly.

“I can’t Shelby, not tonight; I have to be up early tomorrow…can we schedule it for tomorrow night?” Amiee said.

“You party pooper! Tomorrow night it shall be. I have to get ready for a photo shoot, enjoy your dinner, see you tomorrow night!” Shelby said as she hugged Amiee goodbye. 

Nightfall had begun to approach much more quickly than Amiee had hoped for. She was truly dreading getting up in the morning to go to the art gallery. Something she had never thought she would ever say in a million years. Amiee was in love with the arts, but the idea of hanging around an art gallery with a mop in hand wasn’t exactly all that appealing to her. 

If she had just been a little nicer to Mrs. Littler perhaps it wouldn’t have been so bad. Amiee contemplated the idea for a moment.

“Nope, I did what I had to, there is nowhere to go but up from here” She said aloud to herself in the mirror as she brushed her teeth.

She didn’t even bother to rearrange any of the furniture in her room; Amiee just slipped under the covers and closed her eyes, ready for what tomorrow would bring her.