Face Reality

Face Reality

By Heather Ann Martinez

So, you could say my best friend Marcus and I couldn’t wait for the summer. We loved swimming, canoeing and surfing reality TV shows. We even applied to be on a couple of them. We didn’t get in, but at least we tried. We did land a couple of roles as extras in two television series that were filming in our town. We have actually been on the set at the same time with our reality TV crushes. It is that memory that keeps me going day after day stocking shelves and sweeping floors for my family’s grocery store. My older brother Sam is the manager. Dad said I wasn’t ready for any real responsibility yet. Dad always says my head isn’t in the store even though my face is usually in the freezer replenishing the frozen pizzas and chocolate chip ice cream. Yes, my brother Sam is always at the store when it opens and sometimes stays until it closes. You could say I’m a slacker. I show up when I’m ready and leave when I’m done. I don’t want to be working in our family business for the rest of my life. My great grandfather started the grocery store as a butcher shop years ago. My grandfather and father both expanded the grocery store over the years. We now offer grocery delivery and curbside pick-up. That is what Marcus helps out with when he is not in school or practicing playing piano.

Sam often teases me about how some day Marcus is going to be offered a real job in some city. I keep telling Sam Marcus wouldn’t just leave town for any opportunity, and I didn’t think what happened would happen. Marcus was offered a gig playing piano for ten live performances on one of our reality TV shows. He said he talked to one of the producers on the set the last time we auditioned to be extras, and they called him. I can’t believe they called him. Even though it is only for ten weeks, Marcus is going somewhere. This is only the beginning. Sam could be right.

As I was pushing the broom around the frozen food section, it dawned on me that I was going to have to tell my dad, my mom, and my brother that I was not going to be part of the family business like my grandfather and father had been. It wasn’t what I wanted to be doing for the rest of my life. I knew Sam was very proud to be in the grocery store business. He was more respectable. He never stole a loaf of bread or ate too much turkey on Thanksgiving. You could always tell how proud my father was of Sam. He bought him a new tie to wear almost every other week. Dad saved all of his scolding for me. Granted, I deserved it most of the time. Dad would say my head was in the clouds and I needed to face reality. He said the frozen pizzas fell on the floor and spoiled because I overstocked the shelves. I left the broom in the middle of the floor and a customer tripped over it. Dad managed to smooth things over so the customer didn’t sue the store for negligence. Dad said that could have become a real problem for our family. Dad said he didn’t feel comfortable giving me any more responsibilities in the front of the store. He said I should help our security team in the back room.

The next day, I poked my head in the back room. The monitors were on with cameras facing all of the registers and I could smell burnt coffee and cigarette smoke. Dennis was our security guy. He was older than Sam, close to thirty. Dennis wasn’t too happy about me being there. My dad told him I would be showing up. Dennis took one look at me and asked me to sit down.

“Why don’t you just tell your old man you want out?” Dennis never minced words. He was always direct.

“I can’t say that! It would break his heart.” I countered although I knew Dennis was right. I was scared of how my family would react.

My mom married into the business. She learned how to be a bookkeeper to help dad’s accountant with all of our receipts. Our grocery store is the only one of its kind for nearly fifteen miles in all directions. My parents know most of our customers. My brother Sam is starting to build business relationships with some of our vendors. He knows he is being groomed to take over and I tip my hat to him. Sam is really good at what he does. Me, I don’t know what it is I like to do for work. Dennis kept poking at me.

“You gotta face reality Clay. You don’t want to be here. There’s no point in me teaching you anything about theft prevention. You need to go talk to your parents, and I think the sooner, the better.”

With that, Dennis showed me the door. I started to protest, but he was right. I didn’t belong in theft prevention. I didn’t belong in the store. I had to tell my parents I couldn’t help them anymore. I headed to my dad’s office. I could hear him yelling at my mother about something. I didn’t really have anywhere else to go. I knocked on the door. My mother opened the door, and my dad stood up when he saw me. He asked me what I did wrong. He said he would talk with Dennis and see about giving me another chance. I put my hand on his shoulder to stop him. I told him that I didn’t do anything wrong. I told him Dennis didn’t even show me the ropes.

“Dad, I’m just not cut out for the grocery store business. I know you and Sam love this place. I know you take a lot of pride opening the doors and greeting our friends and neighbors. I don’t have that pride.”

“Son, I think that’s the first time you ever faced reality. But what are you gonna do with your life. If you don’t want to be part of all this, what is it you are going to do?”

“I’d. I would...”

My mother looked at me with tears in her eyes and asked me what I thought I wanted to do.

“I’d like to fly airplanes.”

“Fly airplanes?” Dad asked. “Son, that takes commitment. You have to go to school and get a license.”

“I know. I can do it dad.”

I pulled out a brochure for a flying school I kept in my back pocket. I passed it to my father and he read through the requirements.

Within that conversation, my parents forced me to face reality. They worked out a plan for me to go to the flying school and help them with the grocery store on the weekends. Mom helped me with the math. Dad came to the airfield to see me fly a single engine plane for the first time. In the years that followed, I made my parents proud. I became a commercial pilot. Like my friend Marcus, I took an opportunity to leave the grocery store business. My parents gave me the wings to leave their nest. Now I can go anywhere in the sky.