The Career Challenge

The Career Challenge

Chapter 1

           “I can’t believe you are finally home!” Cara Donahue squealed with delight. She dropped her oversized purse onto the bed and pulled her childhood best friend into her arms for a big hug. “I have missed you so much!”

           Amile Anders pulled back to look at her friend, “I missed you too,” she said, her brown eyes locked with Cara’s bright green ones. “We have so much to catch up on. Tell me everything that has been happening in Grove City.”

           “Only if you spill all of your college secrets,” Cara responded with a conspiratorial grin. Even though the two friends chatted several times a week, there was always much for them to discuss. They spent the next hour or two chatting, laughing, and catching up.

 “So next year you take the bar exam,” Cara pointed out during a rare lull in their conversation. “Are you excited?”

           Amile looked down at her hands and absently fiddled with the silver friendship ring on her right hand. Cara wore a similar, gold ring on her right hand. The two friends had met at a Halloween party at their school when they were both in kindergarten and had managed to remain friends all through school. The rings were their gifts to each other the day they had both graduated from Grove City High School. They were a symbol that no matter where they went, they would always be friends.

           “What’s wrong?” Cara asked, as she gently brushed a long strand of brown hair out of her friend’s face.

           Amile hesitated for a moment or two. She had never voiced her thoughts aloud about the bar exam before. Yet if she could not tell Cara, who could she tell? With a nervous smile, Amile admitted, “I’m not sure I want to take the bar exam.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.

           “What?” Cara was shocked. “Why not? You have wanted to become a lawyer since middle school. Remember when you fought for the right to keep vending machines in the cafeteria? You even attended a school board meeting to speak out against our teachers’ low pay rate.”

           Amile couldn’t help but smile at the memories. She had always believed strongly in doing what was right. It was only natural that she would become a lawyer one day. Besides it was also a family tradition. Her grandfather and father were both lawyers. Even her brother, Alex, had passed the bar exam on his second try. Now it was nearly her turn to take it as well.

           The problem was that over the last few months, Amile had grown tired of studying law. Her grades were near perfect, and her classes were interesting enough. The passion for what she was learning was no longer there. She found herself having to work harder to achieve the high marks that usually came easy for her. She kept on telling herself that maybe she was just burnt out from all her classes and had given herself the summer break to decide what to do from here.

           “I believe in fighting for what’s right,” Amile admitted. “I am just not sure I want to make a career out of it anymore.”

           “What would you do instead?” Cara asked, intrigued and still a bit surprised.

           “I don’t know.” Truthfully, Amile hadn’t really put much thought into it. “A nurse, or a chef, or a teacher.”

           “Okay,” Cara said thoughtfully. “You can try them all out over the summer. It could be sort of a career challenge.”

           “How would I do that?” Amile questioned, trying to let the idea take root in her mind.

           “Leave that to me,” Cara smiled.

Chapter 2

           “Leave it to me.” Why had Amile agreed to do so? Probably because even after all the crazy things that one sentence had led to over of the years, she still loved Cara like a sister. Besides what could be worse than nearly permanently dying their hair green or the tattoo of Elmer Fudd that Amile would always have?

           This time that one sentence had led Amile to help an elderly lady into the bathroom nearly a week later. The first part of the career challenge involved becoming a nurse. It was easy enough for Cara to sign Amile up for a volunteer position at Daffodil Estate, the nursing home where Cara worked as a CNA.

           Unlike Amile, whose dream had always been to go away to college and study law, Cara had never wanted to stray too far from home. She had been raised by her grandma. When Betty Donahue became ill, it was Cara’s turn to repay the favor by taking care of her. Doing so had led Cara to a job at the local nursing home.

           When Amile had gotten Mrs. Curry tucked comfortably back into bed, the elderly woman gently patted her cheek. “You remind me of my oldest granddaughter,” she said with a small smile. “I haven’t seen her in years. It happens when family members move away from home.”

           Mrs. Curry studied Amile’s face for a few minutes. “I am glad that you came to volunteer here.” She spoke softly, her gray eyes intense. “Is this really the career for you, though?”

           Amile started to respond but the elderly woman waved a hand at her and continued, “You are very good with us residents. We all like you but you don’t have a passion for this job. I can see it in your eyes. Your friend Cara does. She is going to make a great nurse one day or maybe even a doctor. Dr. Donahue has a nice ring to it.

           “I could be wrong about you,” Mrs. Curry placed a pale wrinkled hand over Amile’s smooth one on her bed, “but I rarely am. If you want to do this work, then go ahead. Don’t do it if the passion isn’t there, however, or you will get burnt out quickly.”

           An hour later, Amile sat in the break room eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and thinking about everything that Mrs. Curry had said to her. How had the elderly woman known that Amile was thinking about making a career change? Had Cara mentioned it to her. No, she doubted that. Maybe it was just a coincidence that Mrs. Curry had brought up the subject.

           Was the elderly woman, right? Did she have a passion for nursing? After only volunteering at the nursing home for a week, it may have been too soon to tell. Surely Amile had enjoyed coming to work every day and seeing the residents. They were nice, for the most part. There were a few cranky ones in the bunch but even Mr. Jimerson had, almost, smiled at her once.

           Still, Amile knew that there was a difference between liking a job and wanting to make a career out of it. She was not sure if she could not see herself doing that as a nurse or a doctor.

           It wasn’t an easy decision for Amile to make. This was only the first job in her career challenge and she no closer to deciding what she truly wanted to be when she grew up. Sometimes what you thought you wanted ends up being something totally different. Would this be the case for her?

Chapter 3

           Nursing turned out to not be Amile’s thing. She was certain of that after one of the residents had thrown upright in her lap. Cara had brushed it off as just another part of the job. It happened sometimes but you cleaned yourself up and continued helping the next resident. Amile had cleaned herself up and decided she was done volunteering at the nursing home.

           The next job in the career challenge Cara had decided was to become a chef. It had been impossible for her to get Amile a job as a chef, but she had found her one as a waitress at the Jumping Bean Café.

           “In every job, you have to start somewhere,” Cara’s words rang in Amile’s ears as she juggled trays loaded down with food and tried to keep orders straight. This job wasn’t nearly as personal as working one one-on-one with the residents of the nursing home, but she did like the fast pace of trying to get orders out to the many dinners at the crowded restaurant.

           “How do you do this?” Amile sat in the break room with Brimm, one of her co-workers. They had just finished the rush hour shift. “My feet are killing me!”

           “You get used to the sore feet,” Brimm ran a hand through her short, spikey red hair. She almost always seemed to be smiling. “I know that sore feet mean that I put in a good day’s work. Besides, I like the tips.”

           “Do you ever dream of doing something else?” Amile asked, wondering how many people were lucky enough to do jobs that they loved. Maybe she was just being too picky and should be happy with the opportunity to get a good education that would lead her to a great job. 

           “I’m not sure,” Brimm shrugged. “I like being a waitress, so I have never thought of doing anything else.”

           Brimm tapped her finger against her chin thoughtfully for a moment or two. “I ever decide that I don’t like this job, then I will just look for a different one. Nothing ever has to be set in stone.”

Was it as simple as that? Should Amile just go ahead and take the bar exam knowing that she could always switch jobs one day? It seemed a lot of stress to go through just to end up changing jobs later.

Amile was still thinking about it as she exited the break room. At that moment she collided with another waitress. The tray that Barb had been carrying spilled right on top of Amile. The smell of sauerkraut enveloped her. Why did it have to be sauerkraut? Amile hated sauerkraut. The sore feet. The smelly food. The mess she was currently covered in. Amile decided that a career as a chef was not for her.

Chapter 4

“You got me a job as what?” Amile asked Cara the following week.

“As a camp counselor,” her friend repeated. “It is at a local day camp for younger kids, ages five through ten. Camp Tiger Paw is the name of it. Working there will help you decide if you want to become a teacher.”

“I have already been thrown up on and had food spilled on me,” Amile pointed out. “Kids are more likely to do both of those things.”

“You’ll be fine,” Cara assured her. “We made great babysitters growing up.”

Amile had agreed to the career challenge so she would continue with it. Cara was right, they had been good babysitters as teenagers but taking care of them for a living had never really appealed to Amile. She doubted that it would now, but she had listed teaching as one of her possible career choices so here she was.

The next couple of weeks were some of the best ones that Amile could ever remember having in a very long time. She learned how to paddle a canoe and went on motorboat rides. She mastered three different boondoggle designs and made spin art pictures. She ate S’mores, sang silly songs, and told stories around the campfire. Her campers were hyper and fun and creative and some of her fellow counselors would grow to become lifelong friends.

The best part of Amile’s two weeks at Camp Tiger Paw was that no one had spilled food or thrown up on her. The worst thing that had happened was when she had walked into a spider web on her way into the bath house. That had been gross but definitely not career-ending.

“I did it! I did it!” five year old, Riley Turner ran over to Amile and threw her arms around her. “I made my first basket!”

“I knew you could,” Amile gave the young girl a high five as they stood together on the basketball court.

“I’m going to go tell Ashley and Tiffany,” Riley beamed as she ran off to find two of her fellow campers.

“Great job,” Josh, a fellow counselor walked over to Amile with a smile. “Riley’s been trying to make a basket all week. I wasn’t sure if she would ever be able to do so.”

“It just took a bit of practice and not giving up,” Amile smiled back at him. “She did it though.”

“Thanks for your patience,” he picked up a stray basketball and easily sent it flying through the nearby hoop with a swish. “I have seen you with the campers. They all seem to flock to you. I think that you’re a natural when it comes to kids. Have you ever thought about becoming a basketball coach or even a teacher?”

Amile wasn’t sure if he was being sincere or just trying to flirt with her, but his comments made her smile anyway. Was Josh right? Should she give up on taking the bar exam and switch to a career in teaching?

Her cell phone rang, and she checked the caller ID- Daffodil Nursing Home. Why would they be calling her? Had something happened to Cara on the job? If so why hadn’t they called Cara’s parents first? She mouthed to Josh that she had to take the call and walked away to do so.

“Amile, it’s Mrs. Curry,” she recognized the voice of one of the residents she had worked with at the nursing home. “I hope you don’t mind me calling you, but we need your help.”

Chapter 5

That one phone call made Amile’s career choice perfectly clear. As she listened to Mrs. Curry explain the situation, the career challenge was the furthest thing from her mind, however. All that mattered was helping her new friend.

A few hours later Amile sat at a table in a quiet corner of the Jumping Bean Café. Mrs. Curry sat across from her looking nervous as she absentmindedly tore a white napkin to shreds. Her daughter, Mavis, sat with them as well.

“It’s okay, Mom,” Mavis gently took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Cara said Amile’s studying to become a lawyer. She can help us.”

“It’s Jack. I mean Mr. Jimmerson,” Mrs. Curry said, referring to another resident at Daffodil Nursing Home. “He’s being abused. I saw bruises on her upper arm when he reached for something, and his shirt sleeve slid up a little bit. I asked him about it and he was afraid to tell me at first, but I wouldn’t let the subject drop so he finally told me.”

“Mom can be very persuasive and insistent,” Mavis said with a loving smile. “Can you help Mr. Jimmerson?”

“Perhaps,” Amile said slowly. These were very serious accusations. Now that she was aware of them, she could not ignore them. “If he is willing to talk to me, I will do my best to help him.”

Amile left her job as a camp counselor and focused all her attention on helping Mr. Jimmerson build a case against the person who had abused him. It wasn’t an easy case considering that the person who he was accusing of the abuse was his younger brother.

Since she hadn’t yet passed the bar, Amile could not officially become his lawyer. Instead, she acted as a law assistant to the lawyer she found for him. She did the research and helped to build the case against Stanly Jimmerson.

While she did so, Amile forgot all about the career challenge and all of the other jobs that she had taken on over the Summer. None of that mattered now, anyhow. The abuse had gone on for months and she was determined to make sure that it never happened again.

Chapter 5

“Congratulations, you won your first case!” Cara smiled and toasted her friend with a cup of coffee. They were sitting together in Amile’s childhood bedroom. “Stanly Jimmerson is going away to jail for a very long time.”

“His lawyer won the case for him,” Amile said modestly. “I only did the research.”

“And put most of the case together,” Cara set her coffee cup down and looked thoughtfully at her friend. “I consider it as winning your first case. The question is, will it be your last case? Have you decided what you want to be when you grow up yet?”

Before Amile could answer, her phone rang. This time the caller ID showed that it was from the Jumping Bean Café. Amile answered the call before her phone could ring again. She listened to what Brimm had to say for a few minutes before replying. “Can you meet me in an hour? I’ll see what I can do to help you.”

“What was that about?” Cara asked after her friend had hung up.

“Let’s just say the sooner I pass the bar exam the better,” Amile said with a small smile. “I may have another case to research.”