Alan took a moment to rest his back against the stone wall and wiped the sweat off of his brow with the back of his arm. Unloading one hundred and two hundred pound pig carcasses from the freezer truck and into the deli shop was certainly exasperating, but Alan enjoyed the physical labor. Hell, he would [i]have[/i] to if he planned on joining the service in just a few months; hauling around heavy dead pigs would be a cake-walk compared to the rigorous training that was yet to come.

Needing only a few minutes to catch his breath, Alan hoisted up the last frozen pig and hauled it into the freezer of the deli, hanging it up on a hook to keep it off of the floor. Now feeling the sweat on the back of his neck turning into little ice crystals, he hurried out of the freezer to the main part of the shop to receive his next task from his boss.

"-kid, but that doesn't mean you have to give him a raise!"

Alan stopped immediately upon hearing two voices conversing with one another. One he was able to identify as his boss, the other he wasn't too sure. He knew immediately that they were talking about him, he was the only male worker in the deli aside from his boss, and so he kept behind the wall to see if he could hear anything more.

"Says you." Alan's boss scoffed in a reply. "But as you said, he [i]is[/i] the Mayor's boy, and I ain't so keen on having the Mayor raise my taxes because he doesn't feel that I'm paying his boy enough."

"If you really believe that, then you're a moron." The second voice replied with an airy laugh. "But that's no concern of mine. Now, my change?"

Alan sighed and ran his hand through his hair. These sorts of conversations seemed to become more and more common and he was beginning to get fed up with it. Everyone always seemed to treat him different because of his father, giving Alan whatever he wanted to keep from the Mayor raining down hell on them. He hated it, he hated being a special case.

[i]Just a few more months, and then you're out of here for good.[/i] Alan thought to himself. Seeing that the conversation about him was over, he made himself known and entered the room, recognizing the second man now as the town's librarian. He nodded a quick hello to the man and approached his boss.

"Alan! Good, finished with the unloading have you?"

Alan nodded yes as a reply.

"Good, good. Why don't you take over the counter here while I take a lunch break aye? You could use the downtime...uh, not that you couldn't handle more labor I just meant that-"

Alan sighed and shook his head.

"Naw, it's fine. I'll be happy to take over the counter for you." He interrupted his boss, though he wasn't exactly acting like a boss lately.

"Good, good. I'll be back in an hour then." And with that, Alan's boss took off the deli apron, hung it up on the hook and took off out the door with the librarian following close behind. Knowing that he probably wouldn't get another customer for the rest of the day, Alan took a seat on the wooden stool behind the counter and reached over for a sportsman magazine on hunting and fishing in the surrounding area, and waited.