“Damn,” Logan shouted as his hand was crushed between the bed of the pickup and a piece of furniture as the truck came to a screeching halt at a red light.

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As the truck began moving again he shook the sting out of his hand.

Although the college experience left him and his wife a greater base of knowledge on how to navigate life’s challenging situations, the university’s programs were not as relevant in an economy which no longer held to values of years gone by.

Knowledge was less valuable with information so easily accessible.

Before, a hardworking, loyal, sociable, truthful, well-dressed young man could interview and a company would check out his background and take a chance on hiring him to help out.

Now, companies were skittish on adding to their employee pool. Each hire added to the increased strain of the government regulated amount of health insurance, taxes, and new increased minimum wage across all income tiers the company had to cover.

Most businesses were downsizing anyway due to the drop off in sales and higher production costs caused by the sharp increase in the price of oil.

Logan reflected on the fact that he had been on numerous interviews filled out what seemed like thousands of applications.

All were futile attempts.

“It was only by the grace of God”, thought Logan, “that his wife, Meredith, was able to be offered a secretary position for a big law firm”.

The offer came about because Meredith had happened to mention to her friends at lunch one day that she was at wit's end and would be willing to do just about any type of work, “even being a secretary” she joked.

That stirred up a thought in her friend Amanda, who had recently talked to a friend of hers, who had just now left a position open at the law firm.

“You know,” Amanda remarked, “that if you’re serious about that secretary thing, I think I know a place.”

“Really?” Meredith was surprised. “I’ve just about tried everything else that I could think of; why not give it a shot?”

Internally Meredith was conflicted. She had worked hard for her MBA degree and was looking forward to the higher earning potential that was assumed to come with it. But she knew that without work, she and Logan were only a few paychecks away from bankruptcy at any given time.

Amanda dug through her purse for a scrap piece of paper and a pen. She pulled it out and scribbled the contact information.

That was about a month ago, the thought dawned on Logan.

After his wife got the lead, she followed up immediately and was offered an interview. Feeling a little jaded, the couple was thankful for the opportunity, but had learned not to get their hopes up until something was finalized.

Too many times in their young optimism did they start making plans for all the ways their lives would change once one of them got a job.

They dreamed of both practical things like getting their old vehicles replaced and more fantastical things like buying all new furniture and all new clothes.

However this time they tried to keep that sort of talk to a minimum.

*************

This story will be concluded in Part 3 coming soon.

Also this story will be available as a Steemit Exclusive - Audio Book Style Presentation that will be posted soon!

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In case you missed it...

Rebirth: An Original Short Story - Part 1
Rebirth Part 1 -- AUDIO EDITION