Oh hey yeah I didn’t forget about the JoAnna series. But in case you did, read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.
Here’s Part 4!
Typical Coordinator duties include filing paperwork, getting office supplies, keeping chocolate on hand, and of course helping Reapers understand modern technology. It’s like when your Great Aunt gets on Facebook and leaves a message on your wall for you to call her. They get it, but not really.
JoAnna learned from the Human Resources department that the typical span of employment for the living run from six to twelve months, while most reapers stay five to ten years until they pick up the next assignment. JoAnna has been employed with the Department for four months but Marianne has been reminding her not to get comfortable and think this was a job to settle into. Most of her previous employees have just needed something stable to get them through a rough time and then they get relocated to a different city and start a new life. JoAnna knew she wasn’t permitted to stay in Middlesex once her employment was up but she wasn’t ready to leave and it kind of made her sad that her best friends were a cat that wouldn’t get too close to her and a 19 year old Viking that died hundreds of years ago.
In her previous life, six months ago, JoAnna was an aspiring singer and spent most of her time as a server in several restaurants making money to pay bills and pay for studio time to cut a demo track. Yes it was easier in the age of YouTube and The Ellen Show to become an overnight celebrity but it wasn’t easy to maintain your fifteen seconds of fame. Her boyfriend, Robert, wasn’t supportive but wasn’t discouraging. He made decent money and was able to pay bills but she never wanted to feel like a freeloader. Plus while JoAnna worked nights, she later found out that Robert was busy wining and dining other women when she ended up serving him and a girl at a restaurant where she picked up an extra shift for a friend.
They had a heated argument on spot and JoAnna ended up dumping the soup de jour on Robert’s lap and went home to pack her things. Two days later she was at the Nakamara’s place. Besides the random bits of karaoke, JoAnna had purchased recording equipment and a nice laptop and while she wasn’t too keen on going the YouTube route, she did make a few videos of herself singing and didn’t sound too bad. Robert hadn’t tried hard to get in touch with her and the limited family she did still kept in touch with knew she was safe. Even made comments and shared her YouTube videos of cover songs.
The days went by slowly because there was no television to keep her occupied. She would help out at the sushi restaurant if they asked not because she needed the money, but because it kept away the lonlies. Any time she walked by the local news coverage and they talked about a death, she wondered if it was something she had assigned and if one of her Reapers did the work. It was a twofold problem that made her scared and completely unafraid of dying. It was always someone’s time and there’s nothing that can be done to stop it and quiting her job wouldn’t stop it and would really only stop her income and livelyhood. So it was always best to just not think about it and make her money.
The Friday night plan was to come home, shower, get dressed, and head down to the bar for karaoke and sake bombs.
That was the plan until she arrived at her apartment and saw Robert standing in the driveway.