Cardinal Bound
Prologue
“So, you’ve been looking into jobs on the West Coast?”
“No.” Frank looked surprised. “Why do you say that?”
“Well,” explained his Criminal Justice advisor, “most of our students take Spanish for their foreign language requirement, since that’s so useful in these parts anymore. Since you were taking Japanese instead, I figured you might have an interest in one of the metro areas out West. Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles…chasing down Yakuza on the streets of L.A., that sounds like a good bad movie, doesn’t it?”
“I’m not sure the Yakuza are all that active on this side of the Pacific,” Frank replied. “And besides. Do they have sweet tea in L.A.? Chick-fil-A in Seattle? Proper barbecue anywhere west of Memphis? I don’t think so. Sounds like no kinda life at all out there, if you ask me.”
“They’ve got Krispy Kreme on the West Coast now.”
“True. So now you’re okay up to about ten-thirty in the morning. More than enough to get you by if you’re just visiting. And I do like visiting different places. Heck, I’ve already got my ticket to go to Tokyo for a month right after graduation, and I’m gonna try staying in a capsule hotel and getting stuffed into subway trains and eating anything they put in front of me. But to live out West? With all that rain in Seattle? And California…well, honestly, do normal people still move there anymore? I kinda doubt it myself.”
“Okay, I get the picture. Sounds like you’ll be more comfortable with something more familiar and closer to home. Let me see.” The advisor dug through a heap of papers and brochures and letters and forms on his desk. “Mississippi…no, you’re a nice guy, I wouldn’t do that to you…rural Tennessee…you ever dated a cousin? no, didn’t think so…northern Florida…how many pairs of jean shorts do you own? less than a dozen? well that won’t do…aha! Here we are.”
The advisor held a letter in front of him, cleared his throat, and started summarizing. “Cardinal, Georgia. Small town. Not terribly far from Atlanta, or the north Georgia mountains. Even closer to Athens where the university is; some moonlighting opportunities there during Georgia football weekends. Looking for two C.J. graduates to start August 1st. Well, isn’t that an unusual opportunity. Even though it’s a small town, you’ll have a fellow rookie to share the scut work, and won’t have to go through the hazing alone. I’d get right on this one if I were you.”
“So, how are you progressing in your professional discovery process?” The Career Center counselor leaned forward and aimed her most earnest expression at Julie.
“Oh, I found a job already. In Cardinal. You know where it is? Up there not far from Athens? Anyway, they said that I’m in, and they’ve just got to find a fella to be my partner now. It’s a small force and they want to keep it balanced, you know. So I’m all set there.”
“Well, now. Good for you.” The counselor did her best to suppress her disappointment. “But what brings you to us today, then?”
“Oh. I’m here for the tests. I remember back at freshman orientation, they told us about the personality tests you offer. How we can get them professionally scored and evaluated here for next to nothing, where it would cost us hundreds of dollars out in the real world. I love taking those sorts of tests. I don’t know if it’s more because I hope to learn more about how I tick, or because I like trying to figure out how they tick. Anyway, I thought I’d take advantage of that while I still can. When can I get started?”
The counselor sighed, but then brightened as she realized that she’d now have the rest of the hour free to surf the Web. “Might as well get going on it right now. You do have the next hour or two free, don’t you? Well, come right over here to the computer lab, and we’ll get you signed in.
“But.” The counselor paused for a second, and indulged a faint smirk. “What if our tests tell you that your personality is much better suited for pharmacy school? Or law? Or teaching?”
Julie returned the smirk. “Then I get to investigate just how they went wrong. A fun project, don’t you think? Just the thing for that term paper I need to do for Psych.”
Next installment: Moving in at Ranch Lane.