The Way It Works Read Online Free PDF

back to the bus station for the last time. I put on my old clothes again. I fold up my suit. Then I go to the pawnbroker’s place, just a few blocks away. I know Moms spent over four grand on the clothes and the briefcase. After a long argument, I get four hundred bucks for it all, plus a pawn ticket.
    It breaks my heart to think of how hard Moms worked to buy this suit for me. All so I could get a good job. But I’m not going to stand here in a pawnshop and cry. I have a new plan already, and I’m going to follow it. That’s one of the seven habits from my book. Know what you want and work for it. All I want right now is to get out of this town before it kills me.
    I make the long walk back to the impound lot. I go to the counter and hand over most of the cash I just got. The guy behind the counter asks me to wait a minute while he finds his receipt book.
    I don’t care. What’s my hurry? I have nothing but time.

CHAPTER NINE
    A fter I pay my towing charge and the storage fees, I have eighty-one dollars left. That’s enough to fill the tank with gas and buy enough food for a few days. And then what will I do? I have no idea. It’s in God’s hands now.
    I never was very religious. But maybe I should start going to church. Nothing I do seems to work. And come wintertime, a nice warm church would be a good place to hang out.
    Then I remember something. How could I have forgotten? I was supposed to have a date with Yolanda tonight.
    Well, that’s not going to happen now. I’m so depressed I can’t even face her. What will I do? Just not show up, I guess. I hate doing that, but I can’t look her in the eye and tell her I’m homeless. Unemployed. Broke. She would throw me out like last week’s trash. And her dad would hold the door open for her.
    It’s not right to just blow her off. But it doesn’t matter if I call her or stand her up. Either way, I lose her. And after what I’ve just been through, I can’t take the idea of being humiliated again.
    Today was supposed to be the best day of my life. Instead, it’s one of the worst. I haven’t felt this empty since I watched my mother pass away.
    â€œGive me a second to find your keys,” says the owner. He’s looking around behind the counter. “It’s a little crazy here this morning. The courier is late again.”
    â€œSure,” I say. “Take your time. I got nowhere to be.”
    The owner goes to the door and opens it.
    â€œSteve!” he yells. “That courier come by yet?”
    I can’t hear Steve’s answer, but it must be bad news. The owner slams the door and shakes his head in disgust.
    â€œPeople are so unreliable,” he says to himself. Then he picks up a newspaper and looks under it. My keys are underneath. “Here are your keys, sir. Sorry to keep you waiting.”
    I take my keys. But I don’t leave just yet.
    A lightbulb has gone off in my head.
    â€œYou say you’re waiting for a courier?”
    I ask him.
    â€œYeah, that’s right. I have a package that has to go across town. And it needs to be there in an hour.”
    â€œYou mind me asking how much they charge you for that?”
    â€œThirty-five dollars.”
    I nod.
    â€œI’ll do it for twenty,” I say.
    â€œWhat? Are you serious?”
    â€œGive me the package, and I’ll deliver it right now. Twenty bucks. Guaranteed.”
    â€œHow do I know you won’t steal it?”
    I take out my wallet. I remove my driver’s license and put that in my shirt pocket. Then I hand my wallet over to him.
    â€œHere,” I say. “That’s everything I have. All my id, my money, everything. When I come back, call them up and ask if they got the package all right. Then you pay me and give me my wallet back.”
    The owner stands there staring at me for a minute. I think he’s about to throw me out. But then he nods.
    â€œYou got