SCATTERED THOUGHTS: A Young Adult Short Story

Donny was a projectionist at the local movie theater. The only problem was each film reel had to be started on time and time management was defiantly not his strong suit. On this particular day Donny not only was an hour and half late for his shift, but feeling a little on the disgruntle side. His employee file had already been filled with write ups and who knows what else he was doing wrong. But today was different. He felt he had a sense of seniority and let his egotistic thoughts take over the best of him. Everyone knew something was different about Donny but didn’t expect this to be his last day at work. What could have possibly sent him off the edge?

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“Donny, should I even ask why you’re late this time? What would be the point? You would still be late. Now that the first set of films has already been started, you are officially obsolete to this operation.”
“Sir, let me explain.”
“You actually have something to say?
Mr. Kaminski puffed out his pink cheeks and his murky white eyes bulged wider. He looked at Donny with a sincere look of amazement. Donny had an active imagination and he found the look on Mr. Kaminski’s face quite comical. He was barely able to stifle his laughter. It escaped his body in a grunting cough that still caught Mr. Kaminski’s attention. He slammed Donny’s employee file down on the movie trailer table.
“That makes you uneasy,” Mr. Kaminski surmised.
They both stared down at the file with its dog-eared pages peeking out of the manila envelope. Donny felt no need to say anything in his defense, apparently neither did Mr. Kaminski. They both remained in silence for a moment and the clockwork serenity of the projection machines returned to the room. Donny felt like turning out the intrusive light but held his ground.
“I guess I’ll go and check on these films,” Donny mumbled and turned his back.
Kaminski chuckled loudly.
“You just don’t get it,” he chortled. “You know I can’t just keep letting you slide on this.