18480917 15:31:36

18480917 15:31:36

Despite the strength of the sunlight upon his back, Jesse felt refreshingly cool within the confines of the cafeteria as the early autumn breeze rushed through the windows. The winds carried the odor of the freshly cut fish everywhere in the kitchen, and that odor came from the growing pile of filets which Jesse was forming. His routine was refined to a rhythmic precision as he systematically separated the edible fish from the bones; one pinched chop down to remove the head at the neck, another pinch down to remove the tail, one middle slice from the wider portion of the body at left to the right to slice it in half. The bucket at his feet collected the scraps, and afterwards, his left hand pulled the two filets to the pile at his left while his right hand, with the knife still being held in it, reached for the next fish out of the basket. He nodded to himself while humming random notes to himself in the process of the preparation. His actions all quickly came to a stop as he stood up at attention when Daron struck at the pair of doors to the kitchen and stormed into the room.
"Jesse! The hell the matter with you?" His name hissed out through his teeth and his tone was hushed, yet stern.
"What's this about?"
"Don't give me that shit, you know exactly what I'm talkin about!"
"If that's the case, you better say it." Jesse kept a cool composure in his delayed response, but he did internally start to feel a bit nervous and threatened. He wasn't used to seeing Daron act this way, at least towards him.
"Oh fine, fine! The Runners! Why you put your name in for that? You? You! Why you! That's not the kind of thing you were meant to do!" Daron's words were still in a raspy whisper, despite standing directly in front of Jesse.
"Now listen, just bec-"
"No! No I won't listen, no! This isn't right for you, Jesse, this isn't-"
"Daron, let me speak."
"No!"
"Daron!" Jesse pounded the handle of the knife on the table top when he said this, causing some of the filets in the pile to slide from the top to the side.
Silence hung in the air with the smell of the fish.
"Daron. Listen. We - and I mean both you and I specifically, as well as this town - we have endured too much in trying to find someone to take that role. We have been burned again and again in putting our trust in people to perform that task within the letter of the law, and it hasn't happened. I am someone who you can trust. I am someone who can command and have the respect of other people. I will not flinch away from performing the job's ultimate tasks, as I have seen and done so much already. As you have done already. As you have done for your own life and for my life. I believe I can do this. I think you know that I can do it too."
"You might be right, yes. You might be. But. You basically like my son, like my only son. I'd just hate to see you get hurt doin that, after all we've been through."
"Right, and I just as much would hate to let you down, just like I hate seeing you be hurt by what those other men have done to you, by breaking your trust and faith that you had in them. I thought about it, and I thought about how angry it makes me feel now, and how useless I used to feel sometimes before, and I want to have an answer to that. I want to try to change that."