School Days

Getting back out in the public...on an assignment like this...well...

No one told me what I'd discover. You have been here, haven't you? You get a new identity from the federal government and receive promises that your old identity is safe (at least as secure as Fort Knox, the old standard in protection; hopefully, more secure than the average website, database or credit card). Then, you follow up with your contact at the WPP on a job recommendation, take it and see what happens.

You scope out the place, take a casual walk around the exterior on the pretense that you'd park in front of the wrong entrance, and make sure the exits are clear and available in case of an "emergency." You check out the neighboring businesses, noting the members of your rival's "association" who work there, letting them know you mean no harm as long as they keep their distance.

Then you walk into the new office place, carrying with you not only the new material you gotta learn for your job but also the usual methods of protection - a paper clip, cell phone, copper coin, ink pen with spring mechanism, a few scraps of paper and pieces of plastic disguised as credit cards - items that can be turned into weapons, tools, or any other device you need in a hurry, that won't attract attention by even the highest trained members of professional security forces.

You get to know your new fellow employees. You quickly figure out which ones will be with you when the going gets tough and which ones will run away.

Although you've gone through years of training, the years of life on the streets has worn you down. You try to hide the middle-aged nervousness by cracking a few jokes. Eventually, you and those around you realize that you're just generally nervous and don't hold any grudges against them because they've already been checked out and haven't worked or don't currently work for any rival associations. Any signs of worry that appear on your face are just you putting up your guard, or at least a feeble attempt to do so.

You all settle down to business.

After the first meeting with the new team leader and her department, you go back to your office and check with your network to make sure they're all doing their jobs and no one's working a side angle with anyone at your new "official" place of employment. It's all good. We're clean. You can breathe a sigh of relief.

You're ready to work a whole day but you've got one more "new employee" orientation before you can start your regular job.

Call it an assignment but perhaps the start of any new life is just that, a new start. Remember your rule - keep it simple. Smile. Support those who's got kids - they're the future. The rest of us childless bums is nothing but the steps them kids'll be walking on when they get older. But hey, I'm cool with that just as long as those kids remember whose shoulders is keeping them from drowning in the cesspools of life. I ain't doing this for my health. I'm doing it for theirs. And don't give me no lip about altruism or that crap. It's just life, plain and simple. Try it sometime. Like Mikey, maybe you'll like it.