I’m going to try my best to explain what I’ve figured out so far in the best way that I can. I live in an exceedingly small and rural town about an hour away from West Wendover, NV and I work for the state transportation department doing road flagging mainly. Today I woke up for this work week in a much more spry mood than I usually do. I work 12 hour shifts, and due to financial struggles I took on a part-time job clocking in some hours stocking shelves at a local department store as well on thursdays and fridays. Though I quit because it was literally making me miserable physically and mentally to do so. My face looks like it’s been through the wringer as well if you got a close up of me. I’m about 39 now. A tad-ish overweight (beer gut) and I don’t usually take the time to shave. And my hairline has essentially been decimated by wearing hard hats slammed on my head for the last 12 years.
And this morning, you know, I didn’t look that different. I really didn’t. I’m not trying to oversell what I sensed was different about me. But the point I’m trying to make is that I sensed it. I sensed that something was off, something was different than it had been before. I went into work and I realized something that I had not realized in the 12 years I had worked for the state. Everyone at my office has a designated place to hang their hard hat and safety vest, except for me. Everyone there has a locker, except for me. Everyone has direct deposit set up for their pay check except for me. Today was payday for me after all, I knew it was, I had been expecting to see something in my bank account today, but it wasn’t there. Actually if you’ll let me go off on a tangent for a bit, I want to point out that I had to set up a password for my bank’s phone app today in order to find that information out. I’ve had the same app on the phones I’ve owned since smart phones were widely adopted and I’ve banked online with the same company since Bush was still serving his second term.
And yet, the app on my phone today was acting as if I had never set up a password once during my entire time with this bank in question and demanded that I set up one now. Then when I discovered that my pay check had not come in at all, I discovered something else that’s weird about my checking account now. The account’s statement history is gone. Wiped clean, don’t get me wrong, all the money that is supposed to be there is there. It’s just that, all the history on the account that I know for a fact should be there isn’t. The only activity present on the account states that it was opened about two weeks ago and that the money that’s in there now was placed in there in a lump sum on wednesday (I am writing this particular post on friday for reference). It’s bizarre. Freakish even. I have had this account like I said for nearly two decades. I asked my supervisor about the paycheck discrepancy. And he just sort of blew it off as a clerical error and told me to talk to payroll. And they said something was off about my paperwork. I’ve never had a direct deposit set up with them according to their records. Ever. And you know what? I can’t prove that I did anymore now can I?
They said they would set one up for me and get the check sent out post haste, but I was still pretty creeped out by what was going on. I still wanted answers for some of the stuff I was noticing. I asked my supervisor later, demanded to know really, why I didn’t have my own designated place on the hat/vest rack with my own label like everyone else? Why didn’t I have a locker? He just stared blankly at me for a second and said “You know… I sorta thought you always did but now that you’ve brought it up… I’m not sure. I guess you’ve just never made a problem about it and so, I never did anything about it. I guess it’s just one of those things that slipped through the cracks for us.” Right. I suppose so.
It still doesn’t make any sense to me. When I went home, I went and bothered my next door neighbor for a bit to ask him and his wife if anything seemed ‘different’ about me. He said that… well, he said that nothing seemed different about me but something certainly felt different about me. And more strangely than that, he and his wife felt the same way about themselves. They’re both overworked restaurant workers suffering from the same effects a grueling work schedule can have on you. But today was the same story for them. They both felt great and “looked” great just like I did, although in reality they looked exactly the same as they had the day before when they fell asleep.
And he and her had the same issue with their paychecks today too. And their bank accounts. Oh and here’s another kicker. His wife went looking around their side and backyards today. All their trees, while seemingly the same as they were the day before, they look as if they and their roots have been recently planted in the dirt they occupy. Like as though some heavy construction claw or scoop dug the patch of ground in their backyard out and planted a 50 year old tree there from somewhere else. Pretty much all the dirt around the perimeter of the house and the brick walls that separate each resident’s property looked disturbed too. And they went with me, carrying flashlights, to check the dirt on my property as well. And yeah… it was the same situation.
When I asked where she got the idea to check the dirt on their property, she said she saw some other neighbors on our street seemingly doing the exact same thing. Another thing - our cars. I’ve owned a Pontiac just before they went out of business and they’ve owned a Ford Escape and a Dodge Charger for less than five years or there about. But, none of our vehicles have any maintenance records. I usually keep mine in my glove box but, it’s not there. They said theirs are gone as well and don’t know where they would be. Actually, I noticed today commuting to work that for a used beaten up Pontiac the thing sure drove, sounded like, and even looked like it was purchased fresh off the lot this week as though GM had never put the brand out to pasture.
It’s strange. It only seems to be happening to our street right now, whatever ‘this’ is. Our little cul-de-sac is an island in an open land of sagebrush jutting out from the other few gaggles of streets in our town. It was supposed to have been a part of a larger, more robust development prior to 2008 however the global recession halted construction to what was already built and no further. And for whatever reason, it’s like we’re being targeted with this weirdness seemingly because our houses were the only ones that got to be built. I already sort of felt singled out living here since there are no streets or houses to our west, north, or east. But this… I don’t really know what to think right now, I’m debating if I should even post this or not. I’m going to simply save this as a draft and then come back to it on monday. We’ll see if I’m just going insane today or for multiple days. Wish me luck.
UPDATE: Alright so I got home around 10 tonight, or two hours ago to be exact. I would have discarded the thought if I didn’t carefully read what I wrote on friday. It’s monday now and uhhh… there’s a street behind us to our east now. And I thought nothing of it when I saw it this morning while getting in my car. Nothing of it! It’s always been there. Wasn’t it? Wasn’t it??? It had to be. I recalled vividly today when I saw it for the first (?) time about how exposed I would’ve felt living here if that street wasn’t there. And then I read what I wrote on friday and there it was. The exact feeling I knew I would have felt if that were indeed the case only it was the case to myself on friday. I knocked on my neighbor’s door again after reading that, but they’re not answering. I know they’re there, the lights are on and I saw some quick movements in their window blinds. I’m guessing they’re as scared as I am.
As I walked back to my house I went into my side yard to round up a loose hose and then headed towards the back where the patio was. That’s where I saw old Mr. Reggie, and waved at him. He was in his backyard on his patio, on his property that he’s owned for the same amount of time that I’ve owned mine. And then I realized, smiling at him, I’ve known him for a very long time even though me from friday made it very clear no street his property currently sits on existed until today. And you know what? He’s an old man, with grey hair, but from far away I’m not so sure. He looks pretty brand new when I think about it. When I really think about it. I’m not going to go to work tomorrow, and I’m not going to fall asleep for a while. You never know what will spring up overnight while you’re dozing off or away.
I guess you could call our two little streets a boomtown, in that light.