"Pa, I can't believe they fired you after all those year," said Nate with a mixture of anger and disbelief in his voice.
"Now, Nate your father wasn't fired. He was laid off with over half of the rest of the company employees. Once the economy improves, they'll hire him back."
"Until then I'll need some extra income to help pay the bills and tuition around here," Buck Andrews said opening the Classified Section of the paper.
"Like what? Nobody's hiring!" said Will in exasperation. He had just started college and was sure he'd have to drop out with the latest news regarding tuition hikes and his father's job loss.
"Here's one, "Test Subjects Wanted," haha, how'd you like to tell your friends that your father is a human guinea pig?" laughed Buck looking over the paper.
His wife had a serious look on her face, Sally said, "Now, Bucky, don't even think of that. The department stores are always hiring this time of year - and you'll get store discounts."
"Yes, dear, no worries dear." He peered into the paper and sighed. The department store wouldn't be hiring this year. The front page told of it being seized in a forced bankruptcy, and employees being locked out with the doors chained shut. There were other department stores, but they'd be hiring the ones who'd just lost their jobs, probably no room for an old pencil pusher in ladies cosmetics anyway.
He finished breakfast and went upstairs to brush his teeth. In the meantime, Will grabbed the paper and copied down the ad for the test subjects, it was the only real paying job - the others were MLMs, telemarketing for commission and professions like RN. He could use a little extra cash to help out the family.
His mother was busy cleaning the dishes, when he set the paper down and Nate picked it up. He had his own ideas about being a lab rat. He thought it would be cool. Besides he'd been aching to try out that fake ID he'd bought. Would they believe he was 21?
Suddenly, the kitchen door flew open, and Chelsea blew in. She had avoided family breakfast because of her diet and the excessive time she spent in the bathroom. She was the middle kid, but acted like she was the adult and both her brothers were infants with stinky diapers who couldn't be potty trained.
"Mama, can I have my breakfast to go? I'm running late. Do you think papa would mind if I took the paper to read on the bus?"
"Your energy bar and diet Snapple are on the counter ready to go, dear. You know you really should take time to eat a proper breakfast, and with your father on leave from his company, it would be easier and cheaper if we shared meals. Perhaps I could put ice tea in a water bottle for you?"
"Mother!" Chelsea said rolling her eyes. She grabbed the breakfast and the classified ads. Maybe should could find an anonymous job to earn some cash to cover her diet Snapple bill. She was out the door with her breakfast and paper in hand.
"Hon, where's my paper?" Buck asked, as he re-entered the kitchen.
"You aren't seriously thinking about that human guinea pig job are you? They usually just pay you a few bucks -if that- to take a huge risk or offer a free medical exam."
"Well, the Cobra insurance is costing $800 a month, so free medical doesn't sound too bad, but don't worry I won't sign up for anything extreme."
"You are going to be a lab rat!" she said with concern dropping a plate.
"Honey," Buck said grabbing and hugging Sally, "No one needs to know, and a few extra bucks would really help right now, wouldn't it?"
"Okay, Papa, but find out what it is first. It's not worth it if you end up on meds for the rest of your life. Find out the risk - if you have a choice choose the lowest risk with the best pay."
"Yes, dear." He laughs and kisses her.