Six months later, Callahan Freight held a hiring day for new drivers.

Two hundred people stood in line outside our depot in the morning sun. All kinds of people. Students. Grandmothers. Laid-off factory workers. Young dads.

I always go to hiring days. I sit at one of the tables in my uniform and interview people myself. Most of them don't know who I am.

Around eleven o'clock, the next man in line sat down at my table.

It was Brent.

No slim gray suit. No cologne. Jeans and a plain T-shirt. He'd lost weight. He looked like he hadn't been sleeping well.

He recognized me and went white.

“I… I didn't know you'd be here,” he said. He started to stand up. “I'll go.”

“Sit down, Brent,” I said.

He sat.

“Why do you want to be a delivery driver?”

He looked at the table for a long time.

“Because nobody else will hire me,” he said finally. “Word got around. I've been out of work for five months. And because…”

He swallowed.

“Because I think I need to learn what it's like on the other side of the side door.”