Dear Ma,

Sorry it's taken me so long to write. I got your letter telling me about Uncle Donny's heart attack. I hope he’s feeling better now.

Things are going okay out here. You said you wanted to hear a little about my work, so here goes. My boss, Mr. Chasez, is a pretty good guy, but he can be tough if you screw up. The guys I work with are all nice. Justin, the youngest, he's real fun to joke around with. He reminds me a lot of Cousin Bobby - always has something to say. Chris is his best friend. Those two guys go way back, and what's crazy is Chris is older than Justin, but lots of times it seems like Justin’s the one looking out for Chris, instead of the other way round. Crazy, like I said. Chris gets these weird mood swings sometimes. He's usually fine to be around when he's happy, but I let Justin deal with him when he gets too messed up for me.

Lance is another guy who works here. He's great, really great. Ma, he's the closest thing I've got to a real friend down here. We talk all the time, about growing up or our families or whatever. He comes off like he’s all cool and shy, but he's got a wicked sense of humor under there. I love it when he zings the boss and the guy doesn't even know it because Lance has that innocent look on his face.

Lance and the boss are good friends too. Sometimes it's weird, seeing Lance work for him when they're close like that, but they seem to have it figured out, so I try not to worry too much about it. It's really not my business anyway, you know?

I do wish sometimes Lance would find another job. He's too good for this place, and the boss doesn't always do right by him. But that's the thing about Lance. He does what the boss wants until he gets tired of it, then he just...stops, and that's it - end of story. So, I guess he's okay with everything, or he'd let the boss know.

Sometimes I really miss home, Ma. The weather down here is all messed up, and I can't get used to how hot it is. I haven't been out on an audition in a really long time, so I'm starting to think it's a good thing I've got this job, even though it's not like I use my brains a whole lot. But things are good most of the time. Like I said, I work with a nice bunch of guys. Sometimes Mr. Chasez is tough, yeah, but he's my boss, he's supposed to be that way. And any time I start getting too homesick I can talk to Lance for a little while, maybe get him to tell me about his sister or his mom, and that always makes me feel better.

~*~

Okay, wow, it’s been a few weeks since I wrote that first part. I guess I got distracted. I’ll finish it now and send it to you first chance I get.

I went on an audition last week. I didn’t get the part, but it was good to get out there and talk to some people. The casting director said he thought I have a lot of potential, I just need to articulate my emotions more, or something like that. I don’t know, it just feels like a good start.

Let’s see, what else? Oh, yeah. Mr. Chasez offered to let me help out in his business some more. It’s usually Chris, Justin, or Lance who deals with the customers, but he says some of them might like to work with me. I haven’t decided what to tell him yet. Because, I mean, it might be fun to do that, but I’m not sure I should do more than protect the other guys.

Lance says I should do it. He says it’ll help me understand why he does it, why all the guys do it. I’d like that. Sometimes I can’t understand him at all. Plus, he says I might get to work with him sometimes, and I’d like that a lot. I see him everyday, but when he’s working with a customer he doesn’t have time to talk to me or hang out.

I don’t know what I’m going to do yet. I could use the money, but if I spend all my time working with the boss’ customers, I won’t have time to go out on any auditions. Also, I’m afraid one of the guys might need my help while I’m with a customer, and I wouldn’t be able to protect them.

~*~

Oh, geez, I guess I didn’t finish this again. It’s been pretty crazy around here lately. Chris went off on a customer, or he almost did. He would’ve, if I hadn’t been there to stop him. Things got pretty hairy for a while, and now the boss is making Chris work more hours to make up for it. Personally, I kind of think that’s not such a good idea, but I’m not going to be the one to say that to the boss' face. He’s been all kinds of distracted this week. There’s something weird going down between him and Lance, I’m not sure what. Lance walks around with this funny smile on his face, but the boss isn’t smiling at all.

I think I’m going to try what the boss wants, try working with the customers. I told him I only wanted to do a little of that kind of stuff, though, so I can still be around if the guys need me. He agreed, especially after the thing with Chris this week. Lance is going to help me out the first few times, which should make it easier. I’m not real excited about dealing with the customers, but getting to work with Lance will be worth it, I think.

Okay, there’s Justin at the door, so I’m finally going to wrap this up and send it off to you. Give Pop a kiss on the cheek for me, and tell Stevie to start acting right for that little girl of his.

Love,

Joey