The following morning, Jon's mother dropped him off at the Career Assignment Center. He was familiar with the building, and was positive that yesterday it had been a gym.
He wondered for a moment how people's lives were changed so far by his wish. At least he'd wished this was a new program, as opposed to one that was well established.
He walked in and signed in with a receptionist, and was sent to a waiting room. There was some sort of orientation session with the other person reporting this morning where he'd be assigned his mentor randomly.
He sat there, thinking. He'd been the first to arrive, but he'd been told there were one other scheduled for this orientation. From what the receptionist told him, this was only the first week of the program.
He was surprised when Sarah McMillan came in and sat down on the far side of the room, who acted like he wasn't there, picking up a magazine and leafing through it in a disinterested manner.
Finally, they were called into a conference room and each given a folder and a sealed envelope. "I'm Dr. Cox," an older man said, sitting opposite them. "I'm the head of the Fresh Start Career Placement pilot Program. I'm going to take you through the basics of the program, and then...each of these envelopes represents a placement. You'll each get one and you'll meet your mentors separately. They were chosen randomly by computer from out of 100 mentors and careers that applied to the program from all walks of life. No matter what the job is, our guarantee is that you'll come out of the program perfectly suited for that career and lifestyle."
He reviewed the rest of the day with them. There were some mandatory medical exams, then the mentor introduction, then a first day with the mentor. They'd arrange schedules, and the next day, both students would return to school. Their class schedules would be adjusted to allow them to meet the mentor on their schedule.
"If you'd open your envelopes please," he said. "Let's move on."
Jon and Sarah ripped open the envelopes and unfolded the sheets of paper inside.
