The next few weeks passed swiftly with Jake and his family settling in. He enrolled in high school and figured it was time to find that job he had promised to look for in the little town. This was how he came to put his application in at the small mom and pop store just blocks away from his house.
Mr. Johnson ran the convenience store centrally located in town that catered to the town people needing something in a hurry and not wanting to make the long trip to the big shopping mall located just on the outskirts of Chicago.
Jake had applied one afternoon and felt lucky when Mr. Johnson hired him. He realized his experience at working in the convenience store back home had secured employment for him.
While living in St. Louis, he had taken several years of Karate and earned his degree as a black belt. No one in the little town of Etherton knew he had achieved such a feat except his parents. There had never been a time when Jake had used his skills on anyone, but no one challenged him to a fight in the past. His instructor taught him when he first began lessons that he should attain the art of Karate for self-protection and nothing more. To use it as a bully defeated the purpose of the technique.