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Sunday, October 18

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     Marcus’ first few days of unemployment were going better than he initially thought they would. The presence of his daughter had really been helping his emotional well being; he almost felt like he was on a vacation, getting to spend so much time with her. And he was lucky that due to his disabled status, the checks he’d continue getting from the government would help stave off his need for a job by a little extra time, meaning more time that he could spend with Jessie. But he also knew he couldn’t keep putting things off forever. Eventually, he’d need to get a new job, one way or the other.

     He didn’t even have a copy of his resume, since it had been so many years since he’d needed one. His job at the television station had lasted years, a position he got before the modern job application ecosystem became a mostly-online process. He planned to worry about his resume and his formal recommendations on another day though; for Sunday, he just planned on taking a few hours to research possible jobs at his new size, and look for openings that he could begin tailoring applications for over the next week.

     The first thing he did was simply google ‘good jobs for little people.’ He was surprised to find a few articles written on the subject, considering how rare people with either DSD or dwarfism were. But a quick scroll through them revealed they weren’t anything substantial. Oh, short people are a great size to be an F1 driver, he thought miserably. If only I were just short and not actually small. And maybe if F1 drivers weren’t a fucking top-tier professional sport. The list didn’t seem to actually have any suggestions for careers that little people could seek out, and seemed to focus more on speculating the possible advantages that someone who was shorter than average could have. But Marcus wasn’t just under-average height, he was literally half the average height. He was three feet smaller than most people’s heights, and that kind of difference crossed out a lot off the list. I wouldn’t be able to do anything where I serve other people, like retail or food service. The customers would barely even be able to see me over the counter, and I wouldn’t expect a workplace to install a hundred little ladders all over just to accommodate me. But working with customers isn’t necessarily a dead end, since I could easily work in customer service. I’d just have to answer phones. I don’t wanna answer phones for angry people for the rest of my life though. Maybe I should leave that as a last resort.

     He returned to his search results and continued looking for ideas. Here’s one for a daycare. Working with kids? I guess that one makes sense. As much as it pained Marcus to admit, he was a lot closer in size to most toddlers than he was to adults. I wonder if they’d like me more because I looked more like them. But what if they were to pick on me and I wasn’t able to stop them? I might just end up being more of a toy for them than an actual daycare worker. Wait, how young does daycare go, would I have to change their diapers if they had an accident? Their shit stains would be twice as big at my size. He shuddered at the thought. OK, so only if they’re more than a few years old, but not so old that they could throw me around. And that would probably require going back to school too for some kind of degree in early education. He sighed, and decided to move on. A daycare would be better than customer service, but still had some significant downsides. Moving on…

*    *    *    *    *    *

     Marcus’ elbow was propping his head up, nearly slumped over, when Jessie came into the kitchen and spotted her dad. He perked up a little at the sight of her and tried to sit up straight, while she came around the table to look over his shoulder at what he was doing. “Applying for jobs? Already?”

     “Well I’m not really applying yet, just looking for what’s out there. Trying to get an idea for some of the kinds of jobs I’d still be good at at my new size.” She nodded understandingly, and went to grab a cup of water. “But yeah, I’ll be applying to things pretty soon. Looking for a new job can take people months sometimes, and it’s definitely gonna be harder now that I’m barely two and a half feet tall.” He sighed as he said the last few words. He’d have to get used to it eventually, but it tired him out just as much then as it did when he first got the news. “Not to mention all the companies that wouldn’t want to hire me.”

     “Isn’t that illegal though? Wouldn’t that be discrimination?” Oh Jess, he thought with a chuckle, you’ve still got a lot to learn about the world.

     “Yeah, it’s technically illegal. But it still happens all the time. Discrimination is what people think about you, and it’s hard to prove in a court of law what was going on in someone’s head. Unless there’s a clear pattern of evidence, or if the person hiring you explicitly told a coworker why you were being rejected. And most people are smart enough not to do that.” He leaned back in his chair, and crossed his arms. Saying it out loud, it was really starting to get to him. He knew it’d be an uphill battle, but there just wasn’t anything he’d be able to do to make it easier on himself.

     “Oh.” Jessie saw her dad’s change in demeanor and felt bad about asking. Meanwhile, Marcus saw his daughter look guilty after broaching the subject, and figured they switch topics.

     “Hey, remember when I used to braid your hair when you were little?” he asked, sitting up again with renewed spirit.

     “Yeah,” she said cautiously, a smile creeping onto her lips, giving Marcus more encouragement.

     “Well I can braid it again, if you’d like. I don’t know if you still—“

     “Sure!” she exclaimed, clasping her hands together in excitement. “Of course I still like getting my hair braided. I could even wear it to school tomorrow."

     “Here, let’s do it on the couch so I have somewhere easy to sit.” He hopped off the kitchen chair and walked over to the living room, while Jessie followed closely behind, making sure not to walk too fast and bump into him. He climbed onto the couch and took a seat on the armrest, while Jessie took a seat next to him before turning so her back was to him, and she was sitting criss cross on the cushions. She shook her hair excitedly, rotating her head in a circle before tilting it towards Marcus so the hair could gather at her back for him. He sized it up and down: golden brown, and a little wavy, but not really curly yet, it came down a little past her armpits. Probably a little more than half as long as I am, he figured. He couldn’t help it, nearly everything he looked at down was a comparison to his own height and size. But at least I’m not too small to braid it, he thought confidently. He weaved his little fingers through Jessie’s long, silk-like hair, and began overlapping bunches of strands, one over the other, doing his best to interlace her gorgeous locks and raise both of their spirits with the nostalgic activity from her childhood.