{"id":55795,"date":"2025-03-19T10:01:35","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T10:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/?p=55795"},"modified":"2025-03-19T10:01:35","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T10:01:35","slug":"i-fired-a-single","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/?p=55795","title":{"rendered":"I Fired a Single\u00a0>>>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"512\" height=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/image-881.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-55796\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/image-881.png 512w, https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/image-881-240x300.png 240w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I knocked gently on the window. The little boy\u2019s eyes widened, and he disappeared under the blanket. A moment later, the driver\u2019s side door opened, and Celia stepped out, looking exhausted but wary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cCelia,\u201d I said, my throat tight. \u201cIt\u2019s me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She blinked at me, then folded her arms. \u201cWhat are you doing here?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2014I made a mistake.\u201d I exhaled, rubbing the back of my neck. \u201cI didn\u2019t know what you were going through. I should have asked before I\u2026\u201d I couldn\u2019t even finish the sentence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She shook her head. \u201cDoesn\u2019t change anything. We\u2019re still here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I swallowed hard. \u201cI want to fix it.\u201d I hesitated, then pulled out an envelope. \u201cI have a job for you, if you still want it. And this\u2014it\u2019s not much, just enough to get a motel for a few nights.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Celia stared at the envelope, then at me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tears welled in her eyes, and for the first time, she let her guard down. \u201cI don\u2019t know what to say.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSay yes,\u201d I whispered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/?p=55789\">also read&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I knocked gently on the window. The little boy\u2019s eyes widened, and he disappeared under the blanket. A moment later, the driver\u2019s side door opened, and Celia&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55796,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55795"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55795"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55797,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55795\/revisions\/55797"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/55796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}