What Are You Gonna Do with Your Life?

As high-school graduation approaches, Connie becomes anxious about her future. Her classmates are choosing colleges and careers, while she is no longer certain that she wants to become a teacher. Jason says that interests and circumstances often guide a person toward a vocation. Eugene cannot relate to her uncertainty because his childhood love of science made his direction seem obvious. When Connie considers her own interests, shopping is the first thing that comes to mind.

Connie asks Mrs. Clydesdale for a trial day at Osborne’s perfume counter. Her first customer wants a birthday gift for his wife, but Connie refuses to accept his choice of Nightcrawler No. 7 and insults his judgment until he walks away without buying anything. She also offends a demanding woman by comparing her pink hair to cotton candy. Mrs. Clydesdale gently explains that retail workers cannot say every unkind thought aloud. Shopping may interest Connie, but selling is plainly not one of her strengths.

While leaving the store, Connie meets Harlow Doyle, who is working as an undercover security guard in the bedding department. He wrongly suspects her of stealing her own purse, then decides she has cleared him of stealing his mismatched clothes. When Connie explains her search for a career, Harlow offers her a job as his private-detective secretary. His previous secretary has suffered a nervous breakdown, but Connie decides that trying the work cannot hurt.

Harlow’s office contains a stuffed raccoon and toy rifles, and his ideas about secretarial duties are equally peculiar. He expects Connie to chew gum loudly, file her fingernails, and answer a telephone that never rings. He believes dictation means writing his own letter and that taking a letter means carrying it to the post office. After a completely idle day, Connie resigns. Harlow concludes that the work was simply too demanding.

Eugene next administers an experimental personality-and-aptitude test of his own design. Connie answers 112 baffling questions about blue trains, flagpoles, cats, tomatoes, and historical presidents. His calculations place her in a negative twenty-six percentile, supposedly proving that she has no personality and is qualified only to glue corrugation onto cardboard boxes. When Eugene admits that she is his first test subject, Connie sends him away with the useless questionnaire.

Tom Riley reminds Connie that he found his direction through both a love of farming and the need to continue his family’s work. His comment that Connie already enjoys working at Whit’s End gives her a new idea. Without consulting Jason, she begins handling the business’s administrative orders. Her first attempt brings a truckload of napkins, crates of prunes instead of peaches, excessive ice cream supplies, and a frozen computer that may have deleted important files.

Jason understands that she is trying to turn Whit’s End into a career, but he wishes she had asked for training first. He tells her that a lifetime decision cannot sensibly be forced into two frantic days. Whit’s End may eventually become part of her future, but panic is making every possibility harder to evaluate. He sends her away to rest while he negotiates with the unhappy delivery drivers.

At Tom’s farm, Connie admits that she feels behind everyone else. Tom explains that people reach their decisions in different ways and on different schedules. Personality, ability, family influence, circumstances, financial need, and personal interests can all play a part. Christians also listen for God’s calling. Connie has been so busy trying jobs that she has scarcely paused to pray, and Tom encourages her to explore patiently while trusting God to guide her.

Eugene later admits that his test needs work: it recommends that Jason paint cartoon figurines in Korea. More importantly, Connie’s questions have made Eugene reconsider his own future. He has built his life on assumptions formed before becoming a Christian, and his new faith may change where his abilities should lead him. Connie welcomes him into her unofficial “Figure Out Your Life Club.” Neither has an immediate answer, but they can seek God’s direction together.