"Uh. OK."

That was the best I could manage when I first met Colette, who explained to me what a warden was while she was offering me the job of one.

"I know I just threw a lot of info at you," Colette said. "Do you have any immediate questions?"

"This isn't like a scam, is it?" I asked.

"Very much not a scam," Colette said.

"So like...can you say some of that again?" I asked. "Or maybe prove it first?"

"I hoped the interdimensional coffee shop was enough, but sure," Colette said.

Colette had brought me out to a coffee shop that she claimed to be between dimensions. I didn't go alone with a stranger claiming to take me to an interdimensional coffee shop, my dad came with. He was near our table, turning around a postcard rack filled with circular cards with strange locales on them, nodding to himself every few minutes.

To further prove she was a warden, a guardian over this world and others like it, she brought out a clunky laptop and a bunch of devices. On the laptop she showed me a slideshow that went over how guardians are people with specific energy frequencies had the potential to maintain dimensions to ensure they didn't fall apart or some junk. There were a lot of formulas that I didn't get and I'm pretty great at math. 

I think she noticed I was starting to nod off at yet another complicated dimensional formula, so she asked if she could grab my wrist. 

"Uh, sure, I guess?" I said.

She turned on one of her devices, one that looked like a blocky phone with a tiny little record player on it, which put a weird field of sparkles around our hands.

"This machine activates a space that only those who can manipulate and control the building blocks that make up and maintain our dimensions," Colette said. "People who can do this make sure worlds stay together, protecting those you care about."

"Protect them from what?" I asked.

"General dimensional wear and tear, and sometimes enemies too."

"What kind of enemies?" I asked.

"There's a blob I've been tracking for a while, pretty messy, then in the northern galaxy, or north in space terms, there's that gang, I wrote their name down here somewhere."

Colette looked for a napkin she was certain had a name on it, but gave up. She still held onto my wrist through all of this. She called my dad over and had him wave his hand in the sparkles. It didn't do anything when he did so. In fact, his hand seemed to vanish.

"That's...pretty freaky," Dad said.

"But when you do it..." Colette said. She moved my hand around, and it felt like I was sorting through plastic pieces, ones that only showed themselves when I touched them.

"Whoa," I said.

"You have the ability," Colette said. "A natural, if I do say so myself."

"How'd you find this out? That I can do this, I mean? You like take my blood in my sleep?" I asked.

"It's a complicated, annoying process," Colette said. "We scan a wide range, find some pings of that energy frequency, and narrow it down."

"So at some point you were stalking me, scanning me with one of these," I said.

"I'd say following closely, but not full stalker levels," Colette said. "I narrowed it down to you or your dad."

"I'm sure Amvery would have failed this," I said. 

"She sure didn't have the same interdimensional energy frequencies you did," Colette said. "I know this is a lot to process, but I can assure you this isn't a scam, and that we'd pay well."

"Wait, I'd get paid for this?" I asked.

"Uh huh," Colette said. "And let me tell you, starting off with this as your first job would be pretty stellar. Full benefits, pays well, flexible hours."

"They better be very flexible, she's only fifteen after all," Dad said.

"Of course, you'd be a junior warden to start, only a few hours a month, then if you like it, and stick with it, you could stick with us!" Colette said.

Then came about forty pamphlets. There wasn't a company or anything on them, so did the people maintaining dimensional health just like graphic design or something? 

"I am formally offering you this job now, but please think it over," Colette said. "I won't be mad if you say no."

"OK..." I said. "Yeah, I'll think about it."

We shook hands, and Colette showed us back home. Our interdimensional coffees blipped away as soon as we were back home, so I wished I drank mine faster, because it was very tasty. Dad was weirdly super trusting of this whole thing, and said he’d take the job if he was in my shoes. I would definitely have to mull it over. I wished Amvery wasn’t in raging jerkass mode at that moment, because I think she would’ve had good advice in spite of herself.