by Jason Zandri
“You listen here,” Liz said in a friendly but uncompromising tone, as she moved her hand on his knee, “I will have the friends I want. I don’t care what boy likes me or what boy I like. You’re an awesome friend. I’m not giving you up because we’re going to different schools, or for any one person either.”
Matthew smiled at the comment, and the nurse came back into the room.
***
At the store, Diane worked quietly at the counter. The last customer in the convenience area left, and Mark came out from the office area, walking past the customers getting sandwiches and coffee in the expansion area of the store.
“Diane, I’m going to need you to stay here by yourself and manage the store for a while. I have to head over to the school.”
“Is everything all right?” she asked.
“I guess; there was a Dodgeball incident,” Mark said with a slight smile. “Nothing serious, but Matthew took a good shot to the face. The nurse looked at him, and it’s not a broken nose or anything, but he’s complaining about a headache and wants to come home. I think he’s more embarrassed than anything else.”
“I hated Dodgeball,” Diane said with force. “I was never any good at it, and now that I think back, I reckon our gym teacher was a sadist.”
Mark laughed once at her comment. “Actually, Matthew is pretty good at it. I’m surprised he was hit at all, let alone in the face. Had to be another excellent player.” Mark stuck his head out of the door to see how cold it was. “I’ll be back in a bit. Maybe I’ll take him to lunch.”
Diane came around the counter and went over to the rack in the hallway while Mark headed out to his car. She grabbed his jacket and cut through the expansion area and out the far door and caught up to him to hand him his windbreaker jacket.
“It’s not cold,” he said, taking it from her.
“Then you can put it in the back seat if you don’t need it,” she said with a smile. “If it gets colder while you’re out then you’ll have it to use.”
“You’re the best, you know that, right?” Mark smiled too. Diane grinned and turned around to head back inside.
She went around to the main door, heard the phone ringing, and scurried around the counter to answer it. “Colony Convenience, Diane speaking, can I help you?”
“Yes, hello, good morning,” the man on the other end of the phone replied. “This is Steve from New Haven Realty, is Mark Sanford available?”
“I’m sorry,” Diane said, pulling over a pad of paper, “he just stepped out. Can I take a message for him?”
“Yes, that would be great. Please have him call me at my office as soon as he gets back. The seller has accepted his offer, and I’ll need him to come down to set up the closing on the sale.”
“Okay,” Diane said with slight reservation in her tone, reading over the message in her head. “I’ll have him call as soon as he gets in.”
“Perfect, thank you.”
Diane hung up and read the message multiple times until the main door of the store rang, and she needed to push it aside to tend to the customer.
***
Matthew got into the passenger seat while Mark walked around to the
driver’s side of the car. “Well, other than getting hit in the face, that sounded like one hell of a completion for that game.”
“It was. I enjoyed it despite getting hurt,” he said, fussing a little with the tape across the bridge of his nose. “I’m pretty good at it, and there’re not too many kids that can hit me with the ball.”
“I know.” Mark got in and started the car. “So this kid, is he new here like you, or a friend of yours or anything?”
“Well, he lives over on Valley Street. I’m not sure where. He’s kind of a loner. He’s older; started school late and stayed back on top of it.”
“Ah,” Mark said, then paused. “Something else?”
“Well, he got into trouble for the hit. Accidents happen. A hit to the face in the game usually is just a loss. You’re not usually getting sent to the office. Honestly, as aggressive as he is, I don’t think he meant it. He threw two balls at the same time. It was a bad throw, but …”
“Maybe he was warned before,” Mark said, as he navigated the car off school property. “Not sitting well with you?”
“No,” Matthew said. “You know how you’re always saying people are innocent until proven guilty and people should be given the benefit of the doubt?”
“Yes,” Mark said with a slight smile, realizing the things he was trying to teach to his son were actually resonating.
“I don’t think people are giving him the benefit of the doubt anymore.
I think everyone thinks he’s been a troublemaker, and he’ll just continue to be a troublemaker, so they treat him like that without giving him a chance.”
Mark turned the car into a church parking lot and put it into park. “Do you know what they did to him? Did he have to stay after school or something?”
“I’m not sure,” Matthew replied. “I was in the nurse’s office the whole time.”
Mark sat quietly for a moment and looked at his son. A couple of cars went past them near the driveway cut, and he turned to look back out of the windshield. “So what do you think we should do?”
Matthew thought about it. “Well, after we find out if anything more
happened than just sitting for a while in the office, could we talk to the Principal? You know, maybe on his behalf?”
Mark smiled. “Sure.” He put the car back into drive.
***
Mark closed the lights in the main part of the store while the people leasing the pod and kiosk areas in the expansion section finished their cleanup at the end of the day. He leaned back on the counter, listening to his son’s music coming from the office area, then heard a small knock on the glass door. He turned and was surprised to see Diane there.
“Did you forget something?” he asked her, unlocking the door and letting her in. “You went home at four today; I’m surprised to see you back.”
“Look,” she said quietly, looking up at him and then immediately down and away, “I know it’s not my place, but are you selling the store and moving or something? I would need to know because I would need to look for work elsewhere.”
“I don’t understand,” Mark asked. “Why would you think that?”
Diane stepped over to the counter area where she stood each day waiting on customers. “I enjoy working here, in this store, with you. I look forward to it. If you sell and leave, I would just want to know.” A slight but detectable tone of stress laced her voice.
“The realtor,” Mark said, as it dawned on him what she was talking about. “The message you took …”
Diane nodded, and tears welled up.
“I didn’t sell anything,” he said with a smile. “I bought a three-family house over on Carlton Street.”
Diane’s eyes lit up. “So you’re not leaving?” she asked as she came around the counter.
“No, I’m not,” he said, watching her skirt flow as she stepped fully into view. “If anything, this further roots me here. My life from before, it was never complete. With the divorce from Matthew’s mother, that certainly ended whatever it was that I actually had ... I talked things out mostly with my father when I planned to come here, and then over the months since the conversation has continued. I talked a little bit with Matthew at the time as
well. The end results of all the discussions, my father gifted over his old place, the house I grew up in and where I am now, to Matthew and me. I’m paying my Dad for the store.” He waved his finger around in a circle. “We decided that rather than my leasing it from him, I would make payments on it for its purchase. Basically, he’s carrying the note on the place. We agreed on a price against its value, and he’s earning the interest like a bank might.”
Mark walked over to the hallway. “I’ll be right back if you can wait.”
Diane nodded, and he went into the office. He appeared a short
moment later with a full envelope, a smaller one, and a card.
“What’s this?” Diane asked when he handed the card to her.
“Open it,” he said with a smile. “I know I’m a few days early now, but I figured since this discussion is happening …”
She looked at the card she took out of the envelope, then more tears formed. “You remembered my birthday.”
“Well, I cheated. I looked at your work application and made note of it,” Mark said. “Open the smaller envelope next and read it aloud. I was going to wait until May 1st, but screw it.”
Diane finished reading the simple birthday card and opened the smaller envelope. She took the small index-card-sized paper out and read it aloud as requested, “As of May 1, 1981, Diane Wakeford is hereby promoted to the position of Assistant Store Manager. The salary position will pay $18,000 annually …” Diane took a gulp of air. “That’s more than twice what I make now,” she said shakily, looking up to Mark with tears streaming down her face.
Mark smiled and said, “Keep reading.”
Diane looked down and continued “… and be based on a 45-hour work week. Ten days will be granted annually for vacation. Ten additional days will be made available as sick or other personal time.” Diane cried openly, and her hands shook.
Mark grinned like the Cheshire Cat. He felt so happy to be able to do this for Diane that he actually felt guilty taking pride in making it happen.
“I can’t … you can’t afford this,” Diane said. “I don’t deserve this.
I’m not worthy of this promotion. I can’t do this work.” Diane stepped to the side to put the items down.
“Hold on,” Mark said and stepped into her path. He put his fingers under her chin and lifted it so she would look at him and not down towards the ground. “You already do all this work. You check the stock, rotate it, and update orders as needed. You lock up, open up, handle cash, and the bank deposits.” Mark let go and backed up half a step to give her a little room.
“The customers like you better than me. When you’re not here, and I’m managing, that first couple or last couple of hours it’s always, ‘where’s Diane today?’ So, as far as ‘can’t do this’ and ‘don’t deserve this’—you already do and certainly do. You are totally worthy of this promotion; you completely earned it on your own. You could have clocked time and stood around.
Instead you engaged, took an active part in the business, and offered ideas and suggestions. As far as my affording it, I can, because of your ideas in the expansion area, and I haven’t even figured everything out with the final garage bay.” He took a couple of steps away from her, turned back, and took one forward. “Before, I struggled to cover the $8,000 annual cost to have you here part time and marginally above minimum wage, but I needed someone else in here so I could get things settled, deal with things at home, take proper care of Matthew, and so forth. The promotion and the additional $10,000 and the benefits, that’s all possible because of the two-year kiosk leases I have with these two.” Mark flipped his thumb over his shoulder. “They’re subletting that space at a rate that covers your original salary, your promotion, the cost of the benefits I’m offering, and I still have money left.
The money in the convenience store items and fuel sales—that’s all gravy. So you see, you made all this possible for me, and I’m making sure you realize how thankful I am of that.”
Diane couldn’t say anything at first. She cried and put her folded hands to her lips and hyperventilated a little.
“There’s the last envelope when you’re ready,” Mark said.
After a moment and a couple of deep breaths, she took the other envelope and opened it. A key came out with the paperwork and bounced off the counter. “What’s this?” she asked.
“Well, it’s paperwork regarding your position as Assistant Manager and your profit sharing of the business,” Mark said softly.
“No,” she said, all at once stern and abrupt. “This is your father’s place. Your place. I can’t …”
“This part is non-negotiable,” Mark said. “This profit sharing is outlined as an investment for you. I can’t afford a pension plan or anything like that; I’m too small an entity, and I have no desire to grow large. Having said that, the money these sublet contracts generate is based on your idea.
You’re going to manage them and set rates and terms. I know you don’t know a lot about that, as I dealt with all of it, but I’ll show you the ropes. It’ll also include the garage bay, once I figure out what I want to do there. You’ll get twenty percent of the net take. Ten percent of it as a cash bonus on December first, and the other ten percent will be invested for the long term.”
Diane said nothing further and continued to be overwhelmed.
“All of this was your idea. I likely wouldn’t have come up with it on my own, and I’m still making a lion’s share of net profit from it as the owner.
Giving you an ongoing benefit is just.”
After a moment of silence between them, Diane asked, “What’s the key for? It can’t be to the store. I have a key already.”
Mark looked over and waved as the workers exited the store through the far door. He moved away and into the expansion section to lock up and close down the lights. While he moved into the area, he looked back to Diane.
“That key,” he said, pitching his hands slightly after shutting off the lights, “is to the small one-bedroom apartment in the three-family I bought.
The other two units are two bedrooms, but that one bedroom isn’t leased right now. I need to clean it up, and paint it and so forth, but it’s yours if you want it.”
Diane stared at him in disbelief. “Why?” was all she could eke out while she walked over.
“I don’t understand the question,” Mark said, as they stood in the dark of the expansion area with only the lighting from the main part of the store shining in.
“Why are you doing all this for me?” Diane asked.
The question confused Mark but he did his best to answer her. “It’s sort of the way I live. I want to have a better life for my son and myself.
Maybe, as I go and as I can, I want to offer that to other people around me too. The important ones; the ones I care about. For you it was easy, for a lot
of reasons. You’re kind and considerate. You want to please others. You look for nothing in return. I want to help someone like that in particular. At the end of the day, with all of this as I mentioned, it was easy. You had a big hand setting this in motion. You helped plant this row. You deserve some of the fruit it bears.”
Diane smiled and wiped the tears from her cheek. “I’ve never been in my own apartment.”
The music from the office grew louder when Matthew opened the door. He came out into the hallway and called out, “Dad?”
“I’m out here, sport, locking up,” Mark said and waved. Diane stepped back.
Matthew smiled a little, seeing them both in the shadows of the dark section of the store. “Okay, Dad. I’m going back into the office to study.”
Matthew turned and went back down the hallway, closing the door blatantly hard.
“Guess he wanted to let us know he was out of the room and the door was closed,” Mark said with a smile. “You told me you lived with your fiancé …”
“Yes, well, I lived with my Mother until she met Joe, and then I moved in with my fiancé. When that didn’t last, I went back with my mother and Missy. And Joe, of course … it was his place.” Diane stepped forward again.
“I know you don’t like the idea of being by yourself; I can tell it’s not the type of person you are, in general,” Mark said as his hands tightened. “At the same time, I don’t want you in that environment with Joe. I have two other units. I’d like your mother and Melissa to take one of the other ones if I can arrange something with one of the two tenants. I realize I have to do that and find some way to have a non-emotional, non-combative conversation with your mother. I have this feeling she’ll defend him. Joe may
have some good qualities that I’m unaware of, but it’s not worth the abuse. I’m no one to judge, either, but what I’ve seen already isn’t good for you two girls. It’s a different thing if your mother wants to live like that and if her welfare was all that was a stake. At the same time, I can only get so involved.”
“I don’t want to be in there either, but I don’t have other options.
Well, I didn’t until now. I’ve never managed bills or rent before,” Diane said quietly.
“I already told you, you manage things from the business just fine.
Home budgets are a piece of cake. The water and sewerage are included in the rent, so you don’t even have to worry about that.” Mark fidgeted and ran his fingers through his short-cropped hair.
“I have no idea what I can afford for rent,” Diane murmured. “Would you help me sit down and figure that out?”
“Sure.” Mark nodded. He went to step forward and around Diane, but then noticed the tight fit of the row they stood in. “So, you’ll take it?”
“Honestly, as much as I need to be out of Joe’s place, you’re right. I hate the idea of being by myself,” Diane said quietly, looking up at Mark.
“You’re not even three blocks from Joe’s; you can see your mother and Melissa any time you like,” Mark said.
Diane stepped forward. “The place is only two blocks from your place
—is the same true?”
“I don’t understand,” Mark said, even though he knew exactly what she meant.
“You’re going to make me say it, I see.” Diane gave a soft sigh. “Can I see you any time I like?”
Mark’s heart raced, and he tried hard to maintain his stance and composure. He didn’t want to lose himself to the things he felt. “We’ve been here before,” he said as calmly as he could manage. “My son is going to be twelve. I’m twelve years older than you. You have so much more to gain from life, and another man could give that to you. I’m not that man anymore.”
