Chapter 18: Seconds
“Wesley said to get my paycheck from you,” Katelyn said to her new boss’s back as she sat over a schedule in the cramped back office. The woman turned and eyed Katelyn, but then completed her writing. After a moment, her boss selected a key off the ring bundle hooked to the belt loop of her black polyester pants. She unlocked and opened a drawer to her right and took out a stack of envelopes. When she found Katelyn’s she slipped it from the pile and locked the remaining envelopes back in the drawer.
Her boss turned to study Katelyn. “So, the first paycheck, right?”
Katelyn nodded.
“You seem to be catching on fine. Do you have any questions?”
“No.” Katelyn shifted her weight to the other foot. “Well, maybe one.”
“What’s that?” the night manager asked in a kinder tone.
“How long, I mean, when can I move to the counter or maybe, ya know, cook or something?”
The manager smiled. “Everybody does their time as host or hostess.”
The contradiction between the job title and duties made Katelyn shake her head. She wasn’t greeting customers. She was their cleaning lady. She had to wipe tables, take out a gazillion bags of the most disgusting smelling garbage in the world, and mop, re-mop, and mop the floor again.
Katelyn stayed quiet and looked at her feet.
“We’ll try you on line prep next Saturday,” the manager finally said. “I’ve got you scheduled four nights this week. I’ll put you in the kitchen if you can commit to the breakfast/lunch shift this Saturday and Sunday.”
Katelyn mentally ran through her schedule. School was out for winter break beginning Monday. Christmas was Tuesday. Tim was talking about going to a band in Ames, but she couldn’t remember if it was Friday or Saturday. Either way, she’d have to get up at 5 if she was taking the 6 a.m. shift. She was tempted to say she couldn’t work one of the days, but she needed the money. The paycheck waved in the manager’s hand.
“Okay.”
“Alright,” the manager made the note on the schedule. “Tuesday night I’ll have Aaron train you on the back counter.”
Katelyn’s jaw dropped. “On Christmas?”
“We’re open. It won’t be busy, though. Mostly highway customers.” The manager softened a bit, “It’s only a four hour shift.”
Katelyn missed the summer job at the ice cream store. They opened at lunch and closed by 9 p.m. While there weren’t many holidays in summer, the owners were family people and closed the store.
“Oh, we’re giving a $2.00 per hour holiday bonus, too.” The manager seemed to think this was enough to compensate for working on Christmas. Eight dollars extra for the shift. Katelyn did the math, barely a third of a tank of gas.
Katelyn shifted again. “Can I have my check? I gotta go.”
The manager started to hand her the check but pulled it back.
“One thing, Katelyn. Your boyfriend out there,” she motioned to the restaurant floor with her head, “he needs to wait elsewhere from now on. He’s bothering the customers.”
Katelyn dropped her eyes again. “Okay. I’ll tell him.” She took the envelope then and clocked out on her way out the kitchen door. She had the apron and visor off before she made it to the lobby.
Tim was waiting. He slouched in a booth nearest the door, one lanky leg sprawled out into the isle, tempting a disaster for a tray-bearing customer not paying attention. He had empty paper ketchup cups in front of him turned over and he moved them around as if practicing a magic trick. Katelyn could see a mother behind him trying to redirect her son’s attention and keeping him from leaving his seat to see the trick.
This wouldn’t be the first time Tim was barred from her job. At the ice cream shop, Tim used to come in and talk to her while she prepped toppings, filling containers to the brim with crushed Oreos, candy bar pieces, nuts, and anything someone would dare put in ice cream. Tim didn’t bother anyone on his first visits, but then he took up imitating some of the more annoying behaviors people made while in public restaurants: shoveling food into their mouths, chewing with mouths wide open, squeezing catsup onto French fries individually with the precision of applying super glue, and the many possible reactions parents and kids could have to spills.
Katelyn would end up laughing, because that’s what Tim wanted, and he wouldn’t stop until she did. He always tried to make people laugh. Unfortunately, her laughter had tipped off a few customers who in turn became upset at being mocked. Her manager said Tim could not come in anymore.
“Pick a cup, young lady,” he said as she approached now.
“What do I get if I win?”
“Ahhh, you already have my heart. What more could you want?” Tim got up from the table and slipped his arm around her shoulder. Together they left the restaurant and, once outside in the December chill, they ran to the car in the back lot.
The Neon turned over a few times before it caught. The frozen gears took their time in sounding a regular, powerful rhythm. “Balls Cold!” Tim yelled and cranked the heater’s blower up to full blast. Cold air shot out at Katelyn’s face.
“Not yet!!!” She turned it down and threw the car in gear. She knew it would be over a mile down the road before anything resembling heat came out of the heater. In the meantime, she gave Tim news of his exile from the fast food restaurant. He took it pretty well—only a few curses.
In her driveway, Katelyn ripped open the envelope, excited to see her first wages from the new job. Her excitement was short lived. It wasn’t as much as she hoped. The pay period only included her first week’s hours and not this week’s four nights of work. Plus, there were taxes deducted. No fair. The money would be enough to get each nephew and niece a small toy for Christmas and maybe a pair of earrings for her mom.
Katelyn wasn’t worried about Tim’s gift. She’d bring it home tomorrow from school. She wrote a poem about second chances. In her computer class, she used a text effect to make it look cool.
Second Chances
Gifts in life come wrapped in choices.
Second chances reveal another layer
Often lost to the trap of counting.
Love is so much more than a formula
And is always a solution.
The poem glowed from the background like it was floating. A couple of kids in class gave her compliments on the effect. Katelyn already had a frame picked out. She just had to bring the teacher the small fee tomorrow to print it out on the special photo paper.
Things had been great since she and Tim got back together. They spent nearly every night together. He swore to her that he wouldn’t touch anything stronger than a joint or a beer every again. And, so far, he seemed to be staying clean. They hadn’t had any serious fights and he was back to the funny, original Tim she loved.
It was Thursday night and the bank was closed. Tim had agreed to go shopping, but she was also on kid duty. Jenny never showed back up to pick up her kids earlier in the week. Disappointment dripped from her mom’s eyes and her temper was short. Katelyn didn’t complain about watching the kids on her nights off.
Katelyn turned off the car and they made a bolt for the door. Chevy barked at them from the back yard, his head poking out from the industrial sized dog house. Poor dog. He was only allowed in when the wind chill warnings were given. Katelyn had put her old sleeping bag in the kennel earlier that week out of sympathy.
Inside, the sounds of crying, TV, and her dad’s impatience greeted them.
“Put that down, you hear me? Put that down right now,” her dad was a comical sight with the crying Jacob tucked under one arm. Her dad’s other arm weaved around the kitchen table looking for a place to land a hot pizza pan fresh from the oven. His comments were directed at Colton, who was taking a big boy i
nitiative in standing on his chair balancing a full gallon of milk over Kayla’s glass. Splashes fell everywhere but in the glass beneath.
Her dad gave up on finding a clear place for the pizza and put it on top of a stack of papers on the table, but he was too late. Seeing Grandpa Brian rushing for the milk only made Colton hurry his pouring attempt and he bumped the glass over with the container. The whole gallon of milk hit the table and spilled out. Colton pulled his hands back and his eyes went wide in surprise.
“Damn it,” her dad yelled. “What did I tell you? Huh, what did I tell you?” He threw the words into the whole room at everyone and clutched at the carton and its remaining milk. “Jesus H. Christ.”
Colton paid little attention to her dad’s yelling, just like Kayla. Milk seeped across the table, but Kayla focused on the pizza slice she was picking up. The pizza was too hot, and Kayla dropped her slice into the spilled milk. Instantly she whimpered.
Katelyn stepped in, barely having taken off her coat. She grabbed a towel and soaked up the spill. She took Jacob from her dad and set him in his high chair. She gave him his favorite truck and the crying stopped instantly.
Tim stood back by the door with his hands in his pockets until her dad came into the kitchen to finish his yelling. “Christ, those kids don’t listen to a single thing.” He switched gears, realizing he had an adult audience to talk to. “I don’t know why your mom puts up with those girls. You’d think she was raising those kids herself.”
Katelyn knew not to get into the debate. She hated when her dad talked about her sisters like they weren’t his family. He may not be their father, but her sisters were her family.
Brian registered Tim’s presence and gave him a cold greeting. Tim said, “Hey” and crept around Brian to disappear into the living room to watch TV. Her dad followed him around the corner, but stopped between the rooms.
Her dad’s dislike for Tim wasn’t well hidden. He glared at Tim and looked to Katleyn. Katelyn dished out pizza to the kids and ignored him. His head swung between the living room and kitchen table. Eventually, he found another target for his sermon.
“Sierra, I told you to get in here for dinner.” Sierra laid on the floor of the living room watching a Disney teen movie she’d already seen too many times.
“It’s almost over,” she muttered.
“Now!”
Sierra came out of the living room and sat. The TV quickly changed channels as Tim took over the remote. The sounds of a popular motorcycle design show came on.
Katelyn finally turned to Sierra. “Do you want some pizza?” She stopped short when she saw the girl’s hair, or the lack of hair. Sierra’s head was shaved to half an inch of hair, and the cut was done poorly. Some ends stood out a little taller than the others. On a closer look, Katelyn saw small scabs and didn’t have to ask. It must be the lice again.
“Your hair’s short again, Sierra,” Katelyn said in a complimentary tone. “You look so punk. I’ll bet you get all the other girls to do something cool.”
Sierra didn’t play along. This wasn’t the first time her mom had shaved her head in desperate measures to rid her of severe lice infestation. The difference was that now Seirra was in second grade. Katelyn looked again at Colton and noted his head had a recent buzz cut, too.
Sierra took her plate and nibbled at the pizza.
“Get a job yet?” Katelyn knew the question wasn’t directed at her. She looked up to see her dad in a challenger’s stance, his arms flexed by his side and his weight leaned forward onto one foot. He still stood between the two rooms.
She heard Tim’s answer from the next room. “No, sir,” and a pause before his sarcastic reply. “Still have yours?”
Smart, Tim. Really smart, she cringed.
Luckily her dad ignored him. There wouldn’t be a confrontation tonight. Instead, Brian turned to her. “Where’s your sister?” Katelyn knew he was talking about Brianna, who was supposed to be home watching the kids until Katelyn came home from work.
“I don’t know. I’m not her keeper. Thank God.”
Her dad’s temper was visible through his skin. Katelyn had just driven him to the clinic yesterday morning again, so he should be on his meds. Maybe the kids were too much for him.
“Dad, take a break. I’ve got them for a few minutes. I wanted to go Christmas shopping since I’ll have to work all weekend. I didn’t know Jodi was bringing Sierra and Colton over tonight.”
Her dad huffed. “That makes two of us. They were here when I got off work. She’s started selling some jewelry line or something, your mom said. She’s got a showing or something tonight.” He came into the kitchen and lit a cigarette. “Jodi’s dumped $500 on crappy jewelry and thinks she’s going to make it rich, win a car or something. Hell, maybe she can hire a babysitter. Where the hell is their father? Why can’t he watch him?”
Again, Katelyn didn’t dare answer. Most often the answer was jail or some correctional facility. Katelyn stuffed a bite of pizza in her mouth instead. She handed one over to her dad, but he waved it away. He looked thinner. Maybe the treatment drug was hurting his appetite.
“When’s mom getting home?” She tried to throw the conversation in a different direction.
“Normal. Closing at ten.” That meant she’d get home around 10:30 p.m.
“The mall’s open late for Christmas shopping. Can I go?” she asked.
He instantly tensed. “Look, I can’t handle all them kids.”
She put her hand up to stop him, “I’ll take them. They can pick out their toy. But, could Jacob say here? I don’t have a car seat and he’ll really slow me down.” She saw him consider and hesitate. She added, “I’ll put him to sleep first.”
He relaxed. “Yeah, okay.”
After a quick diaper change and sippy cup for Jacob, loading the kids into coats and into the back seat, and running interference to make sure Tim and her dad were never face to face alone, they finally left for Ames. After a quick stop at the grocery store to cash her check, they made the mall before 9:30 p.m.
The mall was crazy busy, something no one in town was used to. Stores were running last-minute holiday sales. Fake Santa still had a line of kids waiting to give their wish and their parents waiting for the photo they hoped would turn out better than the last years.
Katelyn ushered her two nieces and her nephew to the toy store. Just inside the door, each raced down a different aisle. Katelyn looked at Tim in desperation. He pointed after Colton and took off down the monster truck aisle. Katelyn warmed inside. Tim was so good with the kids.
Fifteen minutes later, Katelyn dragged a whimpering Kayla by the hand from the store and Tim was ignoring Colton’s fists in his back, which swung wildly from his upside down body thrown over Tim’s shoulder. The kids had picked out expensive toys. Katelyn tried to explain that she couldn’t afford them and tried to show them the money numbers they needed to look for. But, when they didn’t get their way, Colton and Kayla threw a tantrum. It was like the two kids tried to out perform each other. Kayla sprawled on the floor, and her thuds on the thin carpet could be felt by all the shoppers around her. The drama took place right in front of the check out counter where the rest of the customers in line had nothing better to do than watch.
Colton, seeing the attention Kayla was receiving, made his own spectacle by kicking the nearest tower of toys. When those boxes fell, he ran to another one and repeated the trick. Two boxes of Transformer figures landed on Kayla, which led to more cries, this time accompanied by tears. Her mouth was so wide in her cry, it looked like a port to hook up a fire hose. Tim raced to snag Colton before the expensive stack of mini robot pets were bowled over.
They ran from the store before a manager could make sense of the mess. Katelyn ducked
into a department store and headed for the escalator. Better to get another floor between them and a mall security guard. At the top of the escalator, the jewelry department glistened with glass cases and mirrors. A couple of couches sat nearby in front of a piano not being played. Tim took charge and aimed all the kids for the couches.
A sale sign topped a display of silver earrings. Katelyn spun the case until she decided on a pair of small hoops with a little silver drop. The pair was simple, but classy. Her mom didn’t have any earrings like these. The case was locked, so she walked around looking for a sales clerk. One was helping another customer and didn’t even look her way. Another clerk, also with a woman who kept pointing at rings to view, gave Katelyn a sour look. Katelyn worked her way back to the jewelry case and hoped another clerk would show up.
A strange rubbing noise clashed with the soft music coming from the store’s speakers. Looking around, Katelyn couldn’t see anything. She checked to make sure her phone wasn’t on vibrate. It came again, almost rhythmical. She leaned her head around the counter toward the piano area. Tim and the kids were gone. She’d find them. They couldn’t have gone far. The sound came again, but louder now.
Katelyn stepped around the isle and found the source. At the top of the escalator, Colton stood at one side of the rubber hand grip as it rotated down into the ground on its cycle. His hips made slow motions forward and back so that his belly met the rubbing rubber. The sound of his coat brushing with the rubber warbled through the air. Colton’s whole body vibrated for a few seconds. Then he pulled back.
Katelyn tried not to laugh, but had to cover her mouth. She looked around to see that no one was watching her nephew’s misbehavior. Then she watched Colton wrestle the escalator once again. Katelyn stored the image in her head to tell as an embarrassing story someday when Colton was older. She had a feeling she’d get many more before that time.
“Colton,” she crept up behind him and his experiment was instantly forgotten. “Where’s Tim and the girls.”
He pointed toward the store’s exit into the mall area. She grabbed his hand, but he tore it from hers and ran toward the door. Katelyn was done with running for the night. By the time she reached the store’s exit, Colton was already into mischief with the girls by the balcony railing. He grabbed rocks from a fake potted plant and dropped them to shoppers on the bottom floor. Katelyn was about to yell, but then caught sight of Tim ten feet away. Tim was standing with Angel.
“You should totally come back, man. Like, so what that you didn’t pass that test. You get to take it as many times as you want.” Angel was finishing her conversation as Katleyn walked up to them.
Colton was about to launch another handful of rocks. “Colton, put it down. Come here.” Katelyn dug out a few quarters from her pocket and all three kids quickly ran to the rack of candy machines at the corner.
“Katelyn! Like, oh my God, I haven’t seen you in forever.” Angel gave her a one arm hug and Katelyn smelled pot smoke in her hair.
“Hey, Angel,” Katelyn tried to sound happy to see her. She liked Angel, she just worried about her link to Christian. Tim had stopped hanging out with Christian as promised. It was part of his effort to never do meth again.
“So, wow, it’s such a trip to see you guys together. That’s great, you guys, together still.” Angel looked between the two of them with genuine affection.
Katelyn couldn’t help looking around. “So, is Christian here?”
Angel’s face dropped a fraction. “No, man, we broke up. He’s an asshole that doesn’t know what’s good for him. No, I’ve got a new man.” She cheered up a bit. “He works over at Sears in the appliance section. We’re going out after he gets off. You guys should totally come.”
Tim had been keeping quiet against the rail. “Want three kids to come along?” He nodded in the direction of the kids stuffing their face with the small handful of candy they bought. Colton was busy turning the knobs of all the machines to see if he could get more candy to fall out.
Angel turned back laughing, “Shit, no. That’s pure birth control right there. Thank God I didn’t keep Christian’s.”
Both Tim and Katelyn were quiet in an awkward moment. Katelyn had never heard anyone openly announce an abortion, but she didn’t put it past Angel to do so. Angel didn’t hold back much, which was sometimes cool and sometimes not.
Angel broke the gap. “What you been up to, Katelyn?”
“Nothing much. Oh,” she remembered, “I just got a new job.”
“Yeah, Tim told me. Fast food. Rough. But everyone does it.”
Katelyn didn’t hide her confusion. “Tim told you?” She looked to Tim who was busy looking at his shoes.
“Yeah, man. Didn’t he tell you?” Angel looked at Tim and swung an arm out to slap his arm. “We be at the Academy together. I totally decided to try this school stuff out. So, I’m shacking with my cousin here in Ames and takin’ classes at the learning center.” She laughed like school was a joke for her. “It ain’t bad. It’s all on the computer and I make my own hours. You can retake all the tests until you pass. That’s why Tim needs to come back. For real, it’s easy shit.”
Katelyn couldn’t act happy for Angel. Anger was rushing into her face. “Come back?” Katelyn’s question almost came out as a yell.
Angel caught on that she was the bearer of unwelcome news. “Hey, uh, shoot. I did this. Sorry.” She looked momentarily lost and stepped back as if to escape. Then she changed her mind. “Look, I gotta go, but, seriously, Katelyn, call me. I really want to hang out again.”
Katelyn nodded. She really did like Angel, and she needed a girlfriend. “Yeah, Angel, give me a call. I have the same number.”
Angel was already writing out her own number on a receipt. “It was in my other phone, and that’s missing in action.” She laughed at a situation only she knew. “Here’s mine.” She handed the receipt to Katelyn and a look of concern crossed her face. “Um, is that your nephew?”
Katelyn turned to follow her gaze. Colton had made it to the other side of the upper level to a display of overly decorated trees. One tree had a candy cane theme with red and white ribbons on an enormous frosted tree. The top half still held the candy cane treats, but the bottom had been cleared off, apparently by Colton. Colton was now standing on a giant wrapped box he had pushed up against the tree to act as a stepstool. He was grabbing the candies from higher up and throwing them down to Kayla and Sierra, who were running out of hands to hold it all.
“Oh my God!” Katelyn yelled and grabbed Tim’s arm.
Tim was laughing, but tried to get serious when he saw Katelyn’s embarassment. Tim broke into a run toward the kids, still laughing. “Save some for me, little man. Save some for me.”
Pick-me-up Page 33
