“Come on Sugar,” he said smoothly, “you may be a bit shy, but you’re a college girl, you don’t have to worry about mommy and daddy finding out you have fun with boys.”
“I’m not worried about that” said Amelia, “I don’t want you to do that.”
“Betty walked toward them, so they said no more.
When they got back to Betty’s parents, Amelia and Betty were about to go upstairs to bed when Don said, “Amelia come here a minute I want to ask you something.”
“What is it Don?”
He whispered in her ear, “After Betty goes to sleep come to my room and we’ll have some fun,” he said winking at her.”
“I’m sorry Don, I’m a guest here, and besides I don’t do things like that.”
“Oh, don’t worry if anybody saw us Betty would cover for us.”
“I know she would, she and I are friends. See you in the morning Don.”
Secret thoughts: (I can’t help thinking how nice it was to kiss Don. I never really kissed a boy like that before. The only boy that has hugged and kissed me on the cheeks is Chad. I wonder what it would be like to kiss Chad on the mouth.)
On Sunday, they had brunch and Don sat next to Amelia and he told her how much fun he had at the party last night. Betty and Amelia weren’t going back to school until later that afternoon. Amelia and Betty helped Mrs. Jacobs clear the table and put the dishes in the dishwasher. Betty was in her room deciding what clothes she wanted to take back to school and Amelia took out one of her textbooks and sat in the living room and began reviewing for an exam. Mr. Jacobs and Don set out some plans, pens, paper, and a calculator, in the office just off the living room and began working on estimating jobs for the company to bid. Amelia heard them talking, Don was trying to convince his father to bid a job they had the plans for, but didn’t see the job in person. After they had batted the point around for about ten minutes, Don looked over at Amelia and winked.
“What do you think Amelia should we bid the job or not.” Not thinking she would have any interest or knowledge about construction estimating, Don thought she would go along and agree with him.
Amelia put her book down, got up, came over to the desk, and looked at the plans they had spread out. “Betty said you were in construction, but I didn’t realize it was installing gas lines. Is this the job?” she asked.
“Yes,” said Don with a grin, “thinking it would all be Greek to her.”
Amelia took her time and looked over the plans. “I see the plan is on a 10 scale, do you have a 10-scale ruler I could use?”
Don’s eyebrows shot up in a surprised look. His father looked amazed also.
He handed her a scale. Taking the scale, Amelia began measured the distance of where the gas main was to be installed and where the road was. She pointed to a spot on the plans and asked, “What is here, next to the road,” pointing to the plan, that showed nothing, “are there any buildings or other structures, any signs or fences, how about shrubbery and is this area directly next to the road, is it grass or is there a sidewalk here?”
“I don’t know,” said Don, “we didn’t see the job, are you and engineering student?”
“No, I’m not, I’m a science major, If you don’t have the answers to those questions I don’t think you should bid the job,” said Amelia.
Don was displeased at the answer Amelia gave, he was thinking Amelia would agree with him and then he would be through with this work for the day.
“You agree with my dad. How would you know anyway?” Don asked with a sneer on his face.
“One of the first things I learned from my father when he was in underground construction business was never bid a job you haven’t seen. It’s not that the plans are designed to be deceiving however; they don’t always show all that you need to know. Once when my dad first started his business, he bid a job, sight unseen, because he was too busy to go to the site, and it was a disaster. The plans showed a building with nothing else near it. He didn’t bother to go to see the job in person. He bid it from the plans. It turned out the main waterline had to go through a newly paved parking lot next to the building, and the hook up was located under a huge brand-new electric sign, next to the building. The plan didn’t show that the area was all pavement either. Not only that, it didn’t show that there was a sidewalk in front of the building. In order to make the hook up, the concrete sidewalk had to be torn out and replaced, and the sign taken down and put back up. My father’s company had to eat the cost of replacing the sign, the pavement, and the sidewalk.
“See,” said Mr. Jacobs, “she’s right you never bid a job without walking it.”
“How do you know all that?” asked Don.
“I learned a lot when I used to help my father do the bidding and estimating for his company and I worked as a backhoe operator to get tuition for college.”
“You did,” they said together. “Betty never told us that.”
“Well I did,” Amelia said.
Don sort of looked at her with distain, “we don’t have any female operators working for us, and they are sometimes a pain.”
“That’s too bad, that’s your loss,” said Amelia, as she walked away.
As they walked out to the car on their way back to campus, Betty’s father called, “Amelia please come home with Betty anytime, I enjoyed your company very much.”
Amelia emailed Chad and told him about going to Betty’s parent’s home. She mentioned Betty’s father and brother only briefly but described how surprised they were to learn she knew how to operate a backhoe. She didn’t say anything about looking for a job; she would tell him and Ida when she found a new job.
[ Chapter 18 ]
On Monday after school, Amelia told Betty and Shelly, “We have to get down to brass tacks now and find a job for me today.” Betty and Shelly agreed. They went into town and saw that the same construction crew was still working in the area. Amelia heard someone calling her name as she walked down the street and she turned her head to see who was calling her. Turning around she saw Chuck, the construction foreman waving at her. He motioned them over. They went over and said hello to him.
“How are you girls doing?” Asked Chuck, and to Amelia, “Have you save any overturned cars lately?”
“No, I haven’t,” said Amelia laughing, “Betty and Shelly are helping me look for a job. The job I had at the cafeteria has been cut, so I’m looking in town now.”
“What kind of job are you looking for?”
“I need something part time, or on weekends, so I can keep up with my studies.”
“Do you have time to have a cup of coffee with me?” He asked.
“Not today we have to get going, I’ll see you around we have to go.”
Chuck said “I never did get a chance to thank you properly for saving the day, with the backhoe. I would like to take you out to dinner or something.”
“You don’t have to do that,” said Amelia, “but if you hear of any jobs, let me know.”
Amelia got a job in a sporting goods store. She worked restocking shelves and checking in new orders. It didn’t pay much, but it was a job.
One Friday night after Amelia got off work, Betty and Shelly met her in town. It was later in the evening, so Amelia didn’t expect to see Chuck since routine construction was long over for the day. The girls went to the Silver Diner to have a bite to eat and they ran into Chuck. He invited them to join him, after they had eaten and were ready to leave, Chuck asked Amelia to stay a moment.
“OK,” said Amelia and she waved her friends on and told them to wait for her on the bench by the Green Tree Shop.
“I’ve been thinking about you needing a job and you mentioned part time and weekends and I have an idea.”
“What is it?” Asked Amelia.
“We have another project on the other side of town that we nearly completed, th
e other tradesman, electricians and plumbers are there now and the area needs to be restored. I thought you could work running a backhoe to dress up the construction site on the weekends. My boss is not ready to hand in the final project payment papers until the final inspection is done, but he can’t do that until the site is all cleaned up. It’s a large area and there’s enough work, for at least 6 weeks I think the pay would be much more than what you make in the store.”
“Chuck that would be great! I have one question; could we keep my gender a secret?”
“Why do you want to do that?”
“Because I don’t want anyone to know I’m a girl. Not that I’m embarrassed or anything, but it sometimes gets to be a problem, when it is all men and one girl, you know what I mean?”
“Yeah, I see what you mean. I understand. We had a female crane operator on another job last year and the men drove her away by making fun of her and harassing her in the guise of teasing and just having fun.”
“I think I can arrange that, none of the other operators want to work on Saturdays or Sundays anyway. If you need something or if you have an equipment problem, then I’m not sure. Other than that, I don’t see why we have to publicize the fact that you are a girl.”
“Chuck this will help me out so much, it’s perfect because I can still study during the week and after work on weekends. Thank you so much for thinking of me for this job, I really appreciate it.”
“I’m as happy as you about it, because it’s really hard to find someone willing to work every weekend. My boss will be very happy that I found someone. I could kick myself for not thinking about this before. Meet me at the campus entrance tomorrow morning at 6:30 and I’ll take you out to the sight and explain what needs to be done and give you a set of plans. You do read plans, don’t you?”
“Yes, I learned that from my father years ago.”
“You looked so sad when you said that Amelia is there something wrong with your father?”
“My father is dead,” Amelia said, “it was an accident and I miss him very much. He was a good man.”
“Gosh, I’m sorry, I’ll see you tomorrow morning. Come on I’ll walk with you until you catch up with your friends.”
Secret thoughts: (Chuck was sort of young to be a construction foreman. He told me that he started going to construction sites with his father when he was ten years old because his father and mother were divorced, and he didn’t see much of her. That really brought back unpleasant memories for me. It made me feel sorry for him. He would play around then and ride his bike all over the place, but as the years passed, he took more and more of an interest in the job. Although his father was still in business, Chuck wanted to work for a larger company. Amelia found him very interesting and he was very knowledgeable in his field, best of all he is giving me a job, I’m so grateful.)
Amelia emailed Chad and Ida and told them, “the bad news, and the good news.”
Chad emailed back and told her to be very careful at the construction site I know how men can be especially when they are around a beautiful female.
Everything was going well. Amelia was making enough money to pay her room and board and still save a little money. The job was exactly what she needed for now, she was able to cover her expenses, and best of all it felt good to keep up her skills in running equipment. Chuck had come out to the job site twice and brought her lunch. He was impressed with the way the clean up on the site was progressing.
One Saturday afternoon Chuck called, “I want to let you know that my boss, Andy, and the owner of the company want to come out to look at the site.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“I wanted to give you the chance to decide what you want to do. If you want to meet them, stop the backhoe and I will introduce you, if you don’t stay in the machine and wave at us. What do you want to do Mel?”
“Could we keep up the charade that I’m a man, unless of course they want to meet me than we’ll go with whatever happens?”
“Sure, no problem,” said Chuck.
When Chuck brought the men to the site, they were very pleased with what they saw. The sight was clean with no sign of holes, bumps, tracks or any other distracting voids. After blowing the truck horn and calling Amelia on her cell, she stopped the backhoe for a moment and waved at them, then continued with the work. The owner of the company asked who the operator of the equipment was.
“That’s Mel, said Chuck.”
Mr. Evans who owned the company called, “Digging for Dollars,” was amazed as he watched Amelia run the backhoe. “It’s like poetry in motion to watch that operator work that equipment. Has he been working for us long?”
“No,” said Chuck, “that’s our part time employee, only works on the weekends doing clean up.”
“Chuck, I want you and Andy here to work on getting that operator with us full time, we need talent like that.”
“OK,” said Chuck, “Andy and I will work on that.”
That evening Chuck phoned Amelia and asked to take her to dinner. She agreed and said she would meet him in town. They went to a small restaurant near campus and Chuck told her what the Mr. Evans said about her running the equipment.
“I’m so flattered,” said Amelia. “Did you tell them who I was?”
“No, I only said you were a part time employee. Mr. Evans told me he wanted you to work full time for us.”
“Again, I’m very flattered, but you know my situation, Chuck, I’m doing this for the money I’m not going to do this my whole life. There’s nothing wrong with it, I’m just interested in other things.”
“I know,” said Chuck, “I wanted to let you know what a good job you’re doing for us, and I wanted you to know that it wasn’t only me who thinks you are very good at running equipment.”
[ Chapter 19 ]
The following Saturday afternoon Chuck called and said, “Let me buy you dinner when you’re finished at the site. I’ll meet you in town.”
“Thanks Chuck, I appreciate the invitation, but I have to write a paper and I need to do a little research at the library before I can start, and it will take a good deal of time, I can’t do it tonight.”
Coming back from the library Amelia heard shouting as she opened the door to their room. She saw Betty and Luke half sitting and lying on the bed, they were having an argument. Luke got up when he saw Amelia and she said, “Hi, I was just going to get a few things and go next door.”
“Don’t do that,” said, Betty, “Luke was just leaving, weren’t you Luke?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” he said getting up and grabbing his jacket, “see you around Betty,” he snarled.
After he left Betty said, “Oh thank you Amelia, I was in a pickle there, Luke wanted to have sex and I told him I didn’t. He got angry and told me I was a tease and some other malicious things. Anyway, you came in, just in the neck of time; I don’t plan on seeing him again. I invited him here to tell him that in person rather than on the phone, but it didn’t work out as I expected. We have been dating, but I just considered him a friend he wanted me to be his girlfriend. I have been going out with Darrell for the last two weeks.”
“Is that the guy you had a crush on for so long?”
“Yeah, that’s him, he’s a bit nerdy looking and wears glasses, but he has a sexy body and a sweet disposition.”
“How did that happen?”
“I was a fluke really. I was at the student union one day and dropped some books I was carrying. Darrell was behind me and bent over to help me pick them up and when we both went to get up, we bumped heads and looked at one another and burst out laughing. I said, “We should go and have a drink to treat our busted brains,” and we laughed again. He said, “That’s a great idea.” We ended up talking for two and a half hours. We hit it off quickly and I’m going out with him tomorrow afternoon. I can’t believe that was so easy, when I have
had such a crush on him for so long and didn’t know how to approach him. Anyway, I only decided to meet Luke to tell him I wouldn’t be seeing him anymore, and then he got enraged when I didn’t want to fool around.”
“Do you think we should tell campus security about that?”
“No, I think it will be OK, he was just angry, he’ll get over it.
Their days at college were flying by. The semester was over, and Amelia was staying to work full time at the construction job. Betty’s father rented an apartment close to campus with three bedrooms for her, Shelly, and Amelia, for their second year. It worked out well because they had to move out of the dorm for the summer and it gave Amelia a place to live, since it was a yearly rental.
Betty’s relationship with Darrell had taken off and they were a steady couple now. Shelly made friends with some of the pre-med students and did a lot of things with them. She was going into pre-med also. Amelia planned on taking some summer courses, she was still trying to catch up and this would put her in the class she should be in. Besides she couldn’t afford to go home for a visit, it was too much money to fly and driving meant a lot of time off from work. Amelia did a good job of keeping in touch with her family, Ida, and Chad through email, phone calls, and letters. Chad was very busy too; he had been on two very long missions.
Secret thoughts: (I have not said a word to Shelly and Betty yet, but I feel so close to Chad. I often run things by him that I would ordinarily just think about myself, he is so understanding and gives such good advice.)
It seemed they just began their second year, when it too was almost over. Amelia had not been home in almost a full year and a half, and she missed everybody but again this coming summer she planned on working and taking summer classes. Betty and Darrell were going on a European tour and would go hiking in several countries, after the first session of summer classes was over. Shelly was going to work in the hospital as a nursing assistant so she and Amelia would both be staying in the apartment.
Secrets of Amelia Page 11
