Pick-me-up (19 page)

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 initiative 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.