Chapter 4: Bailey Gets a Job

Saturday morning, I walked out to the front yard and sat to soak in the beauty of it. It’s quiet in the mornings, usually my family is still asleep, unless mom has to work, but then she’s gone. The arguing is usually on Sunday. I wondered what it’d be like to be in one of those families where they make pancakes with maple syrup, bacon, and eggs. Everyone has their own way of doing things, I guess. I laid out an old stained towel on the grass with my own picnic of a breakfast: An orange, a banana, a stick of string cheese, and two fig newtons. I guess I made my own kind of heaven, with the warmth of the sun on my face, the cool breeze through my hair and two fig newtons making my cheeks bulge out like chipmunks.

I heard the plaintiff creek of the screen door opening and looked back to see Mr. Gadsten stepping out of the house and coming over. I waved at him with a chipmunk cheeked smile. God, I must have been the picture of innocence.

“Morning Bailey, she’s a thing of beauty, isn’t she?”

I gulped and pushed fig around to my cheeks until I could get out, “She?”

“Mother Nature, God’s creation.”

I nodded. It was a nice moment, he caught me off guard. I wasn’t doing any teasing, I was just having my quiet time. He wasn’t leering at me at all. Gosh, I’m always focused on that stupid stuff. What is wrong with me?

“Yup, yup, yup. And what do you have planned for this fine day, young lady?” He leaned on the fence. It clicked and yawed as it held his tall wiry frame.

“Going to the mall. Becky invited me, they are going shopping for her mom’s birthday, and she wants to look for new tops at Target. Adrianna wants to go all the way to the city, though. There’s a sale at Zara. So, I dunno. We’ll see if we can get a ride in.”

“Going shopping huh? Going to get something pretty for yourself?” His smile was casual, but there was a twinkle in his eye. I wondered if he was picturing me trying on clothes. But that was silly, he’s always been around and always been nice to us. Maybe he hadn’t even been watching me yesterday, but if he had been...

“Oh no, I couldn’t afford it. I’m just window shopping,” I leaned back propped myself up on my arms, stretched out my legs, and looked out at Mother Nature. The action also opened my body up to let his gaze go completely unnoticed by me and my oh so innocent and naive eyes.

“That’s a shame. Darn shame,” he inhaled, “Well, I tell you what, I think a young lady should be able to make a little money for herself. If you’ve got it in you, we can make that happen.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, genuinely puzzled. The places my mind was going did not fit anything I’d ever heard him say before.

“Two years ago, your brother worked for me for a while. Earned some money, gained some skills. I know you’re hard working, smart, and a good girl. If you wanted to make some money to get some pretty things, I am sure we could work something out. You up for it?”

“Really? Oh, I’m always up for it!” I popped up, “Can we start now? How much is it? I’m not as strong as my brother, but I’ll work really hard, I promise!”

He chuckled at my enthusiasm, “Slow down there, alright, warning now, the pay is not so good, you only get paid when we’re out and you can’t get out until I teach you enough to be useful. Otherwise you get in the way, and I’m no babysitter. You’re going to work, and you’re going to get dirty.”

I smiled, “I don’t mind getting dirty.” I’m so evil. I said it with complete innocence, but the way his eyes flickered down, I knew he had other thoughts.

“Alright. Well, first you ask your daddy. You get his permission, we start tomorrow.”

“Can I get permission from mama?”

“That’ll work too.”

I’ll be honest, I was kind of excited. I went shopping with Becky and Addy, and we looked at a bunch of stuff, but this time instead of sighing about how I’d never get any of this stuff, I smiled and thought, ‘soon’. We tried on a bunch of stuff at Zara, and Addy bought some things. On the way back, we even stopped at Ross and Becky picked up a few gifts. Addy insisted I try on this dark emerald green top. It was really weird, like, it had no back, it just kind of draped across my shoulders and crisscrossed. When I got it on, it only showed a little patch of skin at my lower back, so it wasn’t really revealing at all, but if I spun, it flared out and showed further up.

“Your bra strap would totally show,” Becky pointed out.

Addy grinned, “Who needs a bra.”

“It’s a little daring,” I bit my lip.

“Yeah, Bay, that’s the point,” Addy egged me on, “Do you like it?”

“Would you wear it?” Becky asked.

“Or even buy it? Guys, I can’t afford it.”

“No big, I’ll get it for you,” Addy smiled.

I shook my head, “No, I can’t do that.”

“What? It’s no big thing, I mean I couldn’t wear it, but you pull it off,” she said, “‘sides, you look so good in it I think Bee here is about to go gay for you.”

Becky rolled her eyes.

I wanted to take her up on it, but I couldn’t. I wanted something, and soon, I could get it for myself. I think I wanted that more than anything else. While Addy was giving Becky a hard time over turning down some boy who asked her out, I changed back into my boring clothes and we left.

I got mom’s permission, that night and ran over to Mr. Gadsten’s place to tell him. His wife answered the door wearing a house dress and a weary look. She quirked an eyebrow when I asked for her husband, so I explained that it was about the job. The way her lips pursed, I could tell I was stepping in it. I told her he said I wouldn’t get much and only when we were out. I knew she was worried about money, everybody is. He was quick to handle her, though. When I left I knew they’d be having a talk about it, but that was fine. I never did hear any yelling or ruckus at the Gadsten house anyway. I think they maybe even owned their house.

I showed up the next morning bright and early, hair up in a ponytail ready to work. I was wearing one of my brother’s hand-me-down t-shirts, an old Chevelle concert shirt and black shorts. I was definitely ready to work.

Mr. Gadsten was really nice about things, he taught me some basic safety stuff to make sure I knew what could shock you even when the machines were unplugged. He taught me a bunch of names of tools and where he kept everything in the van. He couldn’t just teach me, though, he had to get some work done, so for that I just got him tools and towels and stuff. You might think it was lame, but I was actually having fun. He even muzzed my head once when I pretended to screw up a voltage reading on his multimeter.

“Alright, if you’re up for it, we can go out and do some field work. Maybe actually get paid, what do you say?”

I nodded, “Okay.”

“And we’ll grab some lunch on the way,” he grinned.

I double nodded, real fast. My stomach was complaining, and I wasn’t used to doing so much stuff.

“Alright well I guess then there’s just one last thing. We gotta take care of that shirt.”

“Uh,” I waited, since he was rummaging around the laundry.

“Here’s an old one that your brother used to use a couple summers ago,” he tossed me the whitish short sleeve polo shirt with his logo on the left breast. The buttons were reversed, cause it was a guy’s shirt. “Give it a shot.” He turned around and started gathering tools. A little nervous, I turned around so even if he looked he couldn’t see much. I pulled off my brother’s top and was opening the polo when he blurted out, “Jesus H, girl, I didn’t mean here. Go inside to the bathroom for that.” I started to go, with the top in hand when grabbed me by the shoulders quick but gentle, “Woah hey stop, what are you trying to get me killed?” He got a big eyeful as I stared at him like a doe caught in headlights. “Don’t ... just put it on quick before my wife comes in here.”