She’s barely getting by. The only reason she’s surviving and has a house over her head is because her parents didn’t have a mortgage.
“Oh, my gosh! I’m so sorry, Tommy. I didn’t recognize your voice. I…” She sniffles again. “I don’t get paid until Friday.”
“We’ll figure it out, hon. It’s okay. I’ll be right over.”
“Thank you so much!” Once I end the call, I grab my work cell, update the mobile payment app, and then head downstairs to pick out a couple of extra things. I’m not going to sell her a snake—I have one at home. But in case I have to pull the toilet to get the toy out of the drain, I’ll need a new wax ring. So I get that and then let everyone know I’m heading out for a little while, and why.
Twenty minutes later, I’m on my knees in Kelly’s sons’ bathroom and pulling the toilet. She’s crying and sounds like she’s close to breaking. Before I got there, she sent her sons to school with the neighbor and her daughter, and now she’s free to speak her mind.
“I love my kids, don’t get me wrong. I’m just so…tired.” She sobs and I can’t exactly comfort her right now. Not when I’ve got protective gloves up to my armpits and I’m ladling less than pristine water out of her toilet into an old bucket with a plastic butter tub.
“It’s okay, Kel. I don’t mind helping you out. How’s work going?”
She sniffles again. “It’s okay. They reduced my load last month due to budget cuts, but at least I still have a job. So that’s something, I suppose.”
She works from home for a medical billing company. You’d think that’d be a growth industry. Problem is, the regional company was sold to a national chain a few months back and they started downsizing and consolidating almost immediately. Rumors have been flying that the several town citizens who depend upon the company in some way or another will likely suffer as a result.
Like Kelly, a single mother who, in nearly any other situation, would be facing dire choices. She has severe pain and chronic health issues as a result of the car accident that killed her parents and seriously injured her, too. Fortunately, her sons were at school, not in the car with them.
“Are you going to be okay? Financially, I mean?”
She nods and blows her nose. “For now. I’ve beenreallycareful with my money. I’m worried more about health insurance for me and the boys if I lose my job. We mostly live off my pay, because I keep everything else in savings, or retirement accounts, or their college accounts. I don’t want to touch any of those unless it’s a dire emergency.” Her gaze turns dark. “If Dumbass would pay me what he owes in back child support, and keep up with the payments, that would be one worry off my plate.”
“Attorney?”
“He can’t do any more than he has. My ex ducks the process servers. He’s living with a girlfriend.”
“Can’t they dock his pay?”
“Eventually, if we can track down where he’s working. The other problem is that he’s apparently working for cash under the table with buddies of his.”
I keep her talking as I work because I can sense she needs an ear. Not to mention it gives me something to think about besides what I’m doing.
In short order, I find that snaking the toilet doesn’t work, so the toilet’s going to have to come out. With the snake, I can feel where the toy is wedged just inside the pipe, but can’t dislodge or retrieve it.
She brings me garbage bags and old towels to lay on the floor to put the toilet on after I get the tank emptied. Twenty minutes later, Captain Toilet Stopper is minus both his arms, but I finally persuaded him to release his tenacious hold.
Kelly sadly laughs as she holds the small wastebasket for me to drop the toy into. “I’ll have to buy him another one.” She groans. “And get his brother a new game controller. Iggy didn’t mean to break it—he stepped on it accidentally. Billy left it on the floor.”
“How much do they cost?”
“Oh, no. You’re doing way too much already. I’ll make Billy work extra chores to earn the money for it.” She shakes her head. “He has to learn the value of money. God knows his father apparently doesn’t.”
Another twenty minutes later, her toilet is in place and working perfectly, and I can wash up. I’ll grab another quick shower at home before heading back to work.
When she tries to hand me two twenties, I refuse to take them and instead point at the five I see in her wallet. “That’s all. For the wax ring.” It’s actually more than five dollars, but I’ll pay for it with my credit card and give myself the employee discount, so it’ll work out about right with sales tax.
Her jaw gapes. “Tommy, you can’t be serious? Please, that was alotof work!”
“It was a quick fix. I’m glad I could help.” She hands me the five and reluctantly tucks the other bills back into her wallet. “Feel free to bring Billy over to my place any evening to sweep my front porch and sidewalk, or to pull weeds, if you want to torture him.”
This time, her laughter quickly turns to tears and she throws her arms around me in a hug I don’t know how to process, at first. It feels…weird hugging someone like this. I’m not much of a hugger. Not since he left.
Finally forcing myself to hug her back, I hold her as she cries. “Thank you so much, Tommy,” she sniffles after a moment. “I really owe you big time.”
“It’s okay. Like I said, glad I could help.”
Then, as if she realizes what she’s doing, she quickly disengages and steps back, wiping at her face. “Sorry. I’m a wreck.” She takes a deep breath. “Does he ever…call or visit?”
