Party? Extension? How did I enter?
The woman watched my face and then took the receiver.
“Oh, these automated systems. If you press zero, you get a person.”
She pressed the zero, then spoke. “Is your manager, Penny St. Martin, there?” She nodded. “I think they’re getting her.” She passed the phone to me. “Good luck.”
I didn’t want her to go. She was the only thing that had gotten me this far.
A woman’s voice spoke into my ear. “This is Penny.”
Time to do this. “My name is Ava Roberts. Frank at the Shelfmart where you used to be hired me as a stocker, but James said you might need someone at your store.”
“James is a good kid. I always need more stockers. What shifts can you work?”
I had no idea what a shift was, so I said, “I can work anytime.”
“That’s great. I lost a day stocker. You’re not in school?”
“No. I’m eighteen.” It felt strange to say it. Only yesterday I’d been sixteen.
“Great. Can you be here this afternoon? We’ll get the paperwork done and you can officially start tomorrow.”
“I will. Where is the store?”
She gave me an address, and I carefully wrote it in my notebook.
“Thank you,” I said. “Tell Frank I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it. We trade people all the time.”
The phone clicked, then made a strange, even sound. I guessed the call was over.
I held the phone for a moment, my body feeling like sparks were firing inside. I’d done a big thing. I had a job. That had to be the hardest part. I’d get paid money. I could shop. Now, I had to find a place to live. It sounded like this store was really far. Mother would never find me.
I set the top of the phone back in its resting place. The woman who helped me drifted back over.
“Did it work?”
“It did,” I smiled. “I have a job there. I need to figure out how to get there. I don’t have a car. I suppose I could walk.”
She turned my notebook around. “That’s in Austin proper. Way too far to walk. We can look up a bus schedule.”
“Does the bus cost money?” I hadn’t thought to steal any from my mother, not that she’d have any. We spent it at the store.
Her crystal-gray eyes searched my face. “You’re in a real tough spot, aren’t you?”
“I am.” Before I could stop myself, words tumbled out in a rush. “My mother didn’t want me to have a job. I had to give her a sleepy pill to escape. I don’t know how to get online and this was the first time I’ve ever used a phone.”
The woman pressed her hand to her throat. “Do you have any other family in town?”
“No. It’s only me and my mother. But she was lying to me. Something bad is happening. I just can’t remember.”
“Come here, child.” She led me behind the counter and sat me in a chair. “How old are you?”
“Eighteen.” I pulled out the folder and showed her my birth certificate. “I didn’t know I was eighteen until last night. She told me I was sixteen. I think she did it so I wouldn’t run away.”
“Good Lord.”
