“They might have something going out, and you wouldn’t know that unless you checked thebox.Didn’t you learn that when you took the test for a postal career?It was right there in the books.”He said that he remembered it, but didn’t see any reason for stopping every time.“I just told you.Because they might have mail going out.Or they might need something from you.You just never know what you’re going to run into when you’re a postal worker.”
“I know that this is going to be harder than I thought.”She delivered the mail to the next house and waited for him to catch up.He’d been two houses behind her all morning, and she thought that she was never going to be finished with her route.Then he perked up toward the end, and that was why she was able to finish.“Don’t you take a break?All the houses have chairs on them that you could just have a seat and rest a bit.”
“You’re not supposed to do that.They put them there for themselves.”He wasn’t going to last, she just knew it.And then the postal service would be down another person because he was going to get caught taking a nap on someone’s porch when they weren’t home.“You really need to follow the rules and do what you’re supposed to do.It’ll take you a while to get up to speed, but that should be all that’s going to keep you from getting done on time.You can’t take naps or rest any while you’re on the job.”
“We’ll see about that.”Leaving the mail that hadn’t been on her route at the post office, she was headed home when her boss asked to speak to her about David.She told her just what she had encountered and what he’d said.She wasn’t going to be getting into trouble by him saying that she said he could take a nap, either.She told Dolores just what she thought about him making it too.He wasn’t.
“I’ll have to keep an eye on him, I’m thinking not just for the first few days either but all the time.If he pulls that shit, he’s going to be out of a job and not be hired again either.Does he know how hard it is to get into one of these jobs?It’s not easy at all.”Anna said that she knew that, and that was why she did everything in her power to make sure she kept the job, too.“I know you do.I hear back from your customers all the time about how you do such a good job.”
She had to cover the route one more time with David before she’d be going on her other schedule.It would be great if she could start early and get off in time to pick up Harri, but that was already planned out with her daughter and she was all right with that.Today, she was getting off at four again but since the school knew that she was going to be late today, they’d made arrangements for her to be picked up later.While at the school, she told them about Zeno and his parents picking up Harri.
“We’ll put them on the list.Since we know who they are, we won’t need a picture identification for them.Mr.Dresden senior has been coming here for years, when there are things like forms that have to go home to the parents.Some of the kids don’t have their shots all taken care of, and he goes over the paperwork that we have so that we know which students that need it.Mrs.Dresden has always been helpful at fundraisers too.”She said that she’d more than likely always be dropping her off, but on the off chance something happens, they’ll be able to do that as well.“Good to know.We’ll have everything in place for them when they come to get her.Do they know the safe word for her?”
“Yes, I’ll make sure they do.I’d forgotten about that.”She would have to tell the whole family the safe word to pick up Harri.If something happened to her and they needed to take her out of school early, then all they’d have to do is tell the teacherstring beans,and she’d be allow to go with them.She never thought of a reason someone would have to take her out of school early, so she seldom thought about it but she would from now on.“Also, if you could make it so you have their phone numbers too in the event you can’t get in touch with me.I don’t have them.”
“We’ll get them if we don’t already have them on file.I’m sure that we do, but I’ll make sure.I wish other parents were like you in getting things taken care of.We always know when Harri is having someone do something else for her when it’s necessary.”
“Yes, well, we’re all we have but each other and we need to make sure that we’re able to communicate well when something goes wrong.”Again, she couldn’t think of something like that would go wrong but she was sure that for every one thing she could think of there were about fifty more that would pop up.“I’ll pick her up tomorrow if everything goes right, and then she’ll have Zeno pick her up from then on.”
“Yes, we have that.”After leaving the school with Harri, Anna went home to try to finish the laundry.She should have finished it yesterday, but Harri had cleaned her room and had found about another load of things that she didn’t know if they were clean or not.So she had to wash them to be sure.
Harri had been working on sight words for the past three months.It was going well for the two of them, Anna would quiz her at any time during the time they were together and Harri seemed to know them fairly well.She was glad that she’d gotten her some sight words that she could put around the house on things like chairs and table and other things like that.She could see the word and what it meant easier that way.Anna wanted her daughter to do well when she finally got into first grade.Preschool was going to help her out in that, too.
“I’ve been thinking that Mr.Dresden isn’t going to have the right kind of snacks for me when I go to his house.Can I take some with me so that he knows what to buy?”She told Harri that she’d make sure to give him a list, and since he was doing them a favor by picking her up, she’d pay him to buy the snacks.“That’s a good idea, Mommy.You’re so smart.”
“Thank you.But you keep me on my toes, so I have to be smart.What did you want to wear tomorrow to school?It’s art day tomorrow, so it needs to be something that can get stained up.”She picked out her shirt and shorts, and Anna cleaned up her shoes.After she went to bed, Anna would lay her clothing out for her so that all she had to do was pull them on and be out the door after breakfast.“Don’t forget to tell Zeno thank you for picking you up for us.”
“I think he’s going to like it.”She did too and hoped that her daughter would be good for him.“He said that we wouldn’t get into any trouble either.I told him Mommy would spank us both if we got into trouble at his house.”
“Yes, I would.”After getting dinner on the stove and things set up for tomorrow, Anna set the table for the three of them and didn’t even think that Zeno wouldn’t be there for dinner.He’d been showing up nightly for the last week and a half, and she didn’t even think about it not happening tonight.She wondered if that was a good idea to be used to him showing up all the time.Then she thought that they were trying to get to know one another, and it had to be a good thing.When he showed up at six on the nose, they were ready to sit down to dinner and eat together.She told him about her day when he told her about his.Just like they were a real family.
After dinner, and when they were cleaning up, Harri mentioned snacks for after school.He had an idea what she was talking about, but it wasn’t until she got into the pantry to show him what they looked like did he get it.He knew that he was going to have to tell his parents, too in the event that they had her for the afternoon.Taking pictures of the things with his phone, he sent them to his mom and dad, and Mom said she’d get some.He told her not to get a great deal, as they might not have her all that often.Mom called him, and he put it on speaker phone so that Anna and Harri could hear the conversation.
“She could come over for an evening once in a while.She’ll need to get to know us as well.”He didn’t think of that and told his mom that she was brilliant.“Of course I am.I’m your mother after all.We’ll just get some of the things that she’ll have around, and you’ll know that they’re here as well.That way, we can be prepared.”
“I’m going to be picking her up starting Wednesday, and if she’s up for it we’ll come by.I’ll have to get a car seat that we can all use.”Mom said she’d get one too, and that way they’d have it ready for when she came over.“Don’t go to too much expense right away.We’re still working things out between us.It’s working out, but I’m making sure to take things slowly.”
“Mrs.Dresden, I can buy you a car seat for her if you want one.I offered to Zeno, but he said he’d buy one for his car anyway.I don’t want to put you out just because I have a little girl that makes things different.”Mom told Anna that she was excited to get to know Harri and hoped that she’d spend some time with them.“I’d like that too, but I’m easing her into things like this.Too much will give her a meltdown.You might think that I’m being overly protective, but it’s just been the two of us since she was born and neither one of us take well to change.We’ll get used to it, but I’m all for easingus both into things.If that’s all right with you.”
“Of course it is.You do what you need, and we’ll follow your lead on things.You’re right in easing us all into this.We have to get used to having little ones around us, too.It’s been since Darius was born that we’ve had anyone little in the house.”His mom seemed excited for Harri to come over sometimes.“Franklin just had a lovely thought.Why don’t you come to the family dinner on Saturday.You’re family now, and you should get to know all my boys while you’re around.I know that they’ll just love Harri and you to pieces.”
“If we won’t put you out, that would be great.”Mom was excited; he could hear it in her voice when she told her to come over at five on Saturday for dinner.“Can I bring anything to go with the meal?I can bring juices for Harri.She’ll eat most anything and will try things that she’s never had before.If that doesn’t work out, she’ll eat a peanut butter sandwich for dinner and be just as happy.”
“I’ll see what we can do for her.I’m sure that the cook and I can come up with something that she’ll eat.And we always have pie for dessert.Tell me she loves pie.”Anna said that she loved all kinds of pies and would love that for dessert.“Good.We’ll have pie for her if nothing else.She and I will get along just perfectly.I hope so anyway.”
After talking to his mom a bit more, he watched Anna read to Harri.He usually did it when he was around, but since he’d been on the phone with his mom, he’d missed the opportunity.He left soon after the story was read, and Harri was put to bed.He could have stayed longer, but he knew that with Anna driving to her old route until the other man was ready to be left on his own, she was having to get up earlier to leave.He wondered how that was going over with her messing with her own schedule.
Going home, he realized that he was bored with just sitting around the house.Since he was going to be looking at houses tomorrow afternoon, he needed to get himself ready for work a little earlier, too.As soon as he put his uniform shirt in the washer, he found some other things that he needed to wash and had a whole load.That was unusual for him, as he rarely did his own laundry when there was someone around to do it.He was spoiled, he realized and decided to start doing things for himself once in a while, so that he could know how to wash things at Anna’s home if she needed him to.
After running a dust cloth over his furniture, he was ready to toss his things in the dryer and then ran the vacuum.By the time ten o’clock rolled around, he was about as exhausted as he was when he worked a whole week.No wonder Anna liked to do things in portions over a week’s time.He knew that he couldn’t clean his whole house in one day again without having a nap at some point.Laughing at himself, he was in bed by the time his clothes were out of the dryer and folded.
Chapter 8
Shawn had a plan.His dad wasn’t keen on the plan, but he didn’t care.The police were starting to ask questions about his credit card that he’d been using all over town, and he didn’t have any answers.They were also telling him that his dad couldn’t be hanging out with him, as they were both known criminals and ex-cons.He was going to have to figure out something about that.But first, he was going to get money from his sister.
Mac had been working at the school for the past three days.He knew this because he’d watched her go in and out of the place.He just needed to get her alone sometime so that he could get some money from her, or he wasn’t above kidnapping her and having Dresden pay him to get her back.Assuming that he’d want her back.He wasn’t sure he’d want her back if he were in that position.Today was the day he was going to get her and then get some money.For all his trouble, he wanted more than just the ten grand that he’d been thinking about getting but he wasn’t going to be greedy the first time he got money from her.Ten grand would give him enough money that he’d not have to use the credit card again and get the police off his back.
Since she walked to work every day, he was going to get her on her way to her door.There was no point in his getting her before school.Without her showing up to school, then the police would be involved and that wouldn’t give him enough time to get what he wanted.After school, when she was walking home, he’d have a better chance of knocking her around a bit too.That was his plan, and he knew that he had to stick to it.If not, then he’d have to improvise and he’d never been good at that.It would mess him up every time.
