Page 24 of River Wild

Carrie

I have a job! An actual job!

I would be skipping the whole way home if I wasn’t weighed down by the obscene amount of groceries I was carrying.

But I have no one to blame but myself.

I got a little carried away at the store, which luckily also sold bedsheets and bath towels. But I also realized that I needed some pillows for the bed, so I bought two of those along with the essentials—bread, milk, eggs, oranges for fresh juice in the morning, pancake mix, and bacon.

So, I’m carrying a lot of stuff home. There are no local buses or taxis.

So, my feet it is.

I’m walking up the street, not too far from my house. There’s no pavement on this part, so I’m walking in the middle of the road so that I’m visible to motorists. Not that any cars have passed me so far.

It’s looking more and more likely that I’m going to need a car because walking groceries home all the time is not going to be easy, the more pregnant I get.

But, hopefully, I’ll be able to get one soon when I start earning money from my new job.

I can’t believe I have a job. I haven’t worked since I was eighteen. After I left high school, I worked as a cashier at a local supermarket right before I met Neil. When I moved in with him, he had me quit my job.

Well, I’ll never be quitting this job. The only way they’ll get rid of me is if they sack me.

God, what if I’m really bad at the job and Sadie does sack me? I’ve never waitressed before. I mean, I know it’s a case of taking down orders and getting food from the kitchen to the customer, but what if I can’t remember who ordered what, and I mix things up?

No, it’s going to be okay.

Sadie is going to show me what to do, and I’m going to figure it out just fine. Because I need this job.

The baby and I need this job.

I can do this, no prob—

Ah, nuts!

One of my plastic shopping bags has broken, and my food is currently all over the road.

The milk carton has split open and is pouring out onto the road. The oranges are rolling off in every direction, and I don’t have a good feeling about the eggs.

I put my other shopping bags down and take a quick look at the egg carton, flipping it open.

Yep, they’re all done for.

Double nuts!

I pick up the pancake mix and bacon, and then I start running around after the oranges, gathering them up.

I hear the roar of a car engine and lift my head to see a truck heading my way.

Hands full, I call out in a loud voice, “Hey! You need to stop. My stuff is in the street!”

But the truck doesn’t stop, and I figure the driver couldn’t hear me over the noise of the engine.

Tucking the food from both arms to one, I wave a hand to get the driver’s attention.

But it doesn’t seem to work.

If anything, the truck seems to have sped up. And it’s getting closer and closer to the rest of my shopping items.