Tommy woke up in the middle of the night to someone screaming, "Daddy help!" he jumped up and ran into the hall, "Elizabeth?" he shouted, running into her room, she was curled up under her blankets shivering in fear, "Elizabeth what's wrong?" he asked softly.
"bad Dream…" she said her green eyes wide in terror.
"Bad Dream about what?"
Elizabeth didn't say anything, just trying to furrow deeper into her bed.
Tommy sighed and sat next to her, putting an arm around her.
Elizabeth burrowed into her fathers chest.
"you know you can talk to me about anything," he said to his daughter.
She shook her head, not wanting to talk of her dream.
Tommy sighed, laying down, "come on, I'll lay with you until you fall asleep."
She nodded and put her head back on the pillow, closing her eyes.
Tommy looked down at his daughter, she looks so much like her mother… he thought, the only thing that didn't remind him of Rachel was her red hair, she had gotten that from Tommys side of the whereas Tommy was more tanned Elizabeth's skin was fair. He sighed and looked at his daughter, she was already asleep, he careful got out of the bed and walking into the bathroom, he closed the door and sat down on the toilet, looking at his reflection, at his long shaggy hair that fell into his blue eyes and at the Tattoo's that covered his arms, the Tribals on his left and the assorted jumble of different Tattoo's on his right, he rubbed his face and stood up, walking back to his room, he laid down and looked at the Ceiling, falling into an uneasy sleep.
"Daddy! Wake up! Wake up Daddy!" he heard Elizabeth beside him shout, "hurry!"
Tommy groaned and sat up, "what is it baby?" he asked.
"it's time for school!" she said excitedly.
He looked at his daughter and she was already changed into a nice white sundress that she had wanted to wear for the first day of school, she had combed her hair and put her shoes on, her backpack was already on.
Tommy looked at the clock, 6:30, damn… he thought, "Did you eat already?" he asked.
"yes!" Elizabeth said, looking away from him.
"Really? Let me smell your breath."
Elizabeth looked at him, then took off to the bathroom.
Tommy smiled and got out of bed, he was already in his jeans, so he grabbed a white T-shirt and put it on, then put his work boots on and walked into the kitchen, "what do you want for breakfast!" he shouted to Elizabeth.
"eggs!"
Tommy opened the refridgerator, "damn." He said, covering his nose, a lot of the stuff in it had gone bad, he grabbed some eggs and closed the door, he smelled them to make sure they were all right, and then put them on a pan to cook.
Elizabeth ran in and sat at the tables, she looked at some bills on the table and pointed at one, "daddy what does this word say?"
Tommy looked over at the bills and pulled them away, "nothing…" he said, keeping the unpaid bills behind him and out of sight, he put them in a drawer and brought the eggs over to Elizabeth, putting the food in front of her.
Elizabeth cut into the eggs while Tommy walked into his room again, picking up his packet of Cigarettes into his pocket, he walked back in and Elizabeth was waiting at the door, "lets go daddy, lets go!" she said, jumping up and down.
"calm down." He said smiling, opening the door, the two walked out hand in hand down the street, "so are you going to get to stay the whole day with me?" she asked.
"no, I got to go to work." He said.
"Oh…" she said deflating a little, "are you going to pick me up after school?"
"aunt Angelica is, and you'll be able to stay the day over at her house.
She brightened a little, then she stopped walking as they approached the school.
Tommy looked at her, "what's wrong?"
"what if the other kids don't like me? Or the Teacher's mean…maybe we should just go home."
"oh no," Tommy said smiling, "Your going to school, you were so exited about it yesterday.'
Elizabeth nodded, but didn't move.
"how about I go in with you," tommy asked. Elizabeth nodded and grabbed her dads hand, the two walked in, looking around, "who is your teacher again?" Tommy asked.
"Ms. Ramone." Elizabeth said looking around.
Tommy nodded and looked down the hall, seeing the name, "come on." He said, leading her into the room.
"welcome to Kindergarten." Ms. Ramone said introducing herself to some of the parents, her brown hair was pulled up in a pony tail and some wire rimmed glasses framed her brown eyes, "welcome to Kinder- Oh god!" she jumped a little, looking at Tommy, "Um…I think your looking for highschool." She said.
Tommy raised his eyebrow, "I'm dropping my daughter off." He said.
"oh…sorry…" she said, turning red.
Tommy shrugged and turned to his daughter, "now you be a good girl." He said, "don't get into any fights," then he leaned in closer and whispered, "unless they ask for it."
"okay daddy!" she said and gave him a little kiss on the cheek, then ran over to some of the kids, her fear gone.
Tommy smiled, and stood up.
"You look familiar…have I met you before?" Ms. Ramone asked.
"don't think you have." He said, walking out, his hands in his pockets.
Tommy walked onto the construction site, looking at the half finished building, "in a few more years this will be the biggest skyscraper in the western Hemisphere." He muttered, 'as soon as we figure out how to keep the beams from breaking…" he walked in.
"Yo tommy!" one of the other workers shouted, "boss wants to see you!"
Tommy looked up, "alright." He said running over to the trailer that served as his boss's office, he knocked and walked in, "you wanted to speak to me Mr. Green?"
A man looked up, he was dressed in a business suit but had on work boots and a hard hat.
"ah Tommy! Good to see you again!" the big man said, "sit down.
Tommy sat down, "is this going to take long? I got a few beams that need to be welded before lunch time."
"no you don't Tommy." Mr. Green said, " you see…the guys higher up have decided…your division is not needed for the rest of the project.
Tommy looked at him stunned, "sir, we're the only ones certified to handle the welding equipment."
"I know…but it wasn't my decision, I'm sorry tommy.
"how can you do this? Man I got a kid to feed, so do the other guy's, you expect us to just scrap by with the bullshit check we'll be getting' for being fired?"
"I'm sorry Tommy, I can't do anything, please, tell your division the news and leave."
"too scared to tell them yourself?" Tommy spat, "want me to do your dirty work?"
"Tommy!" Green shouted, standing up, "leave, before I have security take you out."
Tommy glared at him, then turned around and walked out, slamming the door behind him, he walked into the area where his division was waiting, he looked around, wanting to punch something, he saw one of the large wooden beams going up inside, he ran over to it and started punching it, denting the wood, "FUCK!" He shouted, "son of a bitch!"
"Tommy what's going on!" one of the guy's asked him.
"we've been laid off man!" tommy said, "fucking Corporate said we weren't needed."
There were cries of outrage around are we going to do!" one shouted.
Tommy listened to them, "best we can do is leave," he muttered, "go job hunting."
They nodded and all started walking towards the exit, Tommy past the office again,he looked through the window and saw Mr. Green with his feet propped up on the desk laughing and talking on the phone, Tommy clenched his fists and ran over to the office, throwing the door open.
"tommy what is it now?" Green asked, right before Tommy punched him.
Angelica stormed into holding, "where is he!" she shouted, her blonde hair was tied back, and her business suit was a little wrinkled, probably from running into the police station.
The cops looked at her, "you here for Pickles?"
"yes." She said angrily, "I'm here to bail his dumbass out."
The cop nodded and handed Angelica the papers to sign, she signed them and the
cops left, coming out a little later with Tommy.
"hey cuz…" tommy muttered, his eye was black.
"tommy, why the hell did you punch your Boss!"
"he was being a douche…" Tomm said.
"so that's a good enough reason to break his nose,dislocate his jaw, blacken his eyes and give him a minor concussion!"
"no, the good reason was that the bastard fired my entire division!" Tommy shouted.
Angelica looked at him shocked, "He…he did what!"
"fired my entire division, he kept saying, "corporate told me too, corporate told me too, we don't have enough money.'" corporate came by last week, gave us an extra 50,000 dollars to finish earlier, we didn't see a penny of that 50,000."
Angelica's gears were spinning in her head, "come on Tommy." She muttered, "lets get you home."
"Did you pick up Elizabeth?" he asked.
"yeah," she said, "I left her at home, she was taking a nap when I left."
Tommy sat in Angelica's car, "you know you'll have to find another job Tommy." Angelica said.
"I know…I know…but where?"
she shrugged, "I hear the schools hiring a Janitor."
Tommy rolled his eyes, "yeah, like they'll wan't my ass back their."
"it's better than nothing tommy," she said, "now, tomorrow you will find a job, and then go talk to that little gay brother of yours, he's been bothering me about having a family day for the longest of times and I'm getting tired of it."
Tommy smiled a little, "alright Angelica…" he muttered.