Chapter Three
The following morning Laurie woke up to an empty kitchen. As usual, Rueben was sleeping in. However, this time she wasn't going to let him get away with it. Shirley always woke up at seven to start breakfast, it was half past that now and she knew the rest of the kids would soon be appearing, ready for food. She pulled out all the items needed for cold cereal and then left to rouse Ma Kincaid.
"Ma Kincaid?" She rapped on his door.
"Go away! Came the muffled reply, but she wouldn't be leaving. Rueben needed to know his place.
"Ma Kincaid!" She knocked again.
"Laurie?" Chris came out of his bedroom then, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"What's wrong, Chris?" She turned to him. He looked a little pale.
"I don't feel well. My stomach kind of hurts."
It didn't take a doctor to realize what had occurred. Too much grease. Too much Chinese take-out. Poor eating had really taken its toll on the young boy's body. Laurie sighed. "Alright. Get back in bed. I'll have Ma Kincaid call you in sick for school."
Chris nodded miserably and then returned to his room. Laurie tried the door again. "Ma Kincaid!"
"Alright, alright, I'm up!" The door swung open. "What do you want?" From the tone of his voice, Laurie was sure he had anticipated Danny. He was still in his nightclothes and once realizing his caller was in fact Laurie, hastily hid himself behind his door. "Yeah? What is it?"
Laurie tried to hide her amusement and decided to address the most pressing issue first. "Chris is sick, you're going to have to call the school."
"Can't you do it? I'm not even dressed yet!"
Laurie shook her head firmly. "You're the mother, besides," she paused, "I already handled breakfast."
"So?"
"That's your job too, Ma."
Rueben's face fell. "Give me ten minutes."
"Five."
"Seven."
"Fair enough." Laurie smiled and then gave him a greeting, long over-due. "Good morning."
"What's good about it?" Rueben grumbled before closing the door in her face. Laurie grinned and went to wake her younger sister. The rest would soon be up and she still needed to eat breakfast and continue her own morning routine before school.
…
Breakfast was business as usual and when Laurie came back downstairs she found Rueben with the rest of the kids at the table. Tracy was spoon-feeding him Cheerios as he stared dejectedly at a wall. By the look on his face, Laurie anticipated that motherhood was already wearing on the poor manager.
"Well, I'm off. Be sure to get the kids to school on time." Laurie said her final farewell just as Keith entered the room and grabbed an apple out of the bowl on the counter.
"You're leaving already?" Rueben looked up to her and she nodded.
"Sure am. You wouldn't want us to be late for school now, would you?"
Reuben looked back to the wall. "No. Of course not."
"Have a good day." Laurie turned and unlocked the back door.
Keith, meanwhile, bid Rueben goodbye. "Don't forget to do the laundry. Oh! And Chris is upstairs, he may get hungry soon, and then there is also the grocery shopping, and don't forget to vacuum the rug."
Rueben sighed. "Maybe you should make me a list…"
Keith hit a palm to his forehead, "Oh no, can't. I'll be late for class."
Laurie held back the laughter until they reached the sidewalk. She looked to her older brother and asked, "Are we really that mean?"
Keith grinned. "No, we're just being model children."
Laurie giggled. "Right."
…
Shirley soon found the manager life wasn't much different from her own. Once arriving at the apartment she had been appalled by the mess and instantly went about cleaning the space, vacuuming the carpets and dusting the furniture. By the time she had finished, she had to take out the trash. It was overflowing with take-out boxes and greasy paper plates. She tied the bag and headed towards the front door. Just then, the phone rang. She dropped the bag and rushed to answer it.
"Hello?" She picked up the receiver.
"Who is this?" Came the gruff reply.
Shirley paused a moment to come up with an answer. She couldn't very well claim she was Rueben Kincaid. Though she would have his job for a couple days she was far from the man that was now in charge of raising her family. Could she label herself the manager, or would such a general title make the man suspicious?
"Hello?" The caller was getting impatient.
"Oh, I'm sorry. This is Shirley Partridge speaking. May I ask who you are?"
There was a pause on the other line. "Alfred Henderson."
"And you're calling in regards to…?"
His next statement was very direct. "Is Mr. Kincaid there?"
"No, actually, he's not."
"Do you know when he'll be back? This is his number isn't it?"
"Yes, and he'll be back in a week."
"A week? Where is he? On vacation or something?"
Shirley had to be clever with this response. She didn't want her family to lose business. "Well, I guess you could call it that…"
"What do you call it?" Asked Mr. Henderson.
Shirley hadn't been anticipating this question at all. "Um… well… Mr. Henderson, this would take a very long time to explain…"
"Never mind, then. Just be sure to let Mr. Kincaid know that… well…." He stopped for a moment. Shirley almost feared the line had been disconnected.
"Yes?"
"Never mind. I'll call back later. Goodbye."
"Bye." Shirley waited for a moment and then set the phone back in its cradle. She wasn't really sure what to think of her first conversation as manager. To say the very least, she didn't think it went very well. But what could she do? She couldn't claim to be Rueben, but then again, if people didn't know she was currently in control, she'd never get any work done.
"I'll just have to figure a way to let people know I'm going to be in charge of the group for a while." She thought aloud, walking into the center of the room and tapping her chin thoughtfully with her finger. She caught sight of the garbage bag and went back over to the door to deal with it.
The phone rang again. Shirley sighed. This was going to be a long day.
