Thanks for all the encouragement. Keep it up.


Lula's POV

Steph and I left RangeMan and drove back to the Bond's Office. Connie was just closing up for the day so we invited her to join us for the evening. One more person would make the task of cleaning out my closet go quicker and Connie would be able to offer some much needed gossip relief.

Connie agreed to join us so we each hopped in our own cars and drove via Pino's and headed to my place. Our first order of business was food. Once the pizza was finished and the box was disposed of, we opened the door to my closet.

We made three piles. The clothes on the bed were ones I was going to keep. The pile by the door was for donations and the last pile contained things that Jackie might want. If she decided she didn't want them, they'd be added to the donations pile.

I couldn't believe how small the pile of clothes on my bed was in comparison to the other two piles. I found the entire experience cathartic and hilarious. We would hold up outfits and laugh ourselves silly at the memory of me wearing them. I almost cringed when I saw some of them. I must have looked like an idiot.

The things in my keep pile included my sweats, lingerie, pyjamas and a few conservative outfits. It was very clear to me and the other girls that I was severely lacking in normal every day clothes. It was a good thing that RangeMan provided the uniforms because if it wasn't for that, I'd end up going naked most of the time.

I ended up getting rid of every single piece of spandex I owned. Both Connie and Steph were as shocked as I was when I they held up something and I told them to put it on either pile other than my bed. Once we finished the clothes, we had 6 large garbage bags full of clothes to be donated. The pile for Jackie was pretty large and would probably fit into a further three bags. I decided to wait to bag them until Jackie had a chance to see them.

The clothes on my bed were carefully folded and put into a suitcase. Steph looked around and said, "Will you want to go shopping tomorrow? It looks like you have left out a velour purple sweat suit as your only outfit?"

"I think I might Steph. We can meet at the office nice and early and then if there are no skips, we can head to the mall."

Steph agreed and both her and Connie left. It was around 10PM, so I got ready for bed and then tried to ring Jackie. She was working tonight, but promised to stop by at 7 the next morning. I crawled in to bed at a much earlier time than usual and fell asleep almost immediately.

The next morning, I awoke at 6. Normally I would have rolled over and gone back to sleep, but this was going to be my life pretty soon, so I might as well get used to it. I got up, had a quick shower and dressed in my purple velour suit. I looked pretty good in purple, but I was a bit shy to walk around with a naked head.

Last night, when we went through my shoes, we also went through my wigs. I got rid of all but 4, and they were all pretty tame ones. The purple wig I'd normally wear with this outfit was currently sitting in a pile of stuff waiting for Jackie to peruse. I decided to bite the bullet and go without a wig. It has been a long time since I've done this, so I stood in front of the mirror for a long time with some gel and massaged my hair into cute little short curls. I never really spent much time on my natural hair because I always preferred to cover it up. Now that I'm going to be in and out of the shower a few times a day with my workouts, I'm not sure wigs are all that practical.

Someone once told me that I had hair just like that singer from the Fugees, Lauren Hill. I wondered if I could grow mine a little to make it look more like that. Currently I kept it really short, but it wouldn't take too long for it to grow in a little.

I put on a pot of coffee for Jackie and me and then popped some oven-ready crescent rolls into the oven. This type of food probably isn't allowed on my new diet, so there's no point letting it go to waste. Jackie knocked on my door a little after 7. She looked tired when I stood back to let her in. She looked at me and said, "Damn girl, I haven't seen that hair in a donkey's age. What's up?"

I took a deep breath and said, "I'm starting a new job next week. This new job requires me to live on site so I was wondering if you'd like to have my apartment. I also went through my clothes last night and there is a pile of them on the table that you're welcome to. If you don't want any of them, we'll donate them to charity or something."

Jackie stood there staring at me and said, "What kind of job is it, and why are you being so generous to me?"

I looked at Jackie and felt a little bad for her. I said, "I'm helping you because you're my friend. A friend helped me get out of that life and now that you're no longer taking drugs, this might be the step you need to get out. My job at the Bond's office is up for grabs, so maybe you could apply for that as well. It doesn't pay as well, but it's steady and isn't affected by the weather."

Jackie looked at me for the longest time. I know she's a proud woman and attempts in the past to help her have always gone unwelcome. She stood there staring at me before walking towards me and giving me a hug. She has never done this before. In fact, she always shunned away from hugs and any sort of physical contact.

"Lula, you are such a good friend, I don't know how to thank you for everything you've done for me over the years. I would love to take over your apartment. My building keeps getting worse and worse. There are several drug dealers and pimps around there and it's really hard to get clean. Do you really think I can stick out a real job?"

I nodded and said, "Jackie, you can do anything you set your mind to. Connie is a nice lady and she took me under her wing. I'm sure she will do the same for you. Why don't you come with me to the Bond's office later this morning and I can introduce the two of you."

"Do I have time to run home and change?"

"Sure. Let's have some breakfast and some coffee and then I'll run you home and wait for you while you change. I'll drop you off anywhere you want to go after that. You can even move in here straight away. We can share the place for a few days, but I'll be out for good on Sunday."

Jackie started to cry and said, "I can wait until Sunday. I'll have to pack up my old apartment, but I doubt I'll bring too much from my old life with me if Connie can offer me a job. I won't need all those skimpy outfits anymore."

Jackie and I drank some coffee and ate the rolls with butter and jam. When we were finished, Jackie waited for me to brush my teeth and then we were off. I saw right away that Jackie wasn't kidding when she said that her building had gone downhill. Mine wasn't great either, but it was one hell of a lot better than hers.

Jackie came out of her bedroom a few minutes later dressed rather conservatively. She was wearing a black pencil skirt that went all the way to her knees, a white blouse and a black blazer that had funky cut out shapes around the bottom hem. She looked like a professional office worker. The only thing that gave her away was her scruffy footwear.

She looked at me and said, "Is this outfit OK?"

I smiled and nodded. "It sure is. You look like one of them professional office workers. You look great Jackie."

She smiled at me and we set off to the Bond's office. We arrived just as Connie was unlocking the front door. She greeted me and let us into the building. As soon as I was inside the door she said, "You know what Lula, I don't know how I'm going to cope with all the filing once you start with RangeMan. Look at the backlog just from one day."

Connie pointed to the stacks of files on the top of the filing cabinets behind her desk and took notice of Jackie for the first time. She stood up and held out her hand to Jackie and said, "I'm Connie. I'm the office manager."

Jackie smiled at Connie and said, "I'm Jackie, Lula's friend. She mentioned that you might be looking for a file clerk."

Connie's eyes cut to me and I nodded. Connie then looked at Jackie and her eyes opened wide. "Your're Jackie, that Jackie. Oh my god, I didn't even recognise you. You look wonderful. Rehab must have been a success."

Jackie smiled and said, "Yes, thanks to Lula and Miss Plum, I've been clean for over 6 months."

Connie smiled and said, "That's great. Do you have any experience working in an office?"

I watched as the smile fell from Jackie's face. She shook her head to indicate that she had none, but Connie ignored her and said, "Not to worry. Lula had none either when she started here. Now she's going to work for RangeMan and have a proper career. I must have taught her something right."

Connie looked back up at me and said, "I need you to train Jackie. I'm too busy to do that. You'll have to spend at least 4 hours today and tomorrow showing her the ropes and I expect that all these files lying about will be dealt with before the end of tomorrow."

Connie looked back to Jackie and said, "The hours are 9-6 Mondays through Friday and 9 - 1 on Saturday. You get an hour for lunch during that time and if we're low on filing, we'll find something else for you to work on."

Jackie looked at me and there were tears in her eyes. "I can't believe you've done this for me Lula. Where do we start?"

I laughed and said, "The filing thing is actually pretty easy. Everything is alphabetical and we just need to put these files into the correct drawer. Why don't you have a go? You can ask me or Connie anything if you have a question."

I watched Jackie look at the name on the file, and unlike me, she didn't nose around the files. She simply looked at the label and put them in the correct drawer, in the correct location. Connie was watching her with a keen eye as well. I know I wasn't the best file clerk and that Connie got quite frustrated with me, so I hoped Jackie would be one step up from me. From what I could tell, she would have the pile of files sorted out in no time.

I looked up when I heard the door open to see Steph standing there. She looked at me expectantly and I realised that we were supposed to go shopping. Steph greeted Connie and looked at Jackie without so much as a second glance. She asked "How's it going Connie. I see you've managed to replace Lula already."

Connie smile and said, "Yes, today is Jackie's first day. She'll take over for Lula on Monday officially. Today and tomorrow are her training days."

I watched Steph look at Jackie a little more closely and then she did a double-take. "Oh my god, Jackie, how they hell are you?"

She smiled at Steph and said, "I'm doing really good now Lula has arranged for me have this job and her apartment. I think the day that you walked into our lives was a good day. I can't thank you both enough."

Steph said, "I'm very happy for you Jackie. I look forward to seeing you more often now that you're going to be working here. Lula and I are bound to stop by every other day or so, more if necessary."

Jackie looked a bit confused so I explained. "Steph and I are going to be working for RangeMan, but they handle all the skips for Vinnie now. Steph and I will still be able to go after the non-violent ones as usual."

Jackie seemed to like the fact that we'd still get to see each other on a regular basis and went back to filing. I looked up at Steph and said, "Connie wants me to train Jackie on the filing system. Can we wait until after lunch to go shopping?"

Steph agreed and sat down on the sofa and chatted with Connie. It wasn't until this point that I realised that none of us had bothered bringing any donuts, and I wasn't missing them. I don't know if it was because I knew I'd have to go without them soon, but it didn't bother me.

Connie was busy filling in Steph on the latest Burg gossip while I watched Jackie organise the files. She had only been working for about 15 minutes and she had already cleared the top of the filing cabinets. The piles on the side table were twice as large and there were more files on Connie's desk, but if Jackie kept up at this speed, she'd be done before lunch.

I looked over at Connie who had noticed Jackie's progress as well. She looked up at me and nodded her approval and then said, "Jackie, why don't you take a short break. We tend to have a bit of a chit-chat first thing in the morning over coffee. Please join us and you can get back to the files a little later."

Jackie finished putting the file in her hand away and then moved around to the front of the desk to help herself to coffee. The four of us talked about nothing in particular for the next 1/2 hour until Vinnie came in. He looked at me and said, "You abandon us and give us 2 days notice. How are we supposed to replace you on that short of notice?"

I laughed and said, "Connie has already found my replacement. Jackie here will be a full-time file clerk so you don't have to worry about her running around chasing skips like I used to do. Also, she's got a mean right hook so you should watch yourself around her."

Vinnie paled at my last remark and ducked into his office and locked his door. The girls all looked at me and laughed. I looked at Jackie and said, "He's a weasel, but a wimp. If he lays a hand on you, hit him and he'll never do it again."

Jackie nodded and cringed at the thought of being touched by Vinnie. I could relate. He's a bit of a slime ball, but he was going to be paying her salary so she couldn't hurt him too bad. She would need to hurt him just enough to discourage him from touching her a second time.

After our little chat, Jackie got back to the files and Connie said, "I think Jackie has the hang of things. Why don't you guys head to the mall? If you can get your shopping done before 1, you can bring us back something nice for lunch."

Steph looked at me and nodded. I said, "If we're not done by 12, we'll take a break and bring you gals some lunch. I have a whole new wardrobe to buy so it might take some time."

Connie looked up and said, "Speaking of that, I wanted to say how much I like your hair Lula. If I'd known it was that cute, I'd have begged for you to get it out earlier."

Steph nodded in agreement and I was feeling a little better with my decision to go au natural today. Steph and I bid Connie and Jackie farewell and headed to my car. By now, Steph doesn't even try to take her POS car. She knows I need my Dolby.


What's next for these ladies?