Working Together
Ch.7: Jobs and a Date
I followed him to the harbor where I spotted a ship being loaded. I followed him to a pile of crates.
"Cargo ship," he began. "I want you to take these three crates up to the ship and put them on the deck. They are heavy"
I looked at the man, with an "I can do it" look. I then looked at the crate and picked up the first one. It was heavy but I started walking with it my hands. Sweat dripped down my forehead, but I kept going with determination. I walked up the gangplank. A man came up to me.
"Let me help you," he offered. I shook my head.
"I'm trying to get a job" I said. I finally made it on deck and I put the crate down.
"A job?" he asked. He laughed. "At this harbor?"
"Yeah" I said. "What's it to ye?"
"It's a boy's job, not a girl's" he said. "Work at a clothing store, not here. This is for men"
"You saw me carry that crate" I said. "And I'm closer to man then woman."
He laughed.
"Good luck" he said. I narrowed my eyes and I walked down the gangplank. I carried up the rest of the crates and the boss was impressed.
"You are strong" he said. He put a hand on his chin. "I suppose you can work here, you start tomorrow morning at 7. You need to fill out papers"
"Thank you sir" I said. I ran to Cody and Bailey who were talking. "I got a job"
"Really?" Cody asked. "Where?"
"At the harbor" I said.
"Really?" Bailey asked. "That's great!"
"I need to leave at seven" I said. "What about you guys?"
"I got a job at the General Store" Cody said.
"What about you Bailey?" I asked.
"I'm working at the clothing store we were at yesterday"
"Cool" I said. We headed home, we were happy. Patrick saw us.
"You guys seemed to be in a happy mood" he said.
"We got jobs" I announced.
"Really?" he asked. "What are you guys doin?"
"I'm working at the harbor" I said.
"I'm working at the General Store" Cody said.
'I'm working at the clothing store we bought our clothes yesterday"
"Great!" Patrick said. "and Maddy, I'm impressed that you got Mr. Hunting to give you a job at the harbor"
I smiled.
It was 5:30pm, and I began to ride into town to see Greg. I saw him outside of the pub and I stopped my horse, I jumped off and tied him to a post.
"Hi Greg" I said.
"Hey Maddy" he said. He tugged at his collar. "You, um, look great"
"Uh…" I blushed and paused. "I'm wearing the same thing you saw me in today"
"Well you still do" he said. I smiled and we began to walk into the restaurant, it wasn't fancy, it was a standard restaurant. Parents eating with their kids, it was cool though. We sat down across from each other.
"So you get a job yet?" he asked.
"Yeah," I said. "At the harbor"
"Wow," he said. "you must be pretty strong to get a job out there"
"Yeah," I said. "I impressed the boss there"
"When do you start?"
"Tomorrow"
We ordered our food, and we kept talking. Greg was a great guy, we had a lot of common with each other. He loved studying the Civil War, he liked to play basketball, he can play guitar, he likes Irish music, man I was falling in love with him. After we ate, he paid and we walked out the restaurant. We decided to walk into the forest. I felt his hand brush across mine as we walked. I blushed. I looked at him, he was blushing too. I smiled and we stopped.
"Greg," I said. "This was a great night, thanks"
He smiled and took my hand. I blushed.
"Maddy," he said. "I never met someone like you before, you are a great woman. You are strong, smart, funny, wise, brave and amazing. You are very beautiful in your special way. That's why I think I'm falling in love with you"
'He's falling for me!'
"Greg," I said. "You are the most amazing guy ever, words cannot describe of how amazing you are."
Before I knew it, Greg kissed me! His lips left my mine, but I could still feel his warm touch. We continued to walk, enjoying each other's company. We held each other's hands, my heart pounded and I swore that he could hear it. We soon decided to head back, much to our dismay, but I had work in the morning, and he did also. I walked to the post where my horse stood, I turned to Greg and I leaned in and kissed him.
"Good night" he said after I got on my horse. I smiled.
"Good night" I replied. I soon snapped the reins and rode off into the moonlight. The moon lit the road that I travelled to home. I finally made it to the farm. I put the horse in the stable and walked inside of the house. I walked up to my room and opened the door. I saw Bailey reading a book, while Cody slept. She glanced up at me. She smiled.
"How was what you call "Hanging out"?" she asked me.
"It was…." I paused and sighed happily. "…Great"
She cocked an eyebrow and smirked.
"You kissed him didn't you?" she asked.
"Uh…" I stopped. "Yeah. What's it to ye?"
"Aw." She said. "Our little Maddy's falling in love"
"Can it" I barked. She laughed. I walked over to my bed and sat on it. I soon laid down on the bed and fell asleep. I found myself waking up to a beeping, the alarm clock in the room went off. I put the pillow over my head to try to drown it out.
"Not now!" I complained. Cody slammed his fist down to shut it off while he slept. Bailey finally got us both out of bed. I got myself ready for a day's work. I pulled on shorts and a t-shirt. I realized it was ten minutes to 7. I ran downstairs and saw Patrick making breakfast.
"Sorry Patrick" I said. "I'm going to be late"
"That's alright," he said. He tossed me an apple. "But take an apple"
I nodded and ran out the door. I ran to the stable. I saddled up Alainn and soon found the road. I galloped towards the town. I got into town and galloped towards the harbor. I saw my boss there ordering a bunch of men. I jumped off my horse and tied her up. I ran up to the boss.
"Mornin' sir" I said.
"Great, the lass's here" he said under his breath. "Come with me, Maggie"
"Maddy" I corrected.
"Whatever" he said. I followed him. I walked into his office. "Take a seat"
I sat down in one of the chairs and he gave me a paper.
"Fill out this sheet" he ordered. I filled it out. I handed it to him when I was done. "Go to the harbor and help load the boat "S.S Berlin"
I nodded and left the office. I walked to the boat and saw men carrying crates and sacks. I saw the man in charge of the loading process and asked him what I could do. He was nicer than the boss. He told me to carry up the sacks. That's how I spent my morning, four hours of loading the Berlin. The afternoon came and we were sent to help fit out a brand new ship called the S.S Tokyo. I had to carry furniture in, stools, desks, tables and chairs. The work went straight into the evening, when finally we were done for the day. The next day I was to report at dawn. That's how my work went. I was getting paid 7.50 a day, at this rate it would take 5 months just to get a plane ticket home. When I came home every night, exhausted and tired, Patrick gave me a plate of food and then I'd head up to the bedroom and just fall right to sleep.
Entering the 2nd month living here in Ireland, my accent became more Irish as did Cody and Bailey's. It was the morning of the 5th day in July, I was heading down to work. My boyfriend came up to me.
"Hey Maddy" he said as he planted a kiss on my cheek. I smiled.
"Hey Greg" I said. We were taking things steady. He really understood that this was my first love.
"Are you going to work?" he asked.
"Sea" I said nodding my head.
"You are working really hard, you should get a day off soon." He said.
"I don't work on weekends" I said.
"I see" he said. I looked at my watch.
"I best be goin'" I said. He nodded and we kissed each other for a split second and headed off to the dock, smiling. I made it to the desk of the harbor and picked up my assignment for the day,I had to help at the dry dock with building a new ship. I headed down to the dry dock to help build a new ship. I walked over to the man in charge.
"I'm here to help with the R.M.S," I paused and looked at the piece of paper. "France"
"Right," the man said. "You must be Maddy Taylor, I heard about you."
"Really?" I asked.
"Yes," he said. "You are the first girl to work at this harbor, and you and your friends survived a shipwreck about a month ago."
"Yeah" I said.
"So," the man said. "Get down to the dock and begin to help place the keel plating"
"Are you sure?" I asked.
"Sure," the man said. "Yer strong, you can help place some plating, after that help hammer in some rivets. We got three months till the launch"
"Yes sir," I said. He leaned closer to my ear.
"If the boys give you a hard time," he said. "Just ignore them, they don't understand that girls can do what boys can do"
"Yes sir" I said. I smiled and walked off. I headed down the dock where a keel plate was being lowered. I saw two men trying to lift a plate.
"You guys need help?" I asked.
"From a girl?" one of them said. "Yeah right"
I grabbed an edge and lift the plate, the man was impressed. We hauled the plate over to what would be the ship. We set the plate down next to two other plates. It was like a puzzle. That was my job for the day, lifting plates and hammering them together. I headed back to the farm on the horse. I galloped to the gate were I saw Cody trying to hammer in some new wood to the chicken coop. I jumped off my horse.
"Where's Bailey?" I asked.
"Workin'" Cody said. "She should be home in about an hour"
"Alright," I said. Cody continued to hammer but the plank of wood slipped, I grabbed it before it did damaged and held it up while Cody hammered.
"How was work?" he asked.
"You know," I said. "The usual, you get a man's job and they criticize you for bein' a girl"
He smiled.
"You are the first girl to work at the dock" Cody said.
"I know," I said. "I ain't that proud, just a job"
"Well you never know," Cody said as he hammered in the last nail. He hit the nail one last time and he looked at me. "When word gets out, women will apply to jobs at harbors, dry docks and other places"
I smiled. We headed inside, I sat down on the couch and read the newspaper. There was an article that caught my attention.
"Dude listen to this" I said sitting up. "Children from the S.S Tipton still making their money in Ireland, three had made enough money to go home…."
"That's cool," Cody said. "At least we know its possible"
I set the newspaper aside. I got up.
"Yeah," I said. "But we don't have enough yet, I only got $100."
"I have $50" Cody said.
"Wonder how much Bailey has" I said.
"It'll take a while to get home," Cody said. "We have to help Patrick pay for food and rent"
"This is tough" I said.
"It'll take at least 5 more months till we can get home" Cody said. Bailey came in.
"Hi guys" she greeted.
"Hey" Cody and I said together.
"Hard day?" she asked.
"Yeah," Cody answered. "A shipment came in and I had to unload the cart by myself, I was the only one working. It took hours"
"I had to help build a ship" I said. "That maybe my job for the next month or so, how was your's?"
"It was okay," Bailey said. "My boss is a bit bossy"
"Well she's a boss," I said. "At least you don't have your co-workers goin' this is a man's job! Not yer's!"
"You probably get that everyday" Bailey said.
"It's annoyin!" I said. "Men should not be such…."
"idiots?" Cody suggested.
"There we go" I said pointing at him. I leaned back on the couch. Patrick came in.
"I see the gang is back home" he said.
"Hey Patrick" we greeted.
He took off his coat and walked over to us.
"Hard day eh?" he asked.
"Aye," Cody and I said together.
"Listen guys," Patrick said. "On Friday, I'm sending you guys to another town"
To be continued.