February 6th 2018

Chapter 37
Their Work to the Theater

Asher's uncle would say it was in the diner's best interest, more often than not, to sit families with little children in her section, as she had something of an affinity with them that some of his other servers lacked. She might have thought that distinction would have gone to Nadine, her with her little sisters she cared for so often, but as it turned out, when it wasn't her sisters, her patience with children was something of a coin toss. In Maya's case, maybe it wasn't always so much about patience as it was about finding the thing that would get the kid under her spell, and she could always find that.

That day, with very little time left to her work shift, she had a table come to test that theory as strongly as she'd ever seen it. A mother and father had come along, with six children between them, ranging from age two to eleven, if she had to guess. Multiples were always an additional challenge, as trying to ingratiate herself with one would leave her open to the activities of others, as was the case here, when she found herself having to pick up a spill – if she could call it that and not a launch, which was what it really felt like. Asher had hurried up and assisted her, and she'd thanked him profusely.

"I've had them before," he told her, which she took to mean something like this had happened then, too.

"Right," Maya breathed, looking up just in time to spot a familiar blonde coming through the door. "Do you have this?" she asked Asher, nodding to her mother just inside now. He looked, then gave her a nod and a chuckle. "Mom, hey…"

"Oh, what happened here?" Katy asked, noticing where she'd come from.

"It's fine, it's handled. What's up?" Her mother took a moment to remember what she'd come for, then smiled, looking around to find… She made a small sound that sounded like 'ah!' and walked off toward the corner booth, leaving her daughter to follow after her.

"Hey, guys, how's it going?" Maya's friends looked up, confused just a bit by her arrival, much as Maya herself had been, but they explained how they were trying to figure things out for getting jobs. "Good. Good! That is actually what I'm here to talk to you about," she went on, wearing that look on her face which Maya recognized as her proud sort of 'I did something helpful' smile. "I asked at the theater if we might be able to hire on a couple of kids, maybe seeking some work experience, and some money, of course," she started, now drawing everyone's attention. "And they said yes," she revealed, before turning to Zay. "Now, I know back in the day I told you how you had a future in the theater world, which I still stand by, by the way. This wouldn't be exactly what I had in mind, but if you were interested, I think…"

"Yes," Zay sprang to his feet, startling those sat on either side of him. "Yes," he repeated.

"Good!" Katy pressed her hands together. "That leaves one more… Yes?" she turned to the one who'd raised his hand with a little surprise. "You want to work at the theater?" she asked Joey, trying not to sound like she'd have tacked on a stunned 'you?' on the end of that question.

"Yes," he confirmed. "I-I do theater at school," he added after a moment, and this solidified his qualifications well enough, so, with a promise that she would give the boys' information over where it needed to be, she wished her daughter's friends a good day before turning back to Maya. "Do you want me to wait to drive you home?"

"I sort of invited Lucas over for dinner, so he'll take me when I'm done," Maya told her, so her mother left to see her there. Once she'd gone, it felt very much like Hurricane Katy had swept through. After a moment, Maya remembered she was still on the clock, and she moved to look after her customers.

She had told her mother about how all of them were looking to get jobs, the better to earn up for their trip, never expecting she'd go above and beyond like that, but maybe she should have, shouldn't she? It was exactly the sort of thing her mother would do, and Maya told herself she needed to hug her and say thanks once she got back home.

If she had the count right, this meant that if two of them got hired at the theater, and two at the cinema, then only one of them would still be in need of a job somewhere… Maybe they could get one more hire here at the diner, that'd be easy enough…

By the time she was able to leave work that day, all but Lucas had left, and she could look forward to dinner with him and her parents, followed by a movie or two maybe… A nice, quiet evening, that was all she could ask for right then. There was always something about getting to sit there, the four of them, and having it feel like the most natural thing, like Lucas belonged in their world so fully, which of course he did, to her most of all. She definitely didn't have to worry about Lucas getting all flighty whenever Shawn would so much as look his way anymore… although that had had its merits, mostly to get her laughing, though she wouldn't mention it that way to either… no matter how many more laughs it would give her.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners