I lifted Clarence and set him on the ground carefully. I laid his blanket on the ground beside
him, and he looked up at me as if to say, 'thanks', picked it up between his teeth, and ambled away
on his short, stubby legs, dragging it behind him.
I looked up towards the porch, remembering all that feed in the back of the truck.
"Want me to back up to the barn?" I called out to Adam and Crane.
Adam waved what looked like an impatient hand at me. "Just leave the keys," he called back.
I laid my keys back in the seat, and went up the front porch steps, pausing beside them.
"Three minutes until two," I announced, trying out a smile. "I told you I'd make it by two."
I thought I saw a glimmer of amusement in Adam's eyes, but if there was, he masked it quickly,
shaking his head with one of those 'what are we going to do with her?' type of looks.
Crane, on the other hand, showed not even the faintest glimmer of amusement.
He looked serious and, I thought, a little bit irritated. "By the skin of your teeth," he said.
"It still counts though, right?" I said, still trying that same smile on him.
"Mrs. Stevens is waiting for you," Crane said. "We'll talk after you're done."
"Yippy skippy," I said, jokingly.
Crane's forehead wrinkled in frown lines. He was definitely irritated now. Before he could
say anything, though, Adam said, "Harlie. Get going."
I went inside, saying hello to Mrs. Stevens, who was sitting on the couch, talking to
Hannah, and excusing myself to go to the kitchen to wash my hands, and splash water on my face.
I smelled like French fries, even to myself. I remembered that I hadn't taken time to eat
anything other than a rushed hamburger in between delivering orders. I was hungry, and
feeling a little bit 'off', which I've learned with my diabetes, is not a good thing. I drank a quick
glass of water, and then grabbed a banana, peeling it as I walked back to the living room.
Hannah went back to whatever she'd been doing before Mrs. Stevens arrived.
"You've had a busy day, it sounds like," Mrs. Stevens said.
I nodded, finished chewing my bite of banana, and said, "Yes, ma'm."
As we waded into the world of algebra, I had to struggle to concentrate. At that moment,
all I could think of was how nice it would be take a nap.
"How are your grades holding up?" she asked, as we were finishing up.
"I've got a C+ right now in algebra," I told her, feeling proud. "If I keep it up, I'm hoping
to have a B- by the time report cards come out."
"That's fine, Harlie. You've come a long way since we began working together."
I smiled at her, thinking what a nice lady that she really was.
After she said goodbye and got in her little blue car to drive away, I let the screen door
shut, and went to the kitchen to make myself a sandwich. Hannah was peeling potatoes, and
she watched as I got out the bread, ham, tomatoes and mayonnaise.
"How was tutoring?"
"Good."
"Did you eat lunch?" she asked quietly.
"A hamburger. I'm just really hungry for some reason."
"Well, I'm always happy to see you eating." She laid down the paring knife, and gestured to
the chair beside her at the table.
"Sit down here and talk to me."
I took my sandwich and laid it on a napkin on the table, going to pour myself a glass of milk.
I asked about Isaac and we started talking about him. I was halfway thru eating my sandwich when
Crane and Adam and Brian all came in together. From their conversation, I garnered that a calf had
been stillborn.
"How's the cow?" Hannah asked.
"We gave her a shot," Brian said.
"She should be alright," Adam told her, going to pour himself a cup of coffee.
Brian sank down in a kitchen chair, sighing wearily. "Pour me a cup, too, will you, brother?" he asked Adam.
"Which cow?" I asked them. "Penelope?"
Penelope is one of our best cows. She's really friendly to people, and has the cutest babies, and
generally has no trouble calving or nursing.
"No," Adam said. "The black one with the patch of white on her face. Number 52."
That's how my brothers describe our cattle. By looks or by ear tag number. Except for Penelope. They all
call her by name.
"Oh," I said. "You mean Charlotte."
Adam and Brian both shook their heads at me. "Crazy kid," Brian told me.
"Everybody deserves a name," I reminded him. "Even a cow."
He ran a hand over my head, causing my curls to come out of my braid even more than they
were already.
By this time, Crane and Adam had found chairs at the table too, and Hannah went back to peeling
the potatoes.
"So what's up with working at the Dari Kurl today?" Adam asked me.
I explained how I'd heard from Kenny about Betsy Vail walking out on her shift, and how I'd went
to talk to Mike.
"Did he pay you?" Brian asked, and I knew they thought I'd been taken advantage of.
"Yes. And I made ten dollars in tips, too." I was kind of proud of that, actually.
"Hmm," Adam said.
I looked around at all of their dubious-looking faces. "What?" I asked.
"What made you think about doing that?" Crane asked.
I thought that was a pretty silly question. I mean, really? But I knew it wouldn't be wise
if I suggested that I thought it was silly. Likewise, if I was to answer sarcastically, "Um, because I
need money?" That would not be wise, either.
So I didn't say it like that.
"My savings from my job with Doc G isn't going to last much longer," I pointed out. "I just thought I
could make a little bit of money today."
Crane's expression didn't change. But I thought Adam and Brian looked a little bit proud.
Since they weren't lecturing, or getting onto me, I opened up a little more.
"It was harder than it looks like," I told them. I shrugged. "But any job is better than no job, right?"
"Well," Adam said slowly, "Sometimes."
I wrinkled my forehead at him questioningly. "What do you mean?"
"Remember what I tell you about jumping in without thinking?" he asked.
"Yes. I remember. But this just happened so quickly-" I let my voice trail off, looking at them.
They all just looked at me, too.
"Does he want you work again?" Crane asked.
"Yes. Tomorrow."
"Hmm," Adam said, again.
"Well, what's wrong with wanting to earn money?" I asked, a little defensively.
"There's nothin' wrong with that," Brian said. I gave him a grateful look. At least Brian
was in my corner.
"We're just worried about you, sugar," Adam said.
"It's not like you have to have a job right now," Crane added.
I started to say something about truck insurance, and all of that, to be preempted by
Crane. "Wait until the summer to get a job," he said. "When there's not all the pressure of
school."
"Well-" I began.
"If there's something you need money for, we'll help you," Adam said.
"Okay," I sighed, giving in. "But what about tomorrow? Can I do that? I told him that
I would."
They all exchanged looks.
"How long?" Adam asked.
"One until eight, he said."
"No. It's a school night," Adam said.
"I knew you'd say that. I told him until five or six," I said, with a sigh.
"Five is plenty," Adam said, with finality.
"Okay."
Adam got up, and went to refill his coffee cup. He stopped behind my chair and leaned down.
"I am proud of you, sugar. You're a go-getter." He kissed the top of my head.
7
I was glad to see four-thirty roll around the next afternoon. I was ready to go home and
soak in a hot bath. My feet were hurting. Earlier, when I'd told Mike that I needed to leave
at five, he'd acted as if I'd asked him to sever one of his fingers or something.
"Now when a person takes a job, they need to do the job," he said, waving his greasy spatula at
me.
"I've done the job," I said in defense. "I only agreed to last night and today. And I told you
last night that I needed to leave today by five."
He blinked at me, looking surprised. "You're a feisty little thing, aren't you?" he said.
I surveyed him seriously, not saying anything.
"Well, get on back out there," he said, pointing towards the cars parked in a semi-circle
around the front of the building. "I still have you for 30 more minutes."
When I went back outside, Myrna, the other car hop who was related to Mike, pointed
at a car parked at the far end of the parking lot.
"You want to hike down there?" she asked me. "You're a lot younger than me, and my
feet are killing me."
"Sure," I said, suppressing a sigh.
When I walked up to the white car, I pulled my order pad out of my jacket pocket.
The window rolled down. A woman was in the driver's seat. She was wearing sunglasses.
"What can I get for you?" I asked her.
"I'm from out of town, so I've never stopped here before. What do you suggest?"
"The chicken tenders are good," I said. "They come with fries."
"Alright. I'll have those."
"Anything to drink?" I asked, as I wrote down her order.
"A cup of water is fine."
"Okay." I scribbled that down.
"You're Harlie," she said, sort of softly. The way she said it. It wasn't a question. It was a statement of fact.
She already knew that was my name.
I looked at her in surprise. I didn't know this lady. And she'd said she was from out of
town. So how did she know me?
Before I could ask her any questions, she took off her sunglasses. She was an attractive
woman. I couldn't really judge her age.
"You look just like your mother did when she was sixteen," she said.
I don't know why, but I felt a shiver run down my back.
"You knew my mom when she was my age?" I asked her, intrigued.
"Yes. I knew her. Very, very well."
7
