Savor the Rewrite: chapter 12 Tony, Can You Spare a Dime?
Tony and Angela enjoyed the rest of the Christmas break relaxing around the house and starting to plan out the nursery. It was decided that Tony's room would officially become the nursery and plans to take all his furniture out and either sell or donate began to form. Neither of them wanted to start anything until she was further along.
They enjoyed New Years Eve in their home. They had the deed to the house notarized a few days before, truly solidifying it being their home. Angela was able to take a long nap so she could stay up and watch the ball drop. Her fatigue continued to persist but thankfully the morning sickness finally ended. Her bump continued to grow, something Tony relished in; every opportunity he got, his hands would inevitably end up caressing her stomach.
The following Sunday, before work and classes started up again, Tony and Angela found themselves curled up in bed together, freshly made tea in hand. They both loved this time together to unwind, plan for the week and just enjoy each other's company.
"So what's your work week going to look like? You have a bunch of client meetings happening? If you do, please make sure to rest in between…" he said.
"That won't be a problem. Things have been… a bit slow at work. With the economy the way it is, people haven't been spending as much on their advertising. It will pick up though now that the holidays are over…" she said.
"Well speaking of work… now that the holidays are over, I think it is time I looked for a part time job. It just needs to be until I graduate and can secure a permanent teaching job. My savings is heading towards empty from the holidays and I need to feel like I'm contributing somehow… I know, I know… I'm contributing in other ways but we are going to have more things to buy for the baby and I don't want all of the financial responsibility to be on your shoulders" he said.
"Any ideas where you want to look for a job?" she asked as she sipped her tea, knowing better than to argue with him.
"I was thinking of looking for something at Ridgemont. Maybe an aide at one of the local schools. I'd like something in my field if at all possible, something that could turn into a permanent job later on. If not, I'll take what I can get… minus being a clothing optional waiter that is…" he said with a chuckle.
"Anything but that please! I think those are great ideas though! Any school would be lucky to have you!" she said as she cuddled further into him.
"Alright Angela, we have a big day back into the real world tomorrow! I need to do a big food shopping trip tomorrow post holidays. The cabinets are practically empty! Let's get some rest…" he said as he turned off the lights.
"You know Tony… I'm not really feeling very tired right now…" she said in a sexy voice.
"Oh really…" he said as he captured her lips with his own. Their plans for turning in early went right out the window as they continued their new years celebration.
The next morning, although tired from the lack of extra sleep, Tony was up and moving early, getting in his run and shower before Angela got up. He wanted to be at the grocery store when it opened. To his shock, when he rang up the order at the grocery store, the check he had written from their household account bounced. Embarrassed, he grabbed a quart of milk and a box of Chicklets gum, the only things he could afford with the cash he had on him and left the store. He was still all worked up as he entered the back door into the kitchen.
"I am so humiliated!" shouted Tony as he put down a single brown paper bag on the kitchen table.
"What happened?" asked Samantha as she and Jonathan looked over at Tony.
"I'm the laughing stock of the whole neighborhood! A man disgraced! Branded! I'll never be able to show my face outdoors again!" he shouted.
"This is all you bought?" asked Jonathan as he looked into the small paper bag.
"The check Angela gave me for the groceries bounced!" said Tony.
"You're kidding!" said Samantha.
"People shunned me Sam! Shunned me! You know what I mean! It's like eew! They didn't want to look at me! The bag boy… even he looked away when he said paper or plastic! It's unbelievable!" he said.
"Oh poor Dad! So this is all they let you buy huh?" she said. Jonathan pulled out the Chicklets gum and called dibs on it, but Samantha grabbed it and headed into the living room as Mona and Angela were walking into the kitchen.
"What is going on?" asked Angela.
"What's going on Angela? I'll tell you what's going on! I'm talking about public humiliation! A shame… a shame that has cast it's shadow over the entire family, leaving no one untainted…" he said.
"Alright I'm sorry! Damn the invention of video tape…" said Mona.
"I'm talking about Angela's check for the groceries… it bounced but I'm taking away your camcorder!" shouted Tony.
"Oh Tony I'm sorry! I transferred some money out of the household account to cover some business expenses and I guess my deposit didn't clear in time…" said Angela.
"Well, why don't you use business money to pay for business expenses…" said Tony.
"Because the business doesn't have any money…" said Mona as Angela gave her a piercing stare.
"What?" asked Tony.
"Mother exaggerates. We are just in kind of a slow cycle right now. It's nothing to worry about. I'll call the bank and straighten it out…" she said as she headed to the phone.
"Please do!" said Tony as he started to put away the milk. Angela started to dial the bank's number but soon hung up the phone.
"What's the matter?" asked Tony.
"The phone's dead… I guess the check I sent to the phone company bounced too…" she said. Just then, Tony started to run out of the room.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"I'm going to take another shower before they turn off our water!" he said. As he was talking, the lights began to flicker. Tony, Mona and Angela decided to head into the living room to discuss the situation further. Angela explained to Tony about how businesses cut back on their advertisements during a recession and that is what many of her clients have had to do, but that he shouldn't worry because she had pulled the agency through tougher times.
"Tony it's not that bad!" she said.
"Well, I believe you but just in case a little scrimping and saving might not be a bad idea! Especially with the baby coming and all the stuff we will need to start saving for!" he said.
"We don't have to change our lifestyle!" she said.
"Okay fine! But let's just cut out what we don't need…" he said.
"Okay… that's not a bad idea. We will have a lot of things to start buying soon for this little one…" she said as she put her hands on her stomach.
"Great, great! And how about putting me in change of the budget!" he said.
"Oh Tony wait… I've always handled that…" she said as she started to get defensive.
"Let's face it Angela! I've gotta be better at economizing than you!" he said as Samantha came down the stairs.
"I mean look… you grew up with a silver spoon. I grew up with a tin cup! You lived high on the hog, I lived on a shoestring and had to learn to cook it eight ways!" he said as Samantha finished his sentence with him. Tony continued to rattle off more financial cliches, all of which Samantha could recite by heart. Tony's frustration grew as Angela tried to stifle her laughter. Finally, she and Tony agreed he would take on some of the budgeting responsibilities.
The next day, Tony and Angela sat down at the kitchen table before work and went over the family's budget. Despite being married for a few months and being the housekeeper for seven years before that, Tony had never seen the family's budget. He was shocked to see the actual expenses the family went through each month. His early years living with a very fixed and limited income were now influencing his decisions regarding the budget.
"Angela! Look at this heating bill! What do you have a cousin at Con-Ed I don't know about? And this cable bill! It's way too expensive! The monthly grocery bill is through the roof too and we haven't even added another mouth to feed yet!" he said as he looked over all the bills.
"This is what it costs to keep a family of five happy… I think there could be some ways we can cut back though… just be prepared to make some enemies around here…" she said.
"Will we make enemies or family members who will learn to respect the mighty dollar! Have an understanding money doesn't grow on trees!" he said.
"Enemies. Definitely enemies… so what do you have in mind Tony?" she asked.
"Well I think for some of our shopping, I'm going to start going to Economy Club for the basics. They have the best motto- if you can get your arms around it, you didn't buy it here!" he laughed.
"Why am I picturing a mustard jar the size of can of paint?" she laughed.
"So you have been there!" he said.
"Okay Mr. Economy Club… what else?" she said.
"Well we need to put the heat on a timer and make it set so it doesn't go higher than sixty degrees during the night" he said.
"Tony it's winter! We will freeze!" she shouted.
"Some extra blankets for everyone and of course some extra snuggling and other activities to keep us warm… and you'll be asking for the air conditioner! Which will also be limited in the summer unless it gets too hot for the baby" he said.
"Okay… economy food shopping and heat on the timer. What else?" she said, visions of the two of them staying warm invading her thoughts.
"Well… look at this cable bill! What happened to family fun time? Let's cancel the cable and really get back to spending quality time with the family!" he said enthusiastically.
"Tony… that will cause a mutiny around here trust me!" she said.
"They can deal with no cable! It's called picking up a book!" he said.
"Oh I hope these changes are just temporary… I'm not sure the family will make it if it's any longer than it has to be…" she said.
"They will be fine! And besides, the agency will pick up soon and I'm on the hunt starting today to find a job! Right after I drop you off at the train, I'm going to bring my resume to a few local schools and colleges. There's bound to be a job opening and then we can look to cut back on some of the cutbacks!" he said.
"You're right Tony! I'm really making good headway with the Hartman campaign!" she said.
"See Angela? Better days are on the horizon, I know it!" he said as he stood up from the table and headed into the living room to start implementing their new budget before work.
"Better days on the horizon if the family doesn't throw a mutiny and send him overboard first" she said as she finished getting ready for work.
Tony spent the rest of the week putting out his resume to every school, college, after school program and YMCA in the area but nothing was paying off. In the meantime, he started implementing his new budget. He found that he really enjoyed shopping at the Economy Club. It became a challenge to find the biggest condiments and other family necessities. He put all the thermostats, including Mona's on locked timers. He called and cancelled the cable for the household. While he was frustrated at the lack of work, he was proud at the savings he was already providing to the family. By Saturday, his hard work maintaining the frugal lifestyle and budget was starting to catch up to the family. Jonathan and Mona had just finished complaining to Tony about the coldness and the economy sized food purchases as both Angela and Samantha walked in the front door.
"Quick! Cable! Now!" Samantha yelled as she ran to the sofa and grabbed the television remote.
"Daughter! Come! Visit!" said Tony.
"Sorry guys but in ten seconds there's a live U2 concert and the dorm doesn't get cable…" she said.
"Well… neither do we cause I cancelled it…" said Tony.
"You mean we have to watch regular television?" said Sam with a disgusted look. Tony tried to lighten the mood by suggesting a family fun night playing board games. It was not well received by the family, as Angela had anticipated. They all began to gang up on Tony and his frugality. Angela stepped in and came to his defense.
"Tony is just trying to help! Do you think he enjoys being the bad guy?" she asked.
"Yes!" replied the three of them as the arguing continued.
"No! No he does not! He's made more sacrifices than any of us and I think it would behoove us to follow in his foot steps…" said Angela.
"Aww Angela! Behooved! I love that! It's so nice of you to say that! It's so nice of you to stick up for me like that!" said Tony.
"Well Tony, I think we should show you our appreciation and support!" she said.
"Wait a minute! Is that a new blouse?" asked Tony.
"No…its been hanging in my closet…" she said softly.
"Since when?" asked Mona suspiciously.
"Since yesterday when I bought it okay!" shouted Angela.
"Ah ha!" said Samantha.
"How could you? After our whole discussion about budgeting! Is this silk?" he asked as the family gasped.
"It is not like that! I needed to rally the troops today and to do that I needed to feel like a winner and this blouse gave me the confidence I needed. And besides, it was my first maternity clothing purchase. I'm getting to the point I can't fit into any of my shirts and pants!" she said as she tried to hold back tears. Normally, she hated the way her hormones were all out of wack during pregnancy, making her emotions completely unpredictable, but in this case she found it a benefit as Tony immediately softened his attitude.
"Oh okay. It looks beautiful on you too! Maybe I can look at letting out your pants so you can get a few more weeks out of them too. Otherwise, you're going to need to buy some more work clothes" he said as he rubbed her baby bump.
"So the rest of us get to suffer and she gets a free pass because she's pregnant? How fair is that?" complained Mona.
"I'm not getting a free pass Mother! I'm without heat and cable just like the rest of you! C'mon it won't be that bad!" said Angela.
"Look! We can still have a fun night! I'll get some popcorn and we'll finally find out who's the best Yahtzee player in the house!" he said as he headed into the kitchen, bumping into Mona on the way in.
"I hope he falls into a big vat of discounted butter!" said Mona.
Samantha and Jonathan both decided to head out and avoid any more family fun. Just then, the phone rang and Angela picked it up. After a few moments, she hung up and let Mona know they lost the Hartman account to another agency. Mona tried to console Angela, who blamed herself for the lost campaign. Angela took a seat on the sofa as Mona headed back to her apartment. Tony came in with the largest sized bag of popcorn that Angela had ever seen.
"Where is everyone? They decide to play hide and seek instead?" he said with a laugh.
"No… they all went to enjoy themselves outside of the Little House on the Prairie household going on now… which I'm afraid will last a bit longer. We lost the Hartman campaign…" she said with a defeated voice.
"Oh no! I thought it was going so well!" he said as he started to rub her back.
"It was but the other agency must have put in a lower bid… it's all my fault…" she said as she began to cry.
"Oh sweetheart it's not your fault! Things happen! You'll get the next one! I promise!" he said as he waited for her sobs to lessen.
"You're right Tony… it will just take more time. How's the job search going?" she asked as she wiped away her tears.
"It's… going. So far nothing much. I… I'm thinking of looking for a full time job instead of part time…" he said as he looked away from her.
"Tony that doesn't make any sense! You can't possibly do school and a full… wait… you're not seriously considering dropping out of college are you?" she said as she couldn't hide the shock on her face.
"Not drop out… more like postpone… it's a major expense that we don't need to be paying right now! I can go back and finish the semester once the baby comes and things are more financially stable" he said.
"Absolutely not Tony! You have one semester left! I'd rather sell the Jaguar than have you drop out of college! That's out of the question! No way Tony!" she said as she stood up to make her point more clearly.
"Alright, alright! I won't drop out! I'll just have to double down on the job hunt… open up my search field to include more jobs I wouldn't normally have thought to look for… it's going to be okay Angela!" he said as he pulled her back down to sit. He wrapped his arm around her and placed his other hand on her stomach.
"Your top priority is keeping this little one healthy. I don't want you to stress about this! It will work itself out! How about you go lay down until dinner time? I was going to defrost something but since it's just you and I, I'll make us some spaghetti and meatballs" he said.
"That sounds delicious Tony! Okay I'll go lay down for a bit. Wake me up if you need any help" she said as she kissed him and headed upstairs. Tony headed into the kitchen to start dinner, his thoughts ruminating on how to make the situation better.
The next morning, Angela headed out to work early. She was gearing up to add a new line to the Reed Hamilton account. She tried to economize the dinner as best as she could but she still ended up spending way too much money on the dinner. Despite her best attempts, Reed decided to postpone the account and not put out his new line of soaps, much to Angela's dismay.
Not only did she outdo her budget, she was down a major additional account. She couldn't even tell Tony what had happened as she didn't want to upset him even further. She was so upset that after she got home and they went to bed, she couldn't sleep. She put on her robe and wandered downstairs and aimless flipped through the nonexistent regular channels until she found an infomercial on the Shop at Home network for the Molly Moo Cow Creamer and
matching calf sugar bowl. She listened intently to the description of the product, so much so that she missed Tony coming down the stairs. She was halfway through dialing the infomercial phone number when she saw Tony.
"Angela! What are you doing? Are you okay? Are you feeling okay?" he asked, worry taking over his thoughts and voice.
"I'm fine Tony…" she said not very convincingly.
"What's this? The Shop at Home network? You aren't seriously thinking of buying that ugly cow set are you?" he asked.
"So what! So what if I was! I had a really lousy day!" she said.
"What are you talking about? I thought dinner went great!" he said.
"Dinner went great, business didn't. Reed canceled the campaign!" she said.
"Aww Angela! I'm so sorry!" he said as he went to hug her. Angela went back to focusing on purchasing the cow creamer set, becoming obsessed with ordering it, despite Tony's insistence she not buy it. They even got so far as to argue back and forth.
"I hope you're happy!" she shouted at Tony as the time ran out to buy the set.
"Frightened would be a better word… what's the matter?" he said as he turned off the television.
"You're frightened… how do you think I feel? My whole business is falling apart…" she said as she collapsed on the sofa.
"Angela! It's just a slump! It's not the end of the world!" he said as he tried to comfort her.
"It's the end of my world! Tony… advertising is the only thing in my life that I've ever been good at… and now I'm not so good at that either…" she said as she fought back tears. Tony reminded her that he too was once in her position after he injured his shoulder.
"You're not out of the game!" he said.
"Yet…" she said softly.
"Now you stop that Angela! Stop that! I mean right now you just have to understand that… that there are certain things that are out of your control!" he said.
"Tony… I hate that!" she said.
"So did I, so did I! But then I realized hey, I'm still the same guy inside that I was when I was a baseball player! You just have to have faith in yourself and believe ya know! And above all you have to know… you gotta know that you are more than your job! You're the best wife and mother I've ever known! You're beautiful, smart, funny and beautiful Angela!" he said.
"You're right… I am more than my job. Thank you…" she said as she placed her hands on top of his.
"You still feel like shopping?" he asked.
"No… eating…" she said.
"Well normally I'd say that was substituting but considering your pregnant, I'll let it slide! Can I make you something to eat?" he asked as he helped her stand up.
"No Tony, I'm okay. How about a hug?" she asked.
"Well… if you have to substitute… here I am!" he chuckled. "Aww sweetheart! C'mon… we both know you're not gonna lose your business!" he said as he pulled back from their embrace.
"I know…" she said with a smile.
"You know what? Even if you did… even if you lost everything- the house, cars, the business. And we had to move to some dingy trailer park and eat cat food out of cans… I'd still love you…" he said as he looked deep into her eyes.
"I want my moo cow!" she said as she started to cry again, falling back into his arms.
"I was this close!" he said as he started rubbing her back. Her tears slowed down after a few minutes and she started to feel better.
"Alright Tony I'm feeling better… that was an ugly creamer set anyway… the advertising on that was making it even uglier…" she said.
"Exactly! Now why don't you come back to bed… I'll even turn up the thermostat a few degrees!" he said excitedly.
"I've got a better way to turn up the heat…" she said as she leaned into him, coming within a few inches of his face, causing him to audibly gulp. She had to laugh at the look on his face as she led him up the stairs.
The following week, Tony came running through the front door, calling out Angela's name. She had been working from home in the study and came out to see what was going on.
"Tony? Is everything okay?" she asked as she came over to him.
"Everything is great Angela! I got a job! Finally!" he shouted as he gave her a big hug.
"Tony that's wonderful! Where are you working?" she asked as they headed over to the sofa.
"So the local YMCA called me! They are starting after school classes for underprivileged teens in the local communities. It's Monday through Thursday for about three hours teaching life skills classes! Guess what my first class will be? Budgeting 101!" he laughed.
"Oh Tony that's perfect! You couldn't have asked for a more perfect job! Congratulations sweetheart!" she gushed.
"So how was your day? Did you get a lot of work done?" he asked.
"You bet I did! And I signed a new client too! You'll never guess who…" she said with a smirk.
"The Economy Club?" he joked.
"Better! Molly Moo Cow!" she laughed.
"Seriously? The company from the Shop at Home Network?" he asked, completely stunned.
"Yes! I don't know what I was thinking wanting that ugly creamer and sugar bowl set! It did however get me thinking of a great campaign for it… so I called the company and spoke to the manager of their advertising department and sold them my ideas! They loved it! We start working on the campaign next week!" she said excitedly.
"Angela that's wonderful! See? I knew it would work out! You're back in business baby!" he said as they leaned into one another, entering into a passionate kiss that had them forgetting all about work, school and anything other than each other.