Katie was staggering onto the bus with a cello in one hand, a screaming three-year-old in the other, and half a dozen library books under her arm, when her cellphone rang.
“Oh fick.” She smiled apologetically to the bus driver, balanced the cello on the steps, shouted, “Hi, just hold on a sec,” into the phone, threw some money at the driver, dropped three of the library books, dragged the child and the cello to the nearest empty seat, went back to pick up the library books, apologised to the driver, and collapsed into the seat beside Chloe. She breathed a sigh of relief.
It wasn’t until a couple of minutes later that she noticed the tiny voice that seemed to be coming from her coat pocket. “Katie? Kaaaaaatie, are you there? What’s going on?” She reached into her pocket and stared at the phone.
“Hello? Oh, Jaqs, hi.”
“Yeah, hi. Um, Katie? It’s about the money.”
Katie suppressed a groan. “Uh huh.”
“Well, it’s just… I’m just a little screwed for cash at the moment.”
Katie sighed. “Yeah, I know.”
“Do you think I could…”
“Yeah. Sure. Just as soon as you can, ok?”
Jacqueline’s sigh of relief whistled down the phone. “Thanks Katie. You’re a darling. I’ll make it up to you somehow.”
The bus was pulling into their stop. Katie gave the books to Chloe. “Carry these for mummy, ok?” The little girl tottered behind her, brown eyes huge above the stack of books. They managed to get off the bus without spilling anything.
Luke was sitting on the doorstep. He strolled down to the gate when he saw them. “Well hello little munchkin!” He grinned at Chloe.
Katie stood her cello on its end and rested her arms on top of it. “Hi Luke.” She looked at Katie, almost hidden behind the library books. “Hey, you couldn’t…”
“Sure,” Luke smiled. We’ll drop them off later, won’t we munchkin?” He opened the gate, and relieved Chloe of the library books. Katie smiled gratefully and kissed Chloe good bye.
She was early for a change. As she walked down the street she tried to do the sums in her head. Whichever way she looked at it, there just wasn’t enough.
Just then a familiar building caught her eye. The neon sign was switched on, but dull in the midday sunlight. The afternoon shift would just be starting. She wondered who was on. Suddenly, without really thinking about it, she was ducking across the street and into the dingy stairwell. She waited a moment for her eyes to adjust, and waved towards the dark corner where she knew the camera was concealed. Tuesday. Jolene was probably on the desk. At the top of the stairs she hesitated for a moment, chewing on her lip. It was too late to go back now. She pushed open the door.
Jolene was leaning back in her chair, her hands behind her head. “Well, if it isn’t Kimberly. Have you come to give us a concert?”
Katie glared at her.
“Ok, ok, just making conversation. When do you want to start?”
Katie thought about it. She’d need to get a couple of things sorted first. “Thursday. Late shift?”
Jolene leaned forward to write it down. “Ok love. Mark has been asking for you…” she looked up, but Katie was already disappearing through the doorway.
Posted by Fionnaigh at May 31, 2003 11:44 AM