A Second Chance

By Dawn Natelle

There definitely will not be a chapter tomorrow. I have decided to work on chapter two of A Gentle Soul, and it will probably be the next thing posted. Much merriment for Tolkien or Grimm Brothers' fans: Dawn

MONDAY, May 9, 2016

Rachael was on the bus when Mikki and Larissa entered. Mikki looked terrible, with raccoon eyes from crying, and just plopped down on the seat. Larissa gave a ‘what could I do’ look, and went back to the seat near the back.

“What’s wrong, honey,” Rachael asked her friend.

“I was trying to tell Larissa what happened yesterday and I just lost it,” Mikki sobbed. “Everything at home is terrible. Kyle is acting up because Daddy left, and Mom and him had a big argument over the phone. I think they will split up. I don’t want that. I love Daddy.”

“Slow down, Mikki,” Rachael said, scavenging in her purse for some towelettes. “First we need to clean you up a bit, then we will talk about this. Your makeup has run and we need to fix it. At least get this off. We can do a better job in the washroom at school.”

“Oh no,” she wailed, “on top of everything else, now I look horrible.”

“You don’t look horrible, or at least you won’t when I finish with you. Hold still and tell me what happened after I left.”

“Dad called at about 7 p.m., I guess when he got to his room in Toronto. I didn’t get a chance to talk to him, because he and Mom had a big fight. I finally phoned him at about 10, just before bed, and he sounded glad I called.”

“Did you tell him you loved him?”

“Of course. He sounded happy to hear that. I told him that what he did to Danni’s hair was wrong, and I think he knows that. He asked if I thought Danni was a girl or a boy, and I said we should wait for the doctor, and he agreed. He said he would go with whatever the doctor says. I think he blames himself for Danni turning out so girly, like he did something or didn’t do something to make him macho like Kyle. I said that Danni is a sweet child, and he should be proud of her, or him, no matter what. He agreed.”

“Oh Mikki, that is wonderful news.”

“It is? How?”

“Well, the whole thing started when your Dad wouldn’t let your Mom take Danni to a doctor. He is agreeing to that. They will still have a lot of stuff to work out: the whole ‘this is my house’ thing, but I’m sure they will get back together. It might take a week or two, but I’m sure he’ll come back home. How is Danni?”

“She is better now. She doesn’t want to speak to Dad at all: she says she hates him. I don’t know if that will change. At least not for a long while. She is so upset. She just sits and plays with that Mrs. Periwinkle doll you gave her.”

“Well, that is something we will have to work on when he comes back,” Rachael said.

“Do you really think he will come back?” Mikki sobbed.

“I’m sure of it.” Just then Carly came up to their seat and gave Mikki a hug, and handed Rachael a couple more moist towelettes.

“I am so sorry, Mikki,” she said. “I hope it will all work out for you.”

A second later the bus driver yelled at her to sit down, and she had to scurry back to the rear of the bus.

“There. That is one good thing about this,” Rachael said, using a one of Carly’s towelettes to clean the last of the mascara off Mikki. “At least you have friends to help you through all of it. Larissa must have told the girls.”

“Yes, it is good to have friends. I would have been a wreck without you. I feel so much better after talking to you, Rachael. Do you really think he will come back? That she will take him back?”

“I am certain of it. It is just a matter of whether it is two weeks, or two months. The important thing is that you need to keep calling him, and reminding him that there are people who love him up here.”

“I will. Oh, we are here already?”

The girls left the bus in a group, with the five of them forming a protective phalanx around Mikki that made her feel loved and protected. Larissa and Rachael took Mikki right into the girls room, and helped her fix her makeup, now that her face was clean. It still was clear that she had been crying, but at least she no longer had raccoon face.

Rachael darted out, leaving Mikki with Larissa, and then Carly came in to help. Becca was with her, but not Layla. Rachael went to the staff room, and tapped on the door, asking for Mrs. Cathcart, the English teacher they have the first period.

“Oh, Mrs. Cathcart, thanks for taking the time to talk to you.”

“Yes Miss Cartright, what can I do for you?”

“Well, it is not for me. But Mikki Stoner has had a bad weekend. Her parents just split up, and she is pretty upset about it all. I just wanted you to know, in case she seems distracted or something.”

“Oh my,” the elderly teacher said. “I certainly will look out for her.”

“And if you could mention it to the other teachers …?”

“I will. I think everyone is in right now. I’ll go make an announcement.”

“Thanks Mrs. Cathcart,” Rachael said. “You are a great teacher.” The woman was not, at least not anymore. Like many other teachers nearing retirement she had started thinking of students as problems that she had to deal with each day, instead of the reason for her job. But lately, with all the compliments Rachael had been giving her, and praising her for the recent turnaround in her behavior, Mrs. Cathcart was starting to believe that she was still a good teacher, and was improving her attitude with all her students.

The result was that Mikki was not bothered too much by teachers all day. She might have been, had they not known of her situation: she was inattentive and quiet all through the classes as she worried about what was happening at home, and what was happening with Danni and her Mom, who had a doctor’s appointment.

At lunch, Carly and the girls asked Mikki to join them at their table where the sleepover would probably be a big topic of conversation. But the subdued girl insisted in joining Rachael at their normal table. Rachael had seen Robert after English, and told him about the situation, and he passed the news on to the other guys. Larissa found Janice and let her know too.

“I guess I have to get mystery meat today,” Mikki said. “I forgot to make a lunch last night.”

“No you don’t,” Rachael insisted. “I’ve got a huge ham sandwich from our leftovers last night, and you can have half of it. Between the two of us, a half lunch will just help us lose weight. Your life sucks enough right now without having to eat that dreck.”

“You are the best, Rachael,” Mikki said as they got to the table.

As they sat down, she looked around and saw nothing but concerned faces all around. Mikki realized that Rachael was right. She had friends, and they all cared about her. She felt a little better, and when lunch was finished they actually got around to telling the boys about the sleepover, improving her mood greatly.

But the big boost for her came at the end, when Tony gave her a big hug. Mikki’s eyes went wide, and none of the other boys teased Tony about it, although you could tell that it was killing them not to. “You looked like you needed that,” Tony said in his accented English, “and you deserve it.” He then scampered away.

“Did that really happen?” Mikki asked as she and Rachael walked to Science class. For the first time today she had a smile on her face.

In the afternoon classes Mikki had two things to make her distracted: her family situation and the fact that the boy she liked had hugged her. One made her sad, and the other made her happy, striking an odd balance on the roller coaster of life that being a teen is.

The three girls met at Larissa’s locker, and Mikki was much better. They went and got Bobby, and headed home.

“Where is Danni,” Bobby asked. “I didn’t see her in school all day.”

“He and mom went to the doctor today,” Mikki said.

“The doctor who will decide if she is a girl or a boy?” Bobby asked.

“No, this is a first doctor who will pick out who the second doctor is,” Rachael explained. “The second doctor is the one who will do the tests to see about Danni.”

“I think she is a girl,” Bobby announced. “But a good one. I like her.”

That made all three older girls smile. A grade five boy announcing that he likes a girl is not an everyday occurrence.

As they walked past the library, Rachael remembered that she needed to renew Harry Potter tomorrow. “Do you want to change your library books tomorrow,” she asked Bobby.

“Some I could, but I really like one of them,” he said.

“Well, you can just change three or four of them if you want, and keep the other for one more week. If you want to keep it longer, we can renew it, like we are going to with Harry Potter.”

“Goodie, goodie,” the boy said.

At DaSilva’s they stopped in for Bobby’s apple, and Tony was there to serve them.

“I didn’t say earlier,” Mikki said. “But thanks for the hug. It really helped. I felt better all afternoon thinking about it. Thanks again.” He beamed at the compliment, and went a little red in the face. “I really do like you, Mikki,” he said as he handed Bobby his apple.

“I like you too, Tony,” Mikki said softly, and that made the boy scurry to the back of the store to do … something.

“He likes me. He said he likes me,” Mikki said. “I have a boyfriend.” She turned to Rachael. “I do have a boyfriend, right?”

“I think so, but you shouldn’t rush it with him. It is possible to scare boys away if you get too pushy or too clingy.”

They stopped in at the bakery, and Rachael noticed that there was an ATM machine in the back. She went over, and fished out Grandpa’s card. She had never actually used an ATM as Rachael, but had many times as Ron, so she was able to quickly withdraw the $200 that Grandpa had requested.

She bought bread for both her family and Grandpa, and Larissa bought a big order. Mikki even bought a loaf of bread for her family, and some treats for their dessert, since it would probably be pretty somber without her dad there.

At Grandpas they had a long visit. Bobby had to split his time, going over to see Miss Lajoie, and his doggy friends. She let him take them for their walk around the block. Goldie looked fine, and came over to give Rachael a kiss, allowing her a quick peek inside her leg, which was fine.

“You both got your lawn’s cut,” Rachael said. “I didn’t notice it last night. It was too dark.”

“Yes, your young man came by,” Grandpa said. “I tried to give him a check for cutting it, but he said you had already looked after it. I did promise to have him do it again in two weeks. For that I will pay. He said that Sunday it took three hours to cut, but he thought it would only take two hours when the grass is not so long. I’ll pay him $25, and probably a $5 tip. He went and did Miss Lajoie's right after mine.”

“Yes, she is paying him with guitar lessons,” Rachael said.

“Oh, that is a clever idea. Now why do I think you were behind that?”

Rachael laughed. “Oh, I went to the ATM. Where is your purse?”

“Right here,” he said, forking it out from his trouser pocket. She handed him the wad of bills.

“You are supposed to keep $100,” he said. “You bought me bread, I see and you keep making me all those wonderful sandwiches. And soup too. I’m going to eat better tonight than the Meals-on-Wheels stuff from lunch.”

In the end Rachael took one of the 20s, and agreed to take more on the weekend when she got his groceries.

Soon they were at home, and as they left Larissa and Mikki it was apparent that the latter was starting to worry about home again. Rachael gave her a big hug when they departed. “It isn’t as good as a Tony-hug,” she quipped, “but you do deserve it.” That make her smile for a few seconds.

Inside the house Rachael saw that she had an hour before Maria would be home, so she put a load of laundry in, including Bobby’s bedding. She and Bobby made a salad, and she made spaghetti for dinner, with meat balls. While Mikki and Tony were flirting, she had been flirting herself, telling Mrs. DaSilva about what a success her sauce had been at the party, and did she happen to have any more jars? Rachael scored a jar of the red gold. She had bought hamburger at the grocery store, and it was made into rather sloppy looking meat balls by Bobby, who loved shaping the spoonsful of meat Rachael scooped out.

Thus, when Maria came home to the smell of the meatballs cooking in the sauce, Bobby was able to claim that ‘he’ had made dinner. Maria praised him for his meatballs, and raved over the sauce, which made a simple easy dish taste like something from an Italian café.

“After the day I’ve had today,” Maria said, “coming home to two kids who work together to make my dinner. I feel blessed.”

“A bad day?” Rachael asked.

“Yeah, pretty bad,” Maria said. “You know that Joe got a new waitress at the café when the other girl quit. When I had to work the weekend? Well, apparently she is now sleeping with Joe. And she seems to think that makes her think she my boss. Maybe she is. My complaints to Joe don’t seem to have any impact. I’ve worked there for more than 10 years, and in less than 10 days she decides I’m doing it all wrong.”

Rachael went and gave her Mom a hug. “This really helped the last person that needed one,” she said. Maria hugged back fiercely.

“It does sweetheart. Who else have you been hugging?”

“Mikki. She was a mess this morning. I think we got her turned around by the end of the day, although I could see in her face that she didn’t want to come home.”

“Oh, I must call Andrea,” Maria said.

“If you do, keep in mind that I think they will get back together,” Rachael said. “Mikki called her Dad yesterday, and he seems to be gaining his senses. With luck they can probably save their marriage.”

“Huh, I’m not sure that is the best thing. He sounds like he was being a real jerk. She could do better, I’m sure.”

“Well don’t tell her that. She has nearly 20 years of marriage at stake. He was a jerk, but you don’t throw all that away over one stupid mistake. Try to get her to give him a second chance, if he will ease up on the jerkiness.”

“Okay honey. I’m glad you mentioned that. I probably would have told her she is better off without him. But look at how long I’ve been single, and I was only married 30 months, not 20 years.”

Rachael read with Bobby, and helped him with a math sheet the teacher had sent home. At the end of it, the boy praised her, claiming that he understood what she taught him, while he couldn’t get it from the teacher.

He had his bath, and while he was in the tub, Maria got off the phone. “Andrea sounds better,” she said. “She took Danni to a doctor, and got a referral for Thursday with a psychologist. She feels that Bob will turn around when there are some medical results to discuss. She is willing to take him back as long as he agrees to go by what the psychologist says about Danni.”

“Good. I told Mikki I think they will get back together. I hope they do.”

Rachael then went to read with her newly clean brother, then went to bed herself.

Dear Lord

Please, please let the Stoners be a family again. Everyone just needs to give a little, and I’m sure they can work it all out. Keep my family and all my friends safe, and let me know if I am doing a good job.

Amen

Rachael felt that warm tingle, and wondered if it was a sign that she was doing well, or just to let her know that her prayer was received.