A Second Chance

By Dawn Natelle

You didn’t think I was going to make you all wait another two weeks for the next chapter, did ya?: Dawn.

WEDNESDAY, May 11, 2016

Rachael rose and got Bobby ready for school, as usual. Today she also had the task of calming Maria down. The woman had a bad night’s sleep the prior evening, thinking about the job interview, and was a mess by morning. She had really never had a job interview before, having just walked into Joe’s as a young woman and being hired on the spot. Then she was young and sexy, and that might have gotten Joe’s attention, even though at the time he was married.

Now she was 15 years older and didn’t feel that she was still sexy. She didn’t know it, but the vast majority of the customers at the café came in specifically because of her. Her friendly, flirty way got the attention of the men, while the women appreciated that she never went beyond flirting a bit. Of course, there were some women who flirted on their own with her, and tried to convince her that ‘changing teams' would improve her life. She turned them down with the same friendly banter she used to make the men leave without feeling rejected.

But now she had to go through the hiring process for only the second time in her life, and she didn’t know what would happen. She envisioned a boardroom and a bank of interviewers asking her questions she couldn’t answer, as a high school dropout.

“That is silly, Momma,” Rachael assured her. “Geoff is a nice guy, and he’s going to be wearing a flour-covered apron, not a three-piece business suit. He’ll ask you basic stuff you know. How you’ll get to work, what kind of record did you have being late at the café, maybe ask you how you deal with a bothersome customer. It is all stuff you know. And it isn’t like you die if you don’t get the job. You still have the café to fall back on, even if it is only for as long as it takes to get a job somewhere else. Don’t worry.”

“Yes mother,” Maria joked. “I am acting like a flitty little teenager, aren’t I? And your advice really helps calm me down. So how am I going to get you out of your Phys. Ed. class to go to the interview with me.”

“Well, it isn’t Phys. Ed. until tomorrow. I’ll probably be in Math when you go to talk to Geoff. But you don’t need me there. If you did, you know I would be there. Just go in and be yourself. If he likes you, and how could he not, you will get the job. Just don’t expect me to stop shopping there if he doesn’t need you. I love his bread too much.”

“Me too,” Maria said. “His bread is the greatest. I doubt his cookies are as good as yours though.”

“Well don’t tell him that,” Rachael said. “But do tell him how much we love the bread from his place.”

“His pastries are good too,” Maria said. “He drops off a tray of them at the café every other day, and the customers just love them. I’ve had one or two stale ones. Even stale they are wonderful.”

“So you have met him then,” Rachael exclaimed.

“No. He just comes to the back and drops them off in the kitchen. I’ve seen him once or twice, as I pick up at the window, but I’ve never spoken to him. He’s never there more than a minute.”

Rachael got on the bus, and sat with Mikki today, with Larissa sitting at the back. Something in the dynamic there had changed, with her sitting with Carly and Becca, while Layla was sitting in the seat ahead. Rachael wondered what had happened, but soon her attention was focused on her friend.

Mikki explained that her Dad was starting to come around. Last night she hadn’t needed to call him. Her mother was talking with him, and for the first time it didn’t end with shouting and a slammed receiver. Mikki was handed the phone, and her father told her that he was hoping to come home on the weekend. Apparently he had told Andrea that he would support Danni however her meeting with the specialist tomorrow went. If it turns out that she was just an effeminate boy, then he was willing to accept that, and not try to “toughen her up.”

“He was using only female pronouns,” Mikki said. “And apparently what he said was what Mom needed to hear. They are willing to talk about things at least. By Friday night he might be back home. Everyone is ecstatic about it except for Danni. She still says she hates him.”

“Wow, Mikki,” Rachael said. “That is so great. Is Danni coming to school today?”

“No. He is going to his carer this morning and will spend the whole day there. He likes the idea. Most of the kids there are preschool, so he is bigger than them. He goes from being the smallest boy in the school in Grade 1 to the biggest in the day care. Oh yeah, Danni spent all day getting Mom to agree to have her take piano lessons with Miss Lajoie. And I have to give you this.”

It was a $20 bill. Apparently Mrs. Stoner had phoned the piano teacher to discuss rates and found out that Rachael had paid for the introductory lesson. Rachael grudgingly accepted the money.

“Are you ready for the Movie night tomorrow?” she asked Mikki.

“Oh definitely. My first date. With Tony DaSilva. Didn’t you predict this? You predicted that Dad would come home, and you predicted that I would date Tony. Do you think he will kiss me? That would be so wonderful.”

“Just don’t push him. Remember, he is only 13 like us. Kissing a girl is a pretty big thing. Heck, dating one is just going to be a huge thing for most of those guys. Remember, girls mature faster than boys. If he kisses you, great. But if not, that just means that it will come later. He will kiss you one day. That is an official Rachael prediction.”

“Then it has to come true,” Mikki laughed.

At school the morning went well, Rachael handing in the assignments that she had missed the prior afternoon dealing with the Bobby problem. Larissa had gathered them up for her and dropped them off with her when they met at Grandpa’s.

At lunch the former nerd table was a cluster of activity, with almost all the dating couples sitting around what now was two tables. Couples were getting to know each other, and were less stilted in talking with each other. There would be one more lunch before Movie Night, and everything was going perfectly.

Of course that was when Mrs. Deboer put her hand on Rachael’s shoulder and led her out of the cafeteria again. “Is it Bobby again?” Rachael asked.

“Yes it is, you better hurry over there. I’ll let your teachers know. At least it will be different ones this time.”

“Yes, and I am doing really well in French and Science now, so I won’t miss much.”

Minutes later a puffing Rachael was again in the primary school outer office. This time she was led down to the First Aid room, where a young woman was cleaning up Bobby and Jeb. Jerome was also there, with a new bandage on his nose.

Rachael let out a small ‘eep’ when she saw her brother, who had one black eye, and cuts to his cheek and chin. She immediately went over to hug him, and he hugged back tight, sobbing a bit from the pain.

“What happened this time?” she asked.

“It was pretty clear,” a man, clearly a teacher, said. “I was on playground patrol, and the boys usually eat pretty fast so they can get out to play ball. Bobby was with Marc, our new student, but Marc had to go to the washroom. So Bobby was alone when he came out the door, and this pair,” he pointed to Jerome and Jeb, “jumped him. Jerome held his arms, and Jeb started pummeling him. Then Bobby got an arm free, and an elbow hit Jerome in the nose again, and he was out of it. After that it was more of a fair fight, if you don’t take into account one boy having three inches and twenty pounds on the other. It lasted less than a minute until I got it broken up, and during that time it was a pretty even fight.”

As the teacher was explaining the fight, Mr. Pasternak walked in, and went right over to his son. “Well, did you get him?” he asked.

“A bit, Dad. He is pretty tough. And Jerome wimped out on me. It was just the two of us.”

“I told you to get four or five kids,” the man said. “Why just two of you?”

“Nobody else would do it,” Jeb said with a sob. “Everybody likes Bobby. Nobody likes me.”

The man slapped his son. “It doesn’t matter if people like you. Nobody likes me either. They have to respect you though. And the way to do that is to make sure that they pay for it when they disrespect you. I gave you $20 to give to kids to help you. Where is it?”

The boy fished out a twenty from his pocket. “Nobody would take money. Even Jerome.” The man grabbed the money and pocketed it.

“Do you mean to tell me that you told your son to pick a fight with Bobby,” an irate Mrs. Hunt said from the back of the room, where she had been standing.

“Yeah, boys fight. It is what they do?”

“Yes, but not at my school. And certainly not by ganging up on another boy. And not when the parent is paying for boys to participate. Your son is immediately and permanently expelled from this school. You may leave with him now. And I will be making a report to Children’s Aid.”

“Hah, I’ll have him back here in a week,” Mr. Pasternak said. “And Children’s Aid doesn’t scare me. A bunch of lessies and queers, all of them.” With that he shoved his son ahead of him out of the room.

Mrs. Hunt turned her attention to Jerome, who was quivering in the corner with his mother’s arms around him. “I heard your mother tell you to stop hanging out with that boy yesterday. And today you teamed up with him to beat up another boy. I have a mind to expel you too, or at least give you a lengthy suspension. What do you have to say for yourself?”

“I … I’m sorry,” Jerome said with tears in his eyes. “I … Jeb is my only friend. Nobody else likes us. I had to help him. I didn’t want Bobby to get hurt, but Jeb said if I didn’t help, I couldn’t be his friend.”

“Well, Jeb is gone from the school for good,” Mrs. Hunt said. “And I think your suspension will be …”

“Can I interrupt?” Rachael said, as the principal was about to pass sentence on Jerome. “I think all of us see the source of the problem here, and it has been dealt with firmly. I would like to suggest first of all that Bobby and Jerome shake hands and agree to never fight again. Can you boys do that?”

Bobby looked reluctant; while Jerome seemed eager to do anything he could to atone for his actions. After a few seconds they moved together and shook hands. Jerome softly said: “I’m sorry. I will never do that again.” Bobby didn’t speak.

“Now the next part of my idea is that Bobby and Jerome, for the next two weeks at least, will eat lunch together. A big part of Jeb’s control over Jerome was that they were pariahs in the playground, and had to stick together. If Jerome has a better role model to deal with, I think he can turn himself around.” Rachael said.

“But you are suggesting no suspension then?” Mrs Hunt said.

“I don’t think Jerome is a bad kid. He was just easily influenced. A week or two away from school won’t help him at all. Hanging around with Bobby, Marc, and the baseball gang might help. I know it is not traditional handling of a case like this, but I think it will work,” Rachael replied.

“What is not traditional is the carer of the attacked child not wanting blood from all of the attackers,” Mrs. Hunt said. She turned to Jerome’s mother. “Do you agree to this, Mrs. Campbell?”

“Oh I do, and do thank you miss. You are an angel. Jerome is not a bad boy, but once he started hanging out with that Pasternak child two years ago he has been a problem. His marks dropped, and he became surly and uncooperative at home. I hope this can help. I couldn’t argue about a suspension: in fact I thought for a minute he was also going to be expelled. But this? It is a boon from heaven,” she said.

“Aptly put,” Rachael said with a smile. “Now, if you will all excuse us, I need to talk with Bobby privately for a few minutes.”

She took Bobby out into the hall, and as she expected he was not happy about her idea at all.

“He tried to beat me up,” the boy said. “And now you want me to be his friend?”

“Yes I do,” Rachael said. “For at least the next two weeks. If after that you want to drop him, you can, but during that time other students will see you hanging out together and maybe he can find some other friends. Can you do this for me?”

“I don’t know, Rachael,” the boy hesitated.

“Remember old Rachael, and how you used to fight with her?”

“Mostly she just beat me up,” Bobby recounted.

“Yeah. Sorry about that,” she said. “But then I decided I needed to be nice to people, and that included you. Now everything is better, right?”

“Way better.”

“Well, let’s try the same thing again, but with Jerome. Maybe it will turn out way better too.”

“Well, okay. For two weeks,” Bobby agreed.

He then walked out of the school with Rachael, where they saw Jerome waving goodbye to his mother. Bobby walked up to the other boy. “Come on, Jerome. Let’s go over to the ball diamond. We will be too late to get into the game, but I’ll bet all the other guys will want to see our cuts and stuff.”

Jerome’s eyes lit up as the boy he was helping beat up a half hour earlier was showing him friendship. They turned and walked towards the playground, only to hear the warning bell before they were halfway there.

The bell jolted Rachael into action too, and she ran back to her middle school, arriving at the Science lab just in time to beat the professor in.

At the end of the day the girls met at Rachael’s locker and went to get Bobby and Marc for the walk home. “Wow, you are going to have a real shiner,” Larissa told Bobby. She turned to Marc. “How come you didn’t get involved?”

“I was in the washroom and missed the whole thing, Mr. Walters was dragging them apart when I got out.”

“It’s probably a good thing he was away,” Rachael said. “If there had been two of them, and one was tall as Marc, then it wouldn’t have looked like a beating, but more like a gang fight.”

“Hah,” Bobby snorted. “If Marc was there they wouldn’t have jumped me. They are cowards, picking on little kids and outnumbering people. Marc and I would have creamed them, and they know it.”

“Well I don’t want you two fighting. It might be okay on the hockey rink,” she looked at Marc, “but it is not okay outside of it. Is that clear?”

“Yes Rachael,” Bobby said.

“Yes Rachael,” Marc said, surprising her. She hadn’t meant to chastise him. After all, he was already several inches taller than her.

“Well, let’s all stop in for a Danish at the bakery. Mikki gave me a twenty this morning, and it is burning a hole in my pocket. Mikki, can I trust you to carry one home to Danni without nibbling on it?”

“I dunno. Probably not. I should buy a half dozen, so she will get one even if Lyle finds out about them too. And Mom likes them as well.

“We need five Danish to go for us,” Rachael waved at the group for Mrs. Barron, “and another six in a bag for Mikki,” Rachael laid her twenty on the counter. She saw the baker poke his head out of the back and go over to his mother, whispering in her ear. “Hi Geoff,” she said.

“Hi Rachael. I was just telling mother that she is to charge that with the staff discount,” he said with a smile.

It took Rachael a minute to work it out, and then her eyes widened. “Momma! Is she going to be working here?”

“I sure hope so,” Mrs. Barron said from behind the counter. “I can really use the help. The store was so slow when we first opened, but now it is starting to get busy and it is too much for me.”

“She has to give notice to her current boss,” Geoff said. “I want her to start as soon as possible.”

“That’s great,” Rachael said as she led a group of satisfied Danish-munchers out of the store.

“These are so good,” Mikki said. “I can just feel the pounds marching back onto my hips. And I don’t care. They are just so good.”

“A little treat once in a while doesn’t hurt,” Rachael said. “You just want to keep your hands out of that bag. Including when you get it home.” Mikki made a sad face, so Rachael added: “How much weight have you lost so far?”

That made Mikki smile again. “Nearly 10 pounds. And that is only two weeks. Maybe by summer we can be as skinny as Larissa here.”

“Do you do bikinis here?” the French girl asked. “I know that there is no nude beaches in Canada.”

“Not around here, anyway,” Rachael said. “Did you do nude beaches in France?”

“Sometimes,” the tall girl said. “But mostly it was bikinis. Will you girls go shopping with me one day to get a new suit? I worry that my old ones from France might be … too revealing for Canada.”

“Yeah, both Mikki and I will need new ones,” Rachael said. “I don’t know whether I can raise up the money though.”

“You could if you stopped buying treats for your friends, and my family,” Mikki retorted. “You know when Mom finds out, she will just give you another $20 tomorrow. Speaking of money, who is buying snacks for our movie night tomorrow?”

“Your man. Tony volunteered. He said his Dad can get stuff like that wholesale, so he is buying a carton of those giant popcorns. He will sell it back to us at cost for each movie night. And we are getting some cases of pop, and bottled water. Tony is storing the stuff we need tomorrow in their cooler, so we will have cold pop and water. He just needs some guys to carry it to the library.”

“It is practically next door. There should be no problem getting willing volunteers.”

“The lights in this place?” Larissa asked. “They can dim down?”

“Yes, there is a control to dim the lights. We can’t make it totally dark, but it will be quite cozy,” Rachael said. “Why? Are you plotting something to do with Mark?”

“I might have some ideas,” Larissa said. “I need to come early, and pick a cozy corner. My Mama is coming at the end to pick all of us up, and give us a ride home. It will be dark at 10 p.m.”

“That is great,” Rachael said. She rubbed her hands together and quoted from some movie or TV show “I love it when a plan comes together.” All the girls laughed.

There was a short stop at Grandpa’s to say hi, and for Marc to speak to the old man in French. When they left, Mikki asked: “What did Marc say that got your grandfather so upset?”

“He was not upset,” Rachael clarified. “Marc just told him how honored he was to meet one of the men who liberated his country so many years ago. The French still honor those men, and tend the graves over there. Marc told him about the grave his school went to last year, and it was near where Grandpa fought. Some of his friends might be in graves there.”

The group split at Rachael’s home, and when they came in they found Maria in tears on the sofa.

“Momma, what happened, why are you home so early?”

“It started out as the best day ever,” her mother sobbed. “Geoff was so nice. He really is a hunk, and so friendly. I also met his mother, who showed me around. I was expecting an interview, but they pretty much offered me the job the minute I walked in.”

“So I went to the café after that, and that’s when things went to hell. I gave notice to Joe, and Callie started in on me right away, and told me to get out. So I came home. That isn’t a bad thing. I’ll just go to the bakery tomorrow morning, and if they aren’t ready for me I will work for free. It will be like training.”

“But then things got worse,” Maria wailed, holding up a letter. “This came in the mail. Mr. Hodgins, the owner of this house, died a few months ago. He always kept the rent down for me. We only pay $400 a month for this place. But with him gone, a nephew or something owns it now, and he wants more money. He said he could do $900 a month, which is probably fair for a place like this. But I can’t afford that much on a minimum wage salary. We have two months until we need to move. Where will we find a new place in that time? And for even $500 a month we won’t be able to get a three-bedroom place.” Maria just broke down in tears.

Rachael went and put her arm around her mother and pulled her close. “It will be all right,” she said. “We may have some tough times, but it will all work out in the end. If we have to get a two-bedroom place, then Bobby and I will room together, won’t we Tiger.” Bobby nodded. He couldn’t remember his mother being this upset, and it scared him. “In fact, if we have to all three of us could share a one-bedroom place. It won’t be fun, but we are a family, and we all pull together. We are a team.”

Maria’s sobbing slowly waned and she hugged her daughter tighter, and then opened an arm for Bobby to join it. “I have the best kids in the world,” she sobbed. “My world is falling apart, and yet they are there for me. And here I am, wallowing in my pity all afternoon, and I haven’t even made them a dinner.”

“That can be fixed quickly,” Rachael popped up. “What will it be, Bobby? Kraft Dinner with tuna, or sloppy joes.”

“Sloppy joes, sloppy joes,” the boy chanted and all three of them moved into the kitchen to prepare what would be for them an early dinner.

That night, after a long read with Bobby where they finished the first Harry Potter, Rachael found herself kneeling by the bed.

Dear Lord

Please help my Momma have strength. I know you have a plan for us, but not knowing what will happen has Momma scared. Scared for us. Please help her cope, especially with her new job. I am trying to help. I think I helped Jerome Campbell today. Look after everyone for me.

Amen