Page 63 of The Singing Trees
Walt stepped forward. “Oh, I have just the thing for your husband. Are you thinking a watch or a clock? What would he enjoy? I’ve some new Omegas and IWCs.”
Annalisa stepped aside, thinking she had to say something to Patty before the woman left. With Mr.Miller always lurking around, she’d never get a chance at work. She went to the other side of the shop and looked at the paintings left on the wall. Only one of them was recent, since her breakthrough. Deciding the time was now, she raced out of the shop and ran up the steps.
Finding her favorite pieces of late, including the one of Dorothy Shaver, she crammed them into her orange tote and dashed back down the stairs. Walt had put several watches on the counter that Annalisa had just polished, and Patty was inspecting them, one at a time.
Annalisa wanted so badly to interrupt, but she didn’t want to get in the way of a sale for Walt. He’d been letting Annalisa use his workshop to mount her pieces onto wood, so she stepped back behind the cash register and pretended to be busy. She was anything but busy, though. Her mind exploded with excitement at the chance of finally asking for a job.
Once Walt had made his sale and flung the cash register drawer closed, Annalisa came from the back and said to Patty, “Excuse me, Mrs.Garner? I have to say something. My name’s Annalisa, and I work in the Bargain Bin. We’ve never met, but I know exactly who you are. Actually, I applied for the fashion illustrator job that was open this summer.”
“Oh, I see,” Patty said, holding the bag with her husband’s new Patek Philippe watch. “So you’re an artist? And call me Patty, please.”
“I paint mostly but have been drawing all my life. I’m very comfortable with pen and ink.” She knew the fashion illustrators all used pen and ink.
Annalisa feared Patty was a second away from asking her age and then inquiring about a degree. Instead, she said, “Interesting.”
Reaching for her tote, Annalisa said, “I just so happen to have some of my work.” She unclasped the button and pulled out the three top pieces and set them on the counter. Each one featured one of Annalisa’ssignature women, and she felt like Patty could have easily been one of them.
Patty looked them over. “I love these ladies,” she finally said. When she reached the one of Dorothy Shaver, a copy of an old photograph with Dorothy resting her chin on her knuckles, she said, “Look at her. You know she’s my idol, right?”
“Isn’t she everyone’s?” Annalisa asked.
Patty looked at Dorothy and then back to Annalisa. “My kind of girl. Why don’t you come by the office in the morning, say, eight on the nose? We can discuss.”
Annalisa had to keep from thrusting her right arm into the air as she said, “Yes, that would be wonderful.”
“I would be so proud to work up here,” Annalisa told Patty at 8:00 a.m. sharp the next morning. “No one will work harder.”
“I’m starting to believe that about you,” Patty said from the chair behind her desk. “Tell you what. Why don’t you sketch out one of those dresses for me?”
Annalisa turned to the three dresses with busy patterns hanging by the wall. “Right now?”
“Why not?” Patty slid a legal pad and pen her way. “I’ll be back in five minutes, and I want to see one of the women from your paintings adorned with your favorite of the dresses.”
Before Annalisa could say another word, Patty was gone. In the quiet, she spun her chair around and went to work. Though her nerves tried to hold her back, she pushed through them and settled into her art. When Patty returned, Annalisa handed her the pad. Feeling like she’d been in this situation before, Annalisa crossed her legs and awaited her fate.
“Okay, you’re pretty great,” she said almost too casually. Annalisa had hoped for jumping jacks. “So I do need help right now,” Patty went on, “and you’re more than qualified. All the winter clothes are coming in, and with Christmas around the corner, it’s super busy. I can’t guarantee you a full-time job, though, which means you might not have a job at all if I poach you from Ted Miller right now. You know how he can be, I’m sure.”
“Yes, I do, but I’m willing to take the risk.” The opportunity to finally make decent money was too tempting. Besides, she was exploding with excitement inside.
Rising to her heels, Patty said, “I don’t want to promise anything until I’ve spoken with him, so don’t get your hopes up quite yet, but let me see what I can do. He simply takes some finessing, a skill you and I both seem to have a handle on.”
Annalisa smiled broadly, feeling like she’d just been knighted a city girl by one of Portland’s finest. “Thank you so much,” she said, almost breathless. “I won’t let you down.”
Patty seemed pleased. “You’d better not.”
Feeling like she’d finally gotten a break, Annalisa prayed that Ted Miller wouldn’t get in the way. She went for a walk along Congress Street but was back in time for her 9:00 a.m. shift. Just before her lunch break, Ted Miller found her adding blue stickers to a bunch of older items that needed to be moved out.
“Got a minute?” he asked.
Annalisa backed away from the rack, thinking this could go very well, or very badly. Mr.Miller was not the kind of man who liked being undermined.
“We’ve decided to move you up to Advertising.”
“Really? Thank you, Mr.Miller.” Annalisa almost broke into a dance.
He straightened his bow tie. “Just remember who looks out for you. I had to go out of my way to make this happen.”
Annalisa knew it had nothing to do with him, but she let him take the credit. “You’ve been a great boss. I’m really going to miss you.” This might have been the biggest exaggeration of her entire life.
