Page 25 of Baby Blue
But he’d be there. He’d promised Anne, so he’d go.
Polly kept Indigo on Tuesday night so Blue could go to rehearsal with the guys. He came home exhausted, but the baby was already asleep and all he had to do was carry her home. He thanked Polly over and over, then went home to bed.
On Wednesday morning, he decided he had to get some things done, Turner be damned.
“Hi. Um, my name is Blue, er, BrentWallace. I’m friends with AnneBlack. She told me to call Dr.Malone and make?”
“An appointment. Yes, Mr.Wallace, we’ve been expecting your call. When would you like to bring your daughter in? Indigo, right?” the woman on the phone asked.
“Yes, ma’am. Uh, do you by any chance have evening hours? Or late Saturdays? Because I work and?”
“No, sir. I understand, but we only have weekday hours,” she told him pointedly.
“I see.” Blue sat for a second, thinking. He’d have to come to some kind of decision before Turner caught him on his phone. “Um, do you have something very late in the afternoon?”
“Actually, we’ve got an opening Friday at four thirty,” she said.
“I’ll take it,” Blue said. His heart had begun to race when he’d heard Turner’s voice as the difficult owner left his office. “And I’ll ask Anne for your address.”
“Sir, do you have any records to be transferred for your daughter?” the woman asked. He wished she could understand what a bind he was in right at that moment.
“If her mother ever took her to the doctor, I don’t know about it. But I’ll call around. Thanks. See you Friday afternoon,” he said and ended the call quickly, then shoved the phone in his pocket.
“You on the phone, Wallace?” Turner asked as Blue picked up another wrench.
“No. Just checking the temperature, that’s all,” Blue said, hoping Turner bought it.
“Yeah, well, you’re inside so you don’t have to worry about that. Get busy,” he said, his voice menacing. “I’m getting tired of you fucking off on the job.”
“Fucking off on the job? Look, I’ve already done three brake jobs today. Yeah, brake jobs?the one thing nobody here wants to do. So before you tell me I’m fucking off, get your information correct,” Blue snapped at him.
“Yeah, yeah, cry me a river.”
Turner turned to walk away, but Blue stopped him. “Hey, I need to leave a little early on Friday afternoon. Like about four,” he said, hoping he could get to Anne’s, pick up Indigo, andget back to the doctor’s office in thirty minutes. It would be a stretch, but he thought he could do it.
“I’ve got a better idea. Why don’t you take off Friday? All day. Without pay. I like that idea,” Turner said, glaring at him. “Yeah. You get a vacation day. How ’bout that, huh?”
Blue’s heart sank. He couldn’t afford to miss a day’s pay, and yet this was important. “Fine, asshole. I’ll take Friday off. But I’ll be in early on Monday morning.”
“Whatever. I don’t care. I can’t get a full day’s work from you anyway,” Turner told him and turned on his heels to walk away. Blue flipped him off. That made it sort of feel like he’d gotten the last word in, even though Turner hadn’t seen it. He worked as hard or harder than any of the other guys in the shop. How dare Turner say that to him! But he wasn’t going to argue. He’d definitely miss the money, but at least he’d have a chance to take Indigo to the doctor.
When lunch rolled around, he took the sandwich he’d made and headed out the back door to the alley. Taking a seat on an oil drum right outside the door, Blue took a bite and called the number he’d written down for the fire department. It rang twice before a voice said, “Fire dispatch.”
“Oh, sorry. I was trying to call the station that does the car seat thing,” Blue said.
“I can connect you. Just a second.” The hold music he had to listen to was dreadful, but in a few seconds a male voice said, “Firehouse five. Nelson speaking.”
“Yes, um, my name is BrentWallace and I was wondering about your car seat program.”
“Oh, yes sir. Well, we do a clinic the third Saturday of every month to show people how to properly secure their car seats,” the firefighter told him.
Blue’s first question was, “What does it cost?”
“Nothing! It’s free. It’s just a community service we do, that’s all. I hope you’ll come out and visit us that day,” the man said.
“Um, problem is, I don’t have a car seat. And I don’t have any money to buy one,” Blue said, swallowing his pride.
“All the hospitals give one when you take a baby home,” the man said, and he seemed confused. Of course he was. Blue could understand that.
