Page 23 of Cassian
“Thank you.”She finished bussing her table and took the few plates that she’d left on the table to the back room.There was one person there, she supposed, waiting on her, and she tried to make his job easy.There were only four glasses, as well as a couple of odd plates.Surely it wouldn’t take long for him to get them washed up and be on his way, too.She was out the door in record time and was on her way to see her little boy.
“How was your day?”Usually, she got grunts when she asked him about his day.Sometimes he’d tell her about someone throwing up on the floor or something like that.But today he was thrilled about meeting his new best friend in the whole wide world.She barely got a word in at all once heopened up about Davy Maxwell.“I’m glad you had a good time.Sounds like you were a match made in heaven.”
She was only required to grunt when he asked her about her day.He’d ask some questions about her day, like did anyone leave her a giant tip, but most of the time it was just how was her day before he’d go on about something else.He was only at daycare for two hours after school, but it was enough for him to find out that Davy and he were long-lost brothers from different families.She didn’t have the heart to tell him that he was the only one and that Davy was just a nice kid that he’d met.
As soon as they got home, he started on his homework.If she was going to have to go in tonight, she was going to have to wash her uniform.She only had three, and they were all three in the wash.Just as she was putting them into the dryer, Marylynn called to tell her that she didn’t have to come in tonight, that she’d made a mistake on the books.Thrilled now, she told Davy they’d go wherever he wanted, and of course, it was the burger place on Maple Avenue.
They had a wonderful time, and she didn’t mind spending the extra money for him to have his fill.Usually, when they went out to eat, it was because she was running behind in the day and he had to rush through his meal.Tonight, they had plenty of time, and she was happy to let him play with his toy more than he ate.Davy was a really good kid, and she loved him with all her might.
His father had been a good man, too.Daniel Manchester had been a cop in one of the larger cities around the area.One night, even though he’d not been on the clock, there had been a robbery at the store where he was.Not only was he killed when the man didn’t get enough money as he thought he would, but the clerk as well as the stock boy were killed as well.It had been a struggle for her to live after that, but she had a newborn baby that needed her, and that was all she could focus on.
When they left the restaurant a bit later, she had a phone call from her mother-in-law.Janice Manchester hadn’t taken the death of her only son all that well either, but since she didn’t have Davy there needing her, she sort of went the opposite direction in grieving.Everything was about her son and never about his father.Even now that Davy was older and didn’t much care for her cuddling him, they got along all right.
“Where have you been?I’ve been by your place three times, and you’re not home.I just wanted to make sure that Davy had everything that he needed for the upcoming school year.”Lisa rolled her eyes; it was still months away yet she had to be the first to buy him his school supplies before anyone else even had the lists that listed all the requirements they’d need.She told her that they’d gone out to dinner.“No doubt that fast food place you like.”
“We went where Davy wanted to go.And if you must know, that’s where we were.He had a wonderful time.”She went on about chemicals in the food, and she cut her off.“What did you want besides his list for school.Which I want to point out isn’t out yet.”
“I just like to make sure that there are plenty of things that he’ll get before anyone else takes them all.Can I talk to him?”She handed the phone off to her son and went to take her uniforms out of the dryer.They’d only talk for a few minutes before he’d be grunting at her, too, or Janice would hang up when she got bored with listening to the quietness of his side of the conversation.A conversationist he wasn’t.
After he got his homework done, she checked it over and sent him to his room.She had things that she could take care of; her second job was grading papers for some of the classes at the college.It was a nice second income, and she loved doing it.Tonight, she was going over an exam on electricity, and some of the answers were pretty funny when they didn’t know the correct one.Sometimes she wanted to give them extra credit for the way they explained it, but she knew that she’d be out of a job if she did that.And the money really was good.
By eleven o’clock, she was ready for bed herself.She would have to be up by five in the morning to get Davy off to school and herself at the restaurant by the time they opened.Breakfast crowds didn’t pay all that much for their tips, but she knew that in order for her to work nights, she’d have to find a different sitter for Davy, as she thought he was too young to stay at home by himself.
As soon as she was in bed, she realized how really tired she was.There had been some extrapeople in the place today, and she’d been able to make some good tips off of them.Then there was the two hundred dollars from the four men that she loved, so she put it in the jar in the kitchen.Extra money was good for a lot of extras when there was a kid in the house.
They were doing all right, the two of them.They’d been just them for longer than she could remember some nights, but she was willing to give up something in order for him to have what he needed.She never wanted him to think that he was second in her dealings with people, and she was happy beyond words that she had him in her life.The phone ringing startled her out of her bed, and she ran to answer it.
“Ms.Manchester?This is nurse Shelby at the hospital.Your mother-in-law told us to give you a call and to tell you that she’s been hurt.”She asked how bad already pulling out clothing to get dressed in.“The only reason that she was brought to the hospital was because she insisted.The only thing that the medics who were first on the scene could find was that she had scraped her arm when she was going down the stairs to her place.”
Lisa paused in her franticly getting dressed.“So in other words, she’s just fine.”The nurse laughed and said that was correct.“I see.I have to go in there, though, or there will be no being around her if I don’t.But I do appreciate you telling me about her boo-boo.I just have to wake up my son, and we’ll be in.But I can drive more safely now.”
Getting Davy up, he was upset to be woken up in the middle of the night.He was a hard sleeper and didn’t much care for getting up in the morning either.She was tempted to just drag him along in his pajamas just so Jancie could see what an uproar she caused by getting her called to see her.
She didn’t have much trouble getting Davy dressed when she told him that his grandma had been hurt.This wasn’t the first time that they’d been called out for something as little as a scrape.She usually did things like this when she didn’t get her way and knew that she should have asked Davy about his conversation with his grandma.Something had happened, and now they were both going to pay for it by being exhausted in the morning.
They had to wait for Jancie when they got to the hospital.There hadn’t been anyone in her room in a while, and they couldn’t find her.Turned out she was only in the bathroom, and she was scolded for getting up without assistance.Lisa just let them talk to her that way, as she knew that asking them not to for the sake of her mother-in-law would fall on deaf ears.She usually would get the staff pissed off at her before they arrived, and it looked as if now was no different.She must have demanded something that wasn’t normal for her type of—or the lack of her wounds.Whatever was going on, Lisa wasn’t in the mood to deal with her tonight, and let her know that when she saw her.
“You just don’t love me anymore.”That was something that she’d say when she was in one of her moods, and Lisa didn’t say anything.“What’s wrong with you tonight?I had a fall.”
“Yes, you did.And you nearly broke a nail doing it.Do you have any idea how hard it will be on Davy to have to be up tonight and go to school tomorrow?I’ve told you this before, you don’t need to have them call me when you’ve only scraped your hand.They didn’t even want to bring you in this time, but you insisted.Why?”
“I just needed to make sure I was all right.What would you do without me being around all the time?You’d be broke, that’s where.”She asked her how she figured that, since she’d never given her anything but grief.“You’re mean tonight.Whatever is wrong with you?”
“It’s four in the morning, and I’ve had to bring out my son, your grandson, so that we could make sure you weren’t dying.You’re going to live forever; you know that, don’t you?It will be just like you to outlive me.”She told her she was just being mean.That parents are never supposed to outlive their children.“It happened, Janice.I loved him too, but you have to move on before you take the risks of alienating Davy from wanting to see you.What did he say to you today that caused you to do this again?”
“He said that he was getting too big to spend the night with me.I thought that he loved that.”She started crying, and it broke her heart too.“What a thing to say to his only living grandmother.He’s all I have left of Daniel.”
“He’s getting bigger now and doesn’t even like to cuddle with me anymore.It happens, and it’s all right.Someday, he’ll get back into it, and it’ll be fine.But for now, we don’t want to piss him off because we’re pushing too hard or making up things to bring him to heel.He knows there’s nothing wrong with you, and how do you think that makes him feel?”She asked why she’d told him.“Because he asked me if you were going to die.Would you rather I lie to him?”
“No, but you could have made up something.”She said she wasn’t going to do that for anyone and sat down in the chair next to the bed.“I’m sorry.I’ve been so lonely of late, and with you and him doing things without me, it hurts.”
“I’m not going to invite you to have playtime with us.That’s what I need as well.Time with Davy.If you want to have your own time with him, quit pulling him toward you so hard and let him make his own decisions.This isn’t going to work.”
“No, it’s not.They both looked at the end of the bed where Davy was sleeping.“He’s going to be hard to get up in the morning now, isn’t he?”
“Yes.”She wanted to say thanks to her, but she kept that to herself.“If you’re all right, I’m going to take you home.Try your best not to fall down again.And if you do, call me before you do 911.We can talk together about whether an ambulance is needed and if I have to get him up out of bed to come to you.”
“Yes, all right.”She got the okay from a nurse to go home, and Lisa dropped her off at the house.There were no prescriptions or anything that she needed to do other than to change the band aid when it got dirty or wet, and to use caution when going up and down the stairs.Lisa didn’t even go in with her, even though she wanted that.
