3

❦𝓡𝓸𝓼𝓮❦

Another week gone with no work, I'm running desperately low on cash and I'm starting to get worried.

Flipping through the newspaper I find the section I'm looking for and start to read through it.

It's my morning routine. I park at a supermarket and sleep in my car, then as soon as the newspapers get stocked I grab one and look for work. It's the safest way for me to find a job, it's more likely people who post in the newspaper actually want the work done that they are advertising for.

There is a group of workers who post up in front of a few stores around the city looking for work. I tried it a few times, but when the cars rolled up and saw a bunch of fit men with bags of tools and then a short skinny girl with a small tool bag, I hardly ever got picked.

The few times I did, the guys ended up wanting extra favors, ones I wasn't comfortable with, just flat out disgusting suggestions. Not to mention the other workers that I had to stand next to all day waiting to get hired, I got tired of the name calling and innuendos real fast.

So now I search the newspaper for odd jobs, most of the time as soon as they hear my voice I get rejected. That's what's been happening this past week, I've called so many people, but got turned down right away for every single one.

I don't even have a cell that works, so each time I need to make a call I have to either use a payphone, or ask a store if I can use theirs. Currently I'm using the last option because I'm running on nickels and dimes. I can't afford to use a payphone right now, even though that's what I prefer.

I hate asking the employees if I can use the phone. Most of the time there is some weird combination you have to enter before you can call out, and I almost always mess that up. Throw in the fact there is no privacy and everyone is listening to me trying to get a job mowing someone's lawn, only to be shut down.

I hate it, but I don't have another option right now.

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"Hi, sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if I could use the phone to make a few quick calls?" I ask the lady at the help desk.

She looks like she woke up on the wrong side of the bed, I'm just a tad bit scared she's going to be pissed at me for asking.

"Why the hell don't you have a cellphone?" She snaps at me and I flinch back a little at her tone.

Ok, I wasn't expecting that.

"Uhh." I start, but she puts her hand up to stop me.

"You know what, I don't even care. You can use that phone over on that wall. Make sure to hang it back up when you're done. Last person left it dangling like a deflated balloon and it pissed me the heck off." She snaps.

Taking a deep breath I whisper a thank you and walk over to the phone. With how crappy my week has been, her attitude makes me want to curl up in a ball, cover myself with a blanket and not interact with people for the next few days. But I have people to call, and hopefully jobs to book.

I found two listings I could handle. Most of the ones in the newspaper today were looking for two or more people, most people only consider me a half of a person, so I'm not even going to try to convince them to hire me. Punching in the first number it rings two times before a man picks up.

"Hello?" A deep voice speaks.

"Hi, my name's Rose. I'm calling about the listing you put in the newspaper." I speak, trying to keep my voice steady and not stumble over my words. I hate speaking on the phone.

"Look girl. I need someone to haul hundred pound bags of sand across my yard. I don't think you'll cut it." He sighs.

Come on, not again.

"I can do it sir. I'm quite strong actually." I'm not actually really strong, hundred pound bags of sand will nearly kill me if I have to move them all day. But I need a job, I can't be picky.

"No, I put in that ad because I was having a hard time with them. There is no way you would be able to handle it." He spoke.

Ah, I get this a lot. Mister macho man wouldn't be able to handle his hurt ego if a girl half his size does the work for him.

"Come on, give me a shot. And if I can't handle it, you won't have to pay me, so no harm done." I plead.

"Nope, sorry kid. Can't do it." And then I heard the click, he hung up on me.

Sighing I punch in the only other number I have for today.

"Hello?" Someone answered right away.

"Hi, my name is Rose. I'm calling about the listing you put in the newspaper." I try again, the words flowing out of my mouth without me having to think about it. I repeat this line several times everyday, it's almost burned into my memory by now.

"Oh, yes! Thank goodness, my lawn is starting to look like a jungle. My usual guy is down with a cold and I can't get any of the big companies out here for a one time visit." The man on the other end said eagerly. This one actually sounds promising.

"Well you're in luck. I've done plenty of landscaping and have a pretty open schedule." I reply and bite my tongue in anticipation.

"Are you free tomorrow? My wife is about ready to make me do it, but the last time I tried I ended up losing control of the mower and destroyed her flower bed." He sighed. "I have everything here, no need to bring anything." He says, starting to sound excited.

"Yeah, I can be there early in the morning. What's your address?" I ask as I dig out a pen from my back pocket. Writing down his address I say a polite goodbye and hand up the phone.

Walking out of the store I can't help the little skip in my step, I landed a job.

And I Should be able to complete it before the afternoon, which works perfectly because Bob is going out of town for a job and wants me to sleep over at his house to keep an eye on the kids.

I'll have to tell him I booked a job, he always offers to split one of his jobs when he knows my money is running low. I never accept it, it would be like taking money away from those kids and I wouldn't be able to live with myself.

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"Hey Bob." I say as I step into the kitchen later that day.

"Where are the kids at?" I question as I look around, they always greet me at the door.

"Ah, that would be a secret. They definitely aren't hiding somewhere, and you definitely shouldn't look in the living room for them." He smiles and steps aside, giving me a clear path to the living room.

I hear a quiet muffled giggle. Probably Cole, I can just picture his big sister desperately covering his mouth trying to keep him quiet, but his giggles escape anyway.

A bright smile quickly covers my face as I sneak into the living room in search of the kids. There really isn't anywhere for them to hide in here but behind the couch.

"Lilly? Cole?" I yell out as I search everywhere but behind the couch. Letting out a long sigh I turn to Bob.

"Well I guess since the kids aren't here I'll just leave." I say in the most bummed out voice I could manage.

I take one step towards the door before I hear loud shuffling and tiny voices yelling as loud as they can. "No! Rose, we're here! Just hiding!" Lilly scrambles to lift herself over the couch as Cole tries to wiggle out from behind yelling incoherent things.

When he gets flustered he often forgets the English language and just makes up his own.

Seconds later the two of them latch onto my legs.

"I here." Cole whimpers out and my heart breaks. This was supposed to be a fun game. I didn't mean to make him upset. "Hey, I'm sorry. I knew you were here, I was just playing." I apologize.

Bending down I scoop both kids off the floor and into my arms hugging them tight. "I missed you guys." I whisper as I kiss the top of their heads.

"You've been gone forever!" Lilly complains. I set them back on the ground and laugh.

"I saw you two days ago, Lilly." I state.

"Too long." Cole huffs then walks into the kitchen to come out seconds later with a bag of jerky and a smile.

"Thanks for bringing that food by, the jerky made Cole's day. And Lilly won't take the hair clip out of her hair except for when she goes to sleep." He smiles at me appreciatively.

"Of course. You know I get more joy out of it then they do." I let out a loud laugh as I looked over and saw Cole take a big bite of jerky then told the rest of the bag up into the air like Rafiki did to Simba in the Lion King as he spins in circles.

"Are you still ok to watch the kids overnight tomorrow? Clear it with the building?" Bob asks.

When I met him I was living in a building with a bunch of roommates. Whenever I needed to stay out late or overnight, I had to let the owner of the house know.

She was weird like that. Actually they were all weird and someone ended up stealing all my stuff including all the money I had saved. I got kicked out when I couldn't pay rent that month and lived in an old abandoned building for a while until I could afford to buy Jack. I've been living in parking lots ever since.

I haven't told Bob that though, I don't want him to worry about me, so he still thinks I live at that house.

"Yeah, all cleared. I got a job to do tomorrow, I should be done early in the day though." I say with a smile on my face. I usually have a smile on my face the whole time I'm here.

"That's great, kid. As long as you're here by nine it will be ok." He says.

The old lady that kinda keeps an eye on the kids usually goes to bed when the sun sets, currently that's around nine. So whenever I stay overnight that's always been the deal. I need to be here from sunset to eight in the morning.

I usually come over around dinner and stay till after breakfast, as long as I don't have a job that needs to be done on a certain time frame.

But all Bob asks is I cover those hours when the old lady is inside or sleeping.

"Ok, since I'll probably be done in the afternoon, I'll just swing over here after if that's ok?" I'm not sure how big this guy's yard is but he lives in a suburban area, so I bet I'll be able to have it done by lunch if not sooner.

"Yeah of course, come over whenever you feel like it. The kids will be happy to get a few extra hours of time in with you. You're pretty much all they talk about these days." My heart swells at the thought of them thinking about me when I'm not here.

"Ok, sounds good. I should get going, it's getting late." Days pass so quickly sometimes and seem to drag on forever other times.

"Kids, Rose is leaving, come say bye." Cole drops the bag of jerky on the ground and runs over to me.

"Bye." He mumbles onto my leg and attaches himself to and sits on my foot, both arms and legs wrapped tight around my leg.

Lilly stands off a few feet looking at me with big sad eyes. Oh boy, it's gonna be one of these nights.

"Lilly, go say bye." Bob says in a gentle voice. We both hate making the kids upset in any way.

Lilly slowly shakes her head no and rubs one of her tiny fists into her eye.

"Hey, I'll be back tomorrow as soon as I finish work. I'm even going to be staying the night. Please don't be sad, I'll be back before the sun sets tomorrow. Promise." I plead.

"Ok." She whispers and walks over to me giving me a hug. "Bye guys, I'll see you tomorrow." Lilly steps back but Cole doesn't move. Bob steps forward and lifts the little guy away from me, Cole immediately wraps his arms around his dad's neck and buries his head under his chin.

"Thanks, Rose." Bob says as he gently pats Cole's back trying to comfort him. Sometimes the kids are fine when I leave, others they are like this, and it breaks my heart.

Nodding my head I step back outside and close the door behind me letting out a long sigh. I really hate leaving them when they're sad.

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"Ok, so it's just the front yard here. The backyard is all cement so nothing for you to take care of back there. I'll open the garage for you so you get the lawnmower and weed wacker." The guy says. The yard out front is decent size, but I should still be able to get it done before lunch no problem.

"Thank you, I'll get started right away." Too bad this guy already has a regular landscaper, he hasn't said one thing about me being a girl and is treating me like a regular person.

It's quite nice.

I start by checking the oil and gas in the lawn mower then fire it up and start mowing the main area. Then I weed whack the edges.

After that I put the equipment back and grab a garbage bag, all I have left is to weed the flower beds and set out the sprinkler.

I'm kneeling down in the flower bed when I notice a lady walking towards the house. The front door opens and the guy from earlier steps out and walks down the driveway.

"Mrs Brown! Lovely to see you." The guy says cheerfully.

"Oh, don't act so happy to see me. I know you're still mad I accidentally backed into your mailbox." She scoffed.

"Nonsense, your husband replaced it with a better one. It's not like my wife and I picked out that mailbox when we first moved here thirty years ago or anything. Anyway, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company? Come to trample my wife's flower bed?" He says keeping his cheerful tone, but you'd have to be stupid not to know he's actually still pissed about the incident.

"A package with your name on it got delivered to our house instead. Figured I'd be a good neighbor and bring it over." Mrs Brown says with a sickly sweet smile as she hands the package over.

I pull the last weed out, thank goodness because this conversation is making me uncomfortable. I pick the garbage bag up and toss it in the trash.

"Who's this?" Mrs Brown asks.

"This is Rose, she responded to my ad I put in the newspaper. Billy's been sick and hasn't been able to do the yard work lately." He said.

I gave her a quick wave and smile as I laid out the hose for the sprinkler.

"Yeah, I almost thought you guys passed away, but I saw your crippled body walking your dog the other day." She mocked.

"I'm fifty. Mrs Brown. And in no way crippled, you must have mistaken me for someone else." I wonder if I'd be picking petty fights with my neighbors if I lived in a nice neighborhood like this one.

I sometimes fight with the cart collector at the supermarket when he lets a cart roll into my car.

Yeah, I probably would.

"Do you clean gutters by any chance?" Mrs Brown switches her attention to me.

"Yeah, I've cleaned gutters before." I replied.

"My house gutters desperately need to be cleaned, if you're interested stop by after this cripple pays you. My house is the one across the road." She smiles at me, but not the same kind of smile she was just giving the other guy. This one seems genuine.

"Yeah, I will! Thank you." I can't believe it, two jobs in one day, this is amazing.

Mrs Brown nods her head, turns around and starts walking back to her house. Once she is about halfway across the street she yells over her shoulder.

"Make sure he pays you well or steal his mailbox!" She laughs.

She's kinda funny, I think I like her.

Greetings. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Question, what's the strangest thing in your refrigerator right now?

Mine is the canned water I dumpster dived. Weirds me out every time I drink one, my brain thinks canned drinks should have flavor, but then I get a mouth full of flavorless water.