Tessie D

It’s been almost two weeks now since Prince died. Momma took a few extra shifts at the nursing home. I’ve been doing all the housework, Annie has been cooking dinner every night. We both have been trying to stay busy. To make Momma happy. Daddy is back at the dining room table. The phone was disconnected a few days ago. It probably didn’t matter since the creditors started calling nonstop a few days before that.

Last night, Momma suggested that I get a job. 

The only places that hire high school students are the Dairy Queen, the Buckboard, and the grocery store. And, they all pay just $4.25/hour, which hardly seems worth the gas to drive into town for $15/night. Besides that, just about every high school junior and senior applies to those places. A business only needs so many people who can work late afternoon and evening.

When I mentioned this to Momma, she suggested that I try a restaurant in Stephenville since waiting tables for tips pays a lot better. I didn’t think that any restaurant would hire me since I’m still in high school, and they would have to work around my school schedule. 

“What about Mary’s Diner on the Loop? The one that your uncle owns? Surely, they can help one of their own with a job. It’s not like we’re asking for a handout or charity.”

It’d be awkward asking someone that I’d never met — even if they were family — for a job. They didn’t know me. I didn’t know them.

Still, I knew that it wouldn’t matter. I’d find a job. It’s not that I don’t want to work. I’m not lazy, and I know that I should help my family. It’s just that I don’t drive very often in town, and I have never driven that far from home. But, it was my fault that Prince died. If we were going to make it through the year — and if I wanted any chance of having the money to apply to college — I needed to get a job. 

So, that’s that. I’ll drive to Stephenville and get a job.