Bus Boys
Prologue:
“What
are you doing?” he asked, holding her shirt for ransom so she would answer his
question. “Why are you leaving?”
“I
have another engagement,” Randi replied, impatiently reaching for her
shirt. Taylor gave her a funny look, a
look that questioned whether or not she was serious. Randi grabbed for the shirt, again, but Taylor stuffed it between
his body and the mattress, giving her no easy way to retrieve it.
“But,
it’s my birthday party!” he whined, crossing his arms over his bare chest. “You can’t leave in the middle of it!”
“Sure
I can,” Randi said, succeeding in pulling her shirt away from the shocked
Taylor. “I’m late as it is.”
“Where
are you going?” Tay asked, pleading with her to let him know. She looked at him, through her long, fake
lashes as she pulled her shirt on and buttoned it.
“I
have a date,” she said, finishing the last button. Tay’s face crumbled, his clear blue eyes regarded Randi as if she
were a stranger, and essentially she was.
“What?”
he asked, praying, silently, that he’d heard wrong.
“You
heard me,” she said, slipping her shoes onto her monstrously large feet. “You didn’t actually think you were the only
guy I was dating? Did you?” Taylor couldn’t form words; his throat was
suddenly very dry, too dry to form words.
“Oh wow, you did,” Randi said, trying hard and unsuccessfully not to
laugh. “It’s not like we were going
steady or anything,” she said, backing toward the door, retreating from the
pained look on Tay’s angelic face. “I’m
only 17, Tay! I’m looking to have fun,
not get married. I’m sorry if you feel
differently, but I’m too young to settle down.”
“Just
leave,” Tay managed to say, his throat closing off after the last word. Randi did as he asked and rushed from the
room, closing the door with a bang as she went. Taylor lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling for a long time
after that. Finally he stood up, the
sheet falling away from his taunt muscular body, exposing every inch of him to
the afternoon sunlight that streamed through his bedroom windows.
“Damn
it!” he cursed, pounding his fist against the wall next to the window he was
standing next to. His fingers curled
around the windowsill, his knuckles turning white from the tight grip, as he
watched Randi drive away from his house and life. “How could I let myself care so much? It will never, never happen again!” he promised himself as
he pushed away from the window, his back muscles rippling as he did. Mechanically he dressed and returned to his
not so sweet, sweet 16 party.
Methodically interacting, even managing a smile when his parents showed
him his present from them, a new, red Jeep Wrangler, he went through the day
while inside his heart was shattered into hundreds of thousands of pieces.
* ~ * ~ *
“Can
I come with, Dad?” Jessie asked her father, Walker, who was driving to the
grocery store to get ice cream since they were all out and it was a hot day in
July, as usual.
“Sure,”
Walker agreed, happy to have a chance to spend time with at least one of his
children. Since he’d lost his job at
the oil company he had to get two jobs, one at Wawa and one at a local factory,
to make house payments and feed his family so he barely saw his kids. The only time he had to spend with them was
on weekends and he was usually so tired he slept them away so he was quite
happy to spend a half-hour with Jessie on their way to and from the store.
The
two got in the car and headed to the store.
Jessie was chattering on about what her mother, Diana, was teaching her
in school and why she didn’t care, and Walker was listening, giving her a
response when one was required. They
were cruising along behind a tan minivan when the minivan suddenly slammed on
its brakes, trying to avoid hitting a cat.
Walker, who’d turned to listen to Jessie for a second, didn’t see the
van until it was too late to stop. He
tried anyway, he stomped on the brake and tried to swerve to avoid a head on
collision, only succeeding in dropping the speed a few mph before slamming into
the back of the minivan, impacting most severely on Jessie’s side.
Jessie
and Walker, both unconscious, were rushed to the nearby Tulsa Genera Hospital,
as was the driver of the minivan.
Diana, home alone with only Avery, Mackenzie, and Zoë, her three
youngest children, received the phone call from the hospital. She left a note for Taylor and Zac and a
message on Isaac’s answering machine (her oldest child, 18, who lived on his
own), then rushed to her husband and daughter’s sides.
Walker
was released a couple days later with a broken wrist and 14 stitches in his
forehead. Jessie, however, stayed in
the hospital for a few weeks, unable to be moved for fear of permanent injury. Her back was broken and the doctors were not
sure if she was paralyzed. When she was
well enough to be released from the hospital she couldn’t walk, she was
confined in a wheel chair. She needed
serious physical therapy if she were ever to walk again and since Walker and
Diana had lost their insurance along with Walker’s job that required serious
cash.
With
no alternative Walker and Diana sold their 5 bedroom, 4.5 bathroom home and
moved into a 4 bedroom doublewide trailer on the edge of the Tulsa trailer
park. In addition to his two jobs
Walker got a weekend job and Diana found employment also, which meant they had
to put their kids into public school, something they had never wanted to
do. Still the medical bills piled up. The bills piled so high that Isaac gave up
his bachelor pad and got a second job so he could help out with money, Taylor
gave up his car, and both he and Zac got after school jobs.
“Mom, Dad,” Isaac said, acting as spokesman for himself,
Taylor, and Zac. Diana looked up from a
stack of bills with a sigh while Walker rubbed his forehead, trying to ease the
ache of his ever-present headache.
“We’re
really busy, can’t this wait?” Walker asked.
“No,”
Isaac said, pulling out a chair at their small, wobbly table. “It can’t wait. It’s almost Christmas,” he said, seeing a Christmas list Mackie
had made sitting on the table. “Now
we,” he gestured to himself, Taylor, and Zac, “know where all the money
is. Mom’s paycheck pays for daycare,
Dad, yours goes to the hospital and mortgage, mine goes toward the food and
hospital, and Tay and Zac’s pay for electricity, heat, and water. We can’t even afford a phone let alone
presents for the little ones. So, we
want your permission to pawn our instruments.”
“What?”
Diana asked, looking at her three oldest sons, confused. “What about your dreams of becoming
musicians?”
“That’s
just it,” Tay said, standing behind Isaac.
“They were only dreams. This is
reality. Jess, Avie, Mac, and Zoë
deserve the best Christmas we can give them.
This is the only way we could think of to do that.”
“Please
let us,” Zac added, waiting for his parents’ blessing, hoping it would come
because they’d already sold the instruments they had received not too many
Christmas’s ago. Isaac pawned his
guitar, Tay his keyboard, and Zac his drum kit, they’d even gotten rid of the
two amps they had and three microphones.
“It’s
for the younger ones. Please?” Isaac
added, knowing it ate at his father’s pride that he could no longer provide for
his family the way he once had and the he felt like less than a man having to
take money form his three sons, especially Zac who was barely 14.
“For
the younger kids, please?” Taylor pleaded.
“We can get new ones some other time, when money isn’t so tight.”
“That’s
true,” Diana said thoughtfully. She
hated taking money form her sons as much as Walker did, but it was the best
solution to their Christmas present problem that she’d found.
“It’ll
only be a loan,” Walker said, looking at his sons for confirmation. The three boys nodded. “Alright, I give my blessing if that’s
really what you want to do.” Isaac,
Taylor, and Zac smiled at each other and Isaac pulled a wad of cash form his
wallet. He handed his father the money,
knowing it was more than enough to bring a happy holiday to his younger sisters
and brothers.
“I
see you hardly needed my permission,” Walker said, picking up the money. “Thank you,” he said, with a heavy sigh, his
eyes revealing how tired and worn out he was.
“I’ll pay you all back, every last penny.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Taylor said, shrugging, not caring one way or the other. He left the room, heading to the room he and Zac shared. Zac and Isaac followed his example, leaving Diana and Walker alone in the kitchen. With limited funds Walker made Christmas a time for the entire family to enjoy. They forgot all they had lost and didn’t get and rejoiced in all they had. They were together, Jessie was still in a wheelchair, but was slowly regaining the ability to walk, they had love, and thanks to the sacrifice made by the three oldest Hanson children, they had presents. It was a very merry Christmas for them, even though they were in the trailer park and not their old, rural neighborhood.
* ~ * ~ *
“This
is it?” Raina asked, skeptically looking around the living room at the
unwrapped presents. “There’s no
more?” Barbara, her mother, looked
around the room, also. She saw nearly a
thousand dollars worth of presents that she and her husband, William, had
purchased for their middle daughter.
“What
else were you expecting?” Bill asked, helping Ryana, their youngest daughter
whom family members called Lucy because her middle name was Lucile and her
oldest sister was Riana and people confused the names, hook-up her new
computer.
“Dad,
I‘m sixteen. I want a car,” Raina said,
standing up and looking down at her father.
“Raina,
we gave you our old car as part of your Christmas presents,” Barb said,
sounding incredulous.
“Exactly! It’s an old car!” Raina pouted. “I want a new car. Please Daddy? I love
you,” she said, looking at her father, the softer of her parents, with a
pleading look. Barb and Bill looked at
each other, astonished by the way their daughter was acting. She was spoiled.
“Raina,
that car is only a year old, it runs perfectly, and was repainted in blue
because its your favorite color,” Bill said in disbelief.
“I
want a new car,” Raina whined.
“Then
get a job and buy one,” Ryana said, looking at her sister. “You’re 16, old enough to enter the work
force.”
“That’s
not a bad idea,” Bill said, agreeing with his 13 year old. Raina glared at Ryana, the two always
bickering, making small jabs at each other.
Barb looked at her husband, not liking the idea of sending her little
girl into the real world. “Don’t worry,”
Bill said, looking at Barb. “It’ll do
her some good to learn some responsibility.”
“I
don’t seriously have to get a job, do I?” Raina asked, her blue eyes wide with
fear. “I can live with the hand-me-down
you gave me.”
“No,
I think you should get a job. Then you
won’t have to ask me for allowance anymore.
Whatever isn’t essential you can pay for,” Bill said.
“That
is so not fair,” Raina cried.
“No,
what’s not fair is that you take what your mother and I give you for
granted. Not everyone is as lucky as
you are,” Bill informed Raina.
“Dad,
this isn’t the right computer,” Ryana said, pushing the box away from
herself. “You got the wrong one.”
“Why
don’t you buy your own then?” Raina asked, smirking at her sister who was
glaring at her. “Oh wait, you’d need
money for that and you don’t have a job.”
“I’m
13, too young to work,” Ryana said, her leafy green eyes growing icy as she
glared at her sister.
“You
could baby-sit or something,” Raina said, throwing out a random
suggestion. “Why do I have to work if
she doesn’t?” she asked.
“Both
of you!” Bill said in irritation. “You
are both spoiled rotten. I think it’s
time you both learned what it means to have to work. By February you’d better both have jobs.” Raina and Ryana exchanged a startled look
that said they couldn’t believe that they were going to get jobs.
Chapter 2:
“Please! Riana, I need a job!” Raina said,
trying to convince her sister to hire her.
“Dad said I needed one by February and it’s the end of January. “I’ll be the best employee possible, just
give me a chance. Please!” Riana looked at her sister, really not sure
that she should hire family, it didn’t seem like a good business idea.
“I
don’t know,” Riana said slowly. “What
if it doesn’t work out and I have to fire you?
You’d be all mad at me. I think
it would be better for everyone if you just sought out employment somewhere
else.”
“No! Riana, please! I have been everywhere else.
Everyone wants you to have experience to be hired, but no one will hire
me so I have experience. Please, hire
me for a week and test it out. If it
doesn’t work I won’t complain or object to you firing me,” Raina said, giving
her sister the saddest puppy face she could muster, complete with her hands
clasped before her. Riana looked at her
and tried to ignore the look, which wasn’t easy. Finally, like Raina had hoped, she gave in with a sigh and agreed
to hire her for a trial period.
“Alright,
I’ll hire you,” Riana said, as some of her afternoon/evening waiting staff walked
in the diner. “Not because you gave me
that look either, because I need some one and you’re already here. Can you start tonight?” she asked Raina. Raina shrugged.
“Sure. What do you want me to do?” she asked.
“Come
with me,” Riana directed, leading Raina up to her apartment, above the diner,
where she, her husband Andrew, and their daughter Charlotte lived. She led her to her closet, hooked her up
with the appropriate attire and instructed her on what her duties where. She continued to explain where everything
was and what she had to do as the two went back down to the diner and she
introduced her to her waiting staff, cook, and other employees. She met Craig, the assistant chef, she
already knew Andrew, Riana’s husband, the head chef, Tim, Tony, and Zac all bus
boys. Lauren, Isaac, Felicia, Luke,
Taylor, and Rebecca the waiting staff, who she’d be joining and Wendi the
hostess. “Do you have any questions?”