AMANDA'S FIRST SHIFT
1092 Words
*Chapter 4 —
The door locked behind Shanice. _6:31 PM_.
Amanda stood in the kitchen. *Key in her pocket.* _$44.50_ next to it. The house smelled like bleach and the fried chicken from lunch.
DeShawn stared at her. Legos at his feet. TV still playing cartoons. Loud.
“No crust!” he yelled again, like she forgot.
“I didn’t forget,” Amanda said. She opened the fridge. Bread. Peanut butter. Grape jelly. Just like Shanice said.
She made the sandwich. Cut the crusts off. Cut it in triangles. Like she used to do for Andrea when Andrea couldn’t eat much.
She put it on a paper plate. Poured milk in a plastic cup. Spiderman on it.
DeShawn grabbed the plate and ran to the couch. Legos crunched under his feet. He didn’t care.
Amanda followed. Picked up the Legos one by one. Put them in the blue bin. Shanice said _“clean up his toys.”_
“will you eat with me?” DeShawn asked. Mouth full. Jelly on his cheek.
Amanda sat on the floor. Not on the couch. Didn’t feel right yet. “I already ate.”
“Where?”
“A place called Mama’s.”
“Is it good?”
“Yeah. It’s real good.”
DeShawn nodded. Like that settled it. He ate fast. Drank the milk. Left a white mustache.
_7:15 PM_.
“Toys,” Amanda said. “We clean up.”
“I don’t wanna.”
“Shanice said _9 PM_ bedtime. But we gotta clean first. Then we can… I don’t know. You got books?”
DeShawn slid off the couch. “I got a dinosaur book.”
He ran to his room. Amanda followed.
The room was small. Twin bed. Sheets with trucks. Clothes on the floor. Dinosaur posters. One lamp.
DeShawn pulled a book from under the bed. _“Tyrannosaurus Rex”_. Cover torn.
can you read to me?”
“Yeah.” Amanda sat on the floor. Back against the bed. DeShawn climbed into her lap. Like it was normal. Like he did it every day.
He was warm. He smelled like grape jelly and little boy.
Amanda opened the book. “_Tyrannosaurus Rex was one of the biggest meat-eating dinosaurs…_”
DeShawn listened. For three pages. Then he wiggled. “I’m not tired.”
“It’s not bedtime yet. It’s _7:40_.”
“I don’t like bedtime.”
“I know. My mom didn’t either. At the end.”
DeShawn went quiet. Then, “Did she die?”
“Yeah.”
“Were you sad?”
“Yeah.”
He was quiet again. Then he pointed at a picture. “That’s a Triceratops. He fights T-Rex.”
“You know dinosaurs.”
“My dad taught me. Before he left.”
Amanda kept reading.
At _8:30 PM_, she said, “Bathroom. Teeth. Blue toothbrush.”
DeShawn groaned. “I hate the blue one.”
“Shanice said blue one.”
“It tastes like medicine.”
“It’s toothpaste.”
He stomped to the bathroom. Amanda followed.
He fought the toothbrush. Squirmed. Got water on his shirt. On Amanda’s clean shirt.
“Hold still,” she said. Not mad. Just firm.
She brushed his teeth. He gagged once. Didn’t cry.
_8:52 PM_.
“Pajamas,” Amanda said.
He put on Spiderman pajamas. The pants were too short. His ankles showed.
_9:00 PM_.
“Bed time,” Amanda said.
“I’m not tired!”
“It’s _9_. Shanice said _9_.”
He climbed in bed. Pulled the truck sheets to his chin. “You gotta stay till I’m asleep.”
“Okay.”
Amanda sat on the floor again. Back against the bed.
“You gonna sing?”
“I don’t sing.”
“My mom sings.”
Amanda didn’t know any songs. Not really. But she remembered one. Andrea used to hum it. When the pain was bad.
“_Amazing grace, how sweet the sound…_” Her voice was rough. Quiet. She hadn’t sung in two years.
DeShawn didn’t laugh. He closed his eyes.
“_...that saved a wretch like me…_”
His breathing got slow. At _9:17 PM_, he was asleep.
Amanda stayed on the floor. Just in case.
The house was quiet. Only the fridge humming. Like Aunty Mae’s. But different.
She got up at _9:30 PM_. Checked on him. He was snoring. Small snores.
She went to the living room. Picked up the rest of the Legos. Wiped the jelly off the couch. Washed the plate and the Spiderman cup. Dried them. Put them away.
She looked at the clock. _10:04 PM_.
Four hours till Shanice came back.
She sat on the couch. Not Aunty Mae’s couch. This one didn’t have a brown spring. It was soft.
*She touched the key in her pocket.* She was inside. She was working. _$60_ was going to be on that table at _2 AM_.
She took out her phone. No service. But she opened the notes app.
She typed:
_DeShawn - 6_
_Allergic - strawberries_
_Bedtime - 9_
_Blue toothbrush_
_No crust_
She locked the phone. Put it back.
At _1:00 AM_, she checked on him again. Still asleep. One leg out of the blanket. She covered him up.
At _1:47 AM_, she heard keys.
Shanice came in quiet. Work boots. Lunch bag. She looked tired. More tired than when she left.
She saw Amanda on the couch. Awake.
She saw the clean kitchen. The bin of Legos.
She didn’t say anything. She walked to the table. Pulled an envelope from her purse. White. Thick. She set it on the table.
_60_ dollars.
“_2 AM_,” Shanice said. “You can go.”
Amanda stood up. Legs stiff. “He was good. Ate. Brushed teeth. Asleep by _9:17_.”
Shanice nodded. “He fight the toothbrush?”
“A little.”
Shanice almost smiled. Almost. “He always does.”
Amanda picked up the envelope. It was heavy. Not the weight. The meaning.
“Thursday,” Shanice said. “_6:30_. Same time.”
“Yes ma’am.”
Amanda walked to the door. *Key in her pocket. Now _$104.50_ total.*
She stepped onto the porch. Tyson the pit bull was asleep. Didn’t bark.
The street was dark. Quiet. _2:03 AM_.
She started walking to Maple Street. Eight blocks.
Her blister hurt. Her feet hurt. Her back hurt.
But she had _$104.50_.
And for the first time in 14 days, she wasn’t walking back to Aunty Mae’s couch with nothing.
She was walking back with a job.
- Writer
