Hannah came back in the late afternoon. She came in the front door, didn’t even close the door behind her, dropped her things, leaving a trail from the door to the couch. She fell down, flat on her face, exhausted. All this, while I sat at the kitchen table, and watched her over the rim of my ice water.
“Tough day?” I asked her.
She mumbled something, but she said it into the cushions, so I couldn’t make out the words. When she doesn’t even pick up her head to talk, that’s normally a ‘yes.’ I chuckled at her, took another sip of my water, and went over to sit in the crude, old recliner that couldn’t recline.
“Do you get that extra job?” I asked her.
This time she turned on her side, and spoke clearly. She had big circles under her eyes. “Yeah, I did. Guess what shift I’ve got.”
“Early morning or night?”
“Neither,” she said.
“Neither?”
“Yup. I’ve got the three to seven shift.”
“But you don’t get home until four,” I said.
“That’s where you come in, Will,” she said, giving me a hopeful smile.
“Hannah, I’m not sure. I’ve got work too,” I said. Just what I needed. Another job to do.
“Please?”
Has pleading me for help become a trend? I sighed, and answered, “all right, all right. I’ll do it. When do you start?”
“Tomorrow, and you’re the absolute best!” Hannah sprang up, and hugged me.
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” I said, taking the hug. When she pulled away, I added, “But you owe me. Big time.”
“I know. I’ll pay you back, I promise,” she said. She then rushed off to the bedroom, and emerged with a box. “I was saving this for your birthday, but I might as well give it to you now.” She dropped the box into my lap. It felt extremely light.
“What is it?”
“You know better than to ask. Open the thing,” she said.
I pulled the tape away, opened the lid, and found another box. “This is another stupid gag present, like you gave me last year,” I said.
“Just keep opening it,” she said. Hannah had an evil smile on her face.
I opened this new box, and found another one inside. I opened this one, and finally found a small, velvet-covered box. I pushed back the lid, and saw the two earrings I’d been wanting for so long. My eyes became wide, and I’m pretty sure my jaw dropped. “No way! These cost almost five hundred bucks! How the hell did you get these?”
“I’ve been saving up for them. I knew you liked them, so when I got enough, I went out and bought them,” she said.
“But five hundred dollars?! That’s why you need that extra job! You’re in debt because of these things.”
“No, I paid for them with a check.”
“Hannah! This is crazy! You have to take these back,” I said, handing them back to her.
“No, they’re yours, Will. I didn’t buy them just for the heck of it.” She pushed them back.
“But this is way too much! You should bring them back to the store and get your money back,” I put them in her hand.
“I can’t return them. It’s been three months since I bought those. They only had a thirty-day return policy on it. Just keep them.” She took out the earrings, and put them into my ear lubes. “Plus, they look great on you,” she added.
I rolled my eyes at her. “All right. We’ll keep them, but if we need money, these are going to the pawnshop,” I said. I made an excuse to go to the bathroom, and once there, I looked at them. Okay, maybe I wouldn’t really get rid of them, but they were really expensive.
View User's Journal
 |
User Comments: [2] [add]
|
Ramona Razor Community Member 
|
|||||||||||||||||
User Comments: [2] [add]
Community Member