10 Unofficial Jobs Jake Baker has Never Got Paid For, Part I by Jules Archer
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1. Sentry
“If you’re gonna leave just do it already,” 15-year-old Jake tells his pa. He holds an arm out and his sister Sally runs to him, shielding her face against his side. Jake thinks it’s one of the most serious days in his life and he hates it.
“Oh, Jake, don’t say that,” his ma cries, watching her husband, Kevin, stuff his remaining few belongings in a shoddy suitcase. Not that their pa really needs the suitcase; he’s been coming and going for so long it doesn’t matter. The suitcase is just for show. A final goodbye.
Kevin gives Jake a long look before turning to his wife. “I’ll call you.” Then he walks out the door, leaving his family to watch it slam.
“Now, why’d you have to go and say that?” ma asks, her face tired, arms propped against her side.
“I didn’t make him leave,” Jake says. “And neither did you.”
“I didn’t make him leave,” Jake says. “And neither did you.”
2. Travel Planner
Despite his own messy home life, compared to his best friend Bobby, Jake’s family could be the subject of a Norman Rockwell painting. Jake listens to Bobby explain his recent black eye. Bobby’s leg bounces a mile a minute, his long fingers intertwined.
“So you ran into a door?” Jake muses when Bobby’s out of excuses. “Don’t think I’ve heard that one before.”
Bobby sighs and Jake pats his leg.
“You can crash at my place. Only payment is eatin my ma’s cookin which is a sacrifice in and of itself.”
“That’s okay, Jake. I oughta go home anyways.”
“I hear Alaska’s nice this time of year.”
Bobby just smiles at Jake with those sad black eyes.
3. Detective.
Jake ponders the back yard.
Brian watches him with an odd frown, puffing away on a smoke. “Easy Jake,” Brian says. “She’ll turn up.”
Brian, their older brother, home on leave, showed up two bright and sunny days ago, tossing a duffel bag Jake’s way. Jake figures for someone with army skills he should be able to sniff out their little sister. But one look at Brian tells Jake he’s unconcerned. Brian’s always unconcerned.
“Mom’s gonna kill me,” Jake says, cupping his hands. “Sally! Hide and Seek’s over.”
“Get your ass out here!” That’s Brian.
Bored, Sally asked multiple friends and her brothers if they wanted to play hide and seek. Apparently, many nodded yes, none meant it. She hid, no one searched. An hour later, Jake finally got wise.
Jake surveys the yard, wondering where his sister could have gone when the house next door catches his eye. The neighbor’s yard resembles a junk store: a busted truck on the front lawn, a stove, a refrigerator, a banana seat bicycle—
Jake squints at the refrigerator and then takes off for the yard. He doesn’t know why but something tells him Sally’s crawled inside. Brian follows, striding languidly, and Jake rips the door open. Sally tumbles out, her cheeks flushed.
“Hell! I’m a regular Sherlock Holmes,” Jake crows, pulling Sally to her feet.
“You found me!” Sally croaks with happiness, oblivious to her predicament.
Brian waltzes up. “Sal,” he says. “Before you go crawling into tight spaces, make sure you can get out.”
Part II next Monday . . .
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When Jules was little, she talked incessantly to her stuffed animals; telling them stories only the deaf could hear. Her mother wondered if she would have to be put on medication (hell, even Jules wondered that). Jules’s mother was terrified to send her to grade school – feeling fear for the teachers. But as she turned older, Jules turned all of that manic jabbering inside. Now she puts it on paper. And now she wants to share.
© 2010, Metazen. All rights reserved.
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[...] Part I here. Learn more about Jules Archer [...]
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