Planets: Chapter Three: Weekend of "Fun" (Part One)

Chapter Three: Weekend of "Fun"

The sun beat down on Kelsi’s back and she could feel sweat dripping from the nape of her neck. She angrily yanked at a stubborn weed then began to dig around it, hoping she would loosen the dirt around the weed. The smell of wet dirt hung heavily in the air, almost as heavy as Kelsi’s over-sized tee-shirt felt. The bitter smeel of turnips mingled with the sweet smelling dirt, making Kelsi want to gag. Turnips must have been her least favorite vegetable, probably because they seemed to thrive in the orphanage soil. She shook a muddy turnip, dirt flying everywhere, and placed it in a large, overflowing basket. She glanced at the sun, the only way she could tell what time it was since she couldn’t wear a watch. Her shift started in thirty minutes. Hefting the heavy basket, she swiftly walked to the kitchen entrance and dropped the basket by the sink. Dashing to the bathroom, she scrubbed her arms and face then promptly dunked her hair into the sink She rubbed a palmful of 2 in 1 shampoo/conditioner into her scalp and quickly rinsed her hair. After putting a clean pair of jeans and a black tee-shirt on, she unwound her hair from the towel and began to speed-braid her hair. Slipping on her shoes she began the familiar walk toward Food For Cheap.
“Ding-dong!” Sang the door as she walked into the building. Once she got in the backroom she sighed a sigh of relief. Luckily she was on time. Tardiness was NOT something that Mr. Merah tolerated. Kelsi tied on her stained smock and began to walk out the door when she heard an all too frequent voice.
“You and Lorna are working on the widows today. You also need to put up our new winter posters. Olivia and Allie will be working at the cash register,” Mr. Merah informed Kelsi.
“Okay,” Kelsi walked to the only windows the concrete building had. The giant windows were streaked with mud. Rain had come last night and instead of cleaning, it just made things worse. Kelsi was surprised it hadn’t snowed, the unusually cold fall already felt like winter, it might as look like it. Lorna was already scrubbing the filthy windows with newspaper, a cheaper and sturdier solution than paper towels.
“Hiya! Ready to work?” Lorna looked up for a second then scraped off a fleck of dirt that was stuck on the glass window.
“I’ve been working all morning, what’s a little more?” Kelsi tore a piece of paper from the obituaries and glanced at the black and white pictures. “Henrietta Nellie Perkton died on Tuesday. She left her entire fortune to her hamster.”
“Her hamster?”
“Yep, her hamster,” Kelsi tried not to laugh. Every now and then Lorna and Kelsi would try to come up with an outrageous comment and see who would crack first.
“That’s one wealthy hamster. I wish I was a hamster,” Lorna looked at the picture of Henrietta Nellie Perkton wistfully.
Kelsi couldn’t take it any longer and started laughing hysterically. She leaned on the glass of the window for support then quickly jumped back. She frowned at the window.
“Darn fingerprints,” she dunked a sponge into a pail of window cleanser then rubbed it on the window (spray bottles always clogged up when she used them) and vigorously scrubbed. Soon two of the four windows were sparkling clean.
“I had the weirdest dream the other night,” Kelsi randomly said.
“Yeah? I’m always up for dream stories,” Lorna replied.
“Well, I was trying to get to this house but there was a basket of a dozen eggs balanced on my head. They weren’t regular chicken eggs either, they were ostrich eggs so they were really heavy and I couldn’t drop them. I was waking really slowly but I hadn’t cracked one yet. Suddenly, hoards of clowns were chasing after me! I tried to run but the eggs teetered like they were going to fall. I was stumbling across huge rocks, clinging to my basket for dear life as the clown’s smiles loomed closer and closer when they surrounded me and . . . I woke up.”
“My, that’s some dream!” All the windows were clean now and Lorna had begun to tape up the new winter posters. The poster that she was putting up was of a shivering Charlie advertizing some hot cocoa that was on sale. “Of course that isn’t as bad as the dream I had of a zillion Charlie the Chicks chasing after me chanting, ‘Cheep, cheep, cheap food at Food for Cheap!’ Now THAT’S a nightmare!”
Kelsi smiled. Somehow Lorna could always make her feel at ease. It was silent for a while as the two put up the dreaded Charlie posters.
“Do you have dreams very often?” Lorna suddenly asked.
“Sometimes. I don’t always remember them though,” replied Kelsi.
“What about reoccurring dreams? Do you ever have those?”
“Sometimes,” Kelsi looked very puzzled now.
“What are they about?” Lorna pried.
Kelsi raised an eyebrow. Lorna usually didn’t ask this many questions, especially when Kelsi didn’t want to answer them. “I do have one dream,” Kelsi began but was interrupted by Mr. Merah.
“Great work girls, everything’s good until Monday. You can go home now,” he began to walk away.
“Wait!” Kelsi exclaimed. “Don’t we get our paychecks today?”
Mr. Merah began to search his pockets. “I nearly forgot,” he handed Lorna and Kelsi one envelope each. “See you two on Monday.”