Chapter Four: Sabrina

Sabrina

Sabrina was on cloud nine as she left the conference room and walked toward the lobby of the hotel. There was a beat of exhilaration and energy in her step, now that the interview was over and she had landed the job of a lifetime.

Things are turning around for me, she thought. This opportunity is going to be the new beginning that I've needed for a long time. I can't believe how things are coming together right now.

She flashed a confident smile toward the young man working at the hotel's front desk, before striding out of the entrance and into the parking lot. She found her old beat up Toyota Corolla sitting lonely at the edge of the parking lot. She hopped in and turned the key.

The engine jerked and then rumbled to a start, causing the worn belts to squeal in agony. While the engine warmed, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed her mother, Anna. It rang four times before she finally picked up.

“Hello?” her mother said. Her tone made it sound like Sabrina had interrupted her, which was highly likely, since she was always busy.

“Hey, Mom,” Sabrina said, her smile from the successful interview still plastered across her face. “What are you up to?”

“Hi, honey,” she said, her southern accent think and warm like honey. “I actually just walked in the door and was about to clean up the house a bit.”

“Were you teaching today?” Sabrina asked.

“Yes. Ms. Donahue, the first grade teacher over at Belmont, called in sick again today,” Anna said. “But it's great, because I'll be able to get a lot more hours in. With your father not working, I need to make as much money as possible. I'm sad that Ms. Donahue is ill, but glad to have the extra hours.”

“Are you done for the day?”

“Unfortunately, no,” Anna said, with an exaggerated sigh. “I've got an after school meeting after my shift.”

“You're a substitute teacher, though,” Sabrina said. “I thought you didn't have to attend those meetings.”

“Normally that's the case, but I've been putting in so many hours over there that they have asked me to participate anyway. I'm practically a full time teacher with how many shifts I've put in this year,” she said. “But it's not a bad thing that they want me to come to the meeting. They're paying me to show up, so I'm not complaining. I'll just grab a cup of coffee on my way there.”

“Please take care of yourself, Mom.” Sabrina pleaded. “I know we need the income, but it's not worth risking your health. I don't want you to work yourself to death. We'll figure things out, one way or the other. You know that.”

“I know, but when the opportunity is here I need to take it. I have to make hay while the sun shines,” she said, repeating the phrase that Sabrina had heard a thousand times growing up. “Anyway, what are you up to, honey? How was your day?”

“I just finished my interview. I was wondering if I’d be able to catch you and Dad before you guys leave for work tonight?” Sabrina glanced at the clock on the dashboard as she spoke, surprised to see that the evening was fast approaching. “I'd like to see you guys and fill you in on how it went.”

“Oh baby girl, I'm so excited to hear how it went. I hope you have good news. How far away are you?” Anna asked. “Your father has to leave in an hour. I’ll be right behind him.”

“I’m just downtown right now, about to leave the hotel,” Sabrina said, as she put her car into gear and began pulling out of the parking lot. “I can be home in ten or fifteen minutes.”

“Okay, that sounds great,” Anna said.

“Have you and Dad eaten dinner yet?” Sabrina asked. “Do you want me to stop and grab something on the way home?”

“Yes, good idea. I didn’t have time to make anything this evening,” her voice trailed off with a faint bit of guilt.

“That's okay, it's no big deal,” Sabrina said. “I’ll just grab some burgers and be home soon.”

Halfway to home, Sabrina pulled up to a little burger stand that was on the side of the road. They had the best burgers in town, though nobody would have ever guessed. The small stand looked like it would have fallen over if a stiff breeze had blown by it. Even so, there was still a line of cars, all filled with locals who knew just how good the food was.

While waiting in the drive-through line, Sabrina replayed the interview over in her head, the images still vivid and alive. More than the series of questions, though, she reran her brief conversation with Marco. The elegant tone of his voice was a song stuck in her head, something she could hear above the hum of the radio and the idling of her car.

After five minutes in line, she bought dinner for her family and pulled away. She rolled her windows down as soon as she hit the highway, allowing the air to whip across her face in celebration. It gave her the feeling of freedom and release, a sensation she hadn’t experienced in a long while. Her racing heart, combined with the intensity of the wind, kept the feeling of triumphant excitement alive in her chest all the way home.

When she arrived at her parents' trailer, she parked the Corolla nearby, on a small square of land where the grass had died from years of parked cars. All that was left was a small field of gravel and dust, which had become the official parking lot of the Wise residence. Wedged between Sabrina's Corolla and the trailer that she called home, was her family’s Honda Civic. Next to that was a small porcelain fountain. It had collected a small amount of rain water in the bottom, which had turned it into a bird bath. Surrounding the fountain were three garden gnomes and several tacky wind spinners, all things that Sabrina had wanted to throw out for as long as she could remember.

Her family’s trailer was as dilapidated as its surroundings. It had once been painted brown, but now the color had faded and chipped, exposing the graying wood underneath. The small home looked as though it had seen a few too many seasons. And as the light of the setting sun blanketed the trailer’s exterior, it only helped to amplify its many faults.

Sabrina got out of her car and skipped toward the trailer. The front door required a jerk and an upward heave to open, but once she had done so, she stepped in.

“Hey, guys. I'm home.” She sang the words as she entered. Once inside, she was greeted by a familiar stale and musty scent. It was the kind of smell you could only get used to after several minutes of pretending it wasn’t there, or after years of growing up in it. In many ways, the trailer would have been jarring to most people, but for Sabrina it was the smell of home.

Her father, Peter, was seated a few feet from the door on a small couch that doubled as an even smaller pull-out bed. Checkered with a colorful and outdated pattern, it was his favorite spot to sit and rest his ailing back.

“Hey, sweetie,” he said, breaking his gaze on the newspaper in front of him to greet her as she came in. When he laid it down Sabrina could make out the word 'employment' headlining the top of the page.

“Hey, Dad,” Sabrina said, as she closed the front door behind her.

She noticed that her dad was still wearing his grease-stained blue jeans, the one he wore whenever he was working on cars.

“How was your day today?” she asked, glancing down to his dirty clothing.

Before he could respond, Anna emerged from the back half of the trailer.

“You made it,” Anna said, pulling and twisting her thick hair into roll behind her head. There were days when people marveled at the striking similarities between her and Sabrina. Sabrina truly looked like a younger version of her mother. The only real difference was that Anna had crows’ feet on the outside of her eyes and her hair had gone mostly grey.

Sabrina dropped the paper bags full of fast food burgers onto the small table in the corner of the trailer. Her father rose slowly from his chair, using one hand to push himself up while holding his lower back with the other.

“Dinner time,” Sabrina said, looking at her dad. “I got some burgers.”

“That was really nice of you,” he said, his voice soft and appreciative. “Thank you, honey.”

It occurred to Sabrina that had she not stopped and bought dinner, her father probably wouldn’t have eaten before going to work that night.

“Happy to do it,” Sabrina said, pulling out a wrapped burger and handing it to her father. He smiled gently and slowly sat down at the table.

“Do you still have time for dinner?” she asked her mother, who had dipped back into her bedroom.

“I need five more minutes.” Anna called out, after disappearing around the corner.

“So, how was your day today, Dad? You didn't get a chance to answer when I first came in,” Sabrina said, as she sat down at the table with her father.

“My day was fine,” he replied. He had unwrapped his burger and was preparing for a bite before Sabrina had even dug hers out from the bag.

“You were gone when I left earlier today,” Sabrina said, trying to bait more conversation.

Her father swallowed but didn’t look up. “Phil from Memphis Mechanic gave me a call, said he could use some help working on an old Mustang they had in the shop. I said I’d give him a hand.”

“He pay you?” Sabrina asked, studying her dad over.

Peter nodded. His soft gray eyes were like craters on his lean face, his skin worn from years under the sun. Gray-colored stubble lined his chin and jaw like short and thin blades of grass on a rugged field. “Yeah, he paid me. It was just a few hours’ worth of work, though. Nothing steady. But I couldn't turn it down. The hospital called again and we need to pay up.”

Sabrina nodded, taking a bite of her burger. The hospital was always calling it seemed.

The bills were always late. The collectors always banging on their door.

They had been getting by until a little over a year ago when Peter was laid off from his job. The halted income was just part of the detrimental effect, though. The psychological blow of the loss was far worse. The whole thing had sent her father into a spiral of depression that Sabrina wasn’t sure he’d ever truly recover from. He refused to talk much about it, but his face wore the evidence of his grief and shame, which pained Sabrina just as much as it pained him.

“And it sounds like you were able to find something for tonight, too?” Sabrina asked, trying to get her father to talk to her more.

“Yeah. Dan said the bar’s been having some trouble lately,” he said, focusing on his burger

“The Blue Star?” Sabrina asked. “Is it about to close down?”

“Nah, not that kind of trouble,” he said. “Dan told me they've been getting some especially rowdy guests lately. Something about some local bikers coming in there and acting like they own the place. Said he’d appreciate an extra bouncer for tonight. They're expecting a lot of people there because of some UFC fight. He's hoping extra people will keep the bikers from acting up, if they even decide to show up tonight.”

“Really?” Sabrina said.

Peter nodded and swallowed another bite of burger. “Yeah, but it's just tonight. This isn't exactly a career move or anything, just a chance to make a few extra bucks.”

Her father was tough as nails and could handle himself, but with his bad back, Sabrina wondered how great of an idea it was to take a job like that.

“Is that going to be dangerous?” she asked.

“Shouldn’t be. That’s what Dan said anyway. He figures just having an extra person at the front door will be good enough.”

Sabrina pressed her lips and smiled, knowing that even if it were dangerous, her father wouldn’t admit to it. Not if it meant extra grocery money and one less collector knocking at their door.

Her mother bounded out from the bedroom a moment later, wearing a white-collared shirt under a blue vest with the Walmart emblem stitched in the top corner. ‘How may I help you?’ the shirt read.

“Those burgers smell amazing,” Anna said, reaching into the fridge and pulling out a can of diet soda.

“One of them is for you,” Sabrina said, as she pulled the third burger from the paper sack.

Her mother nodded and took a quick sip of her soda. Then, without responding, she darted back into her bedroom.

On most normal evenings, Sabrina would watch the chaos without involving herself any more than a helping hand, and even that she did cautiously. She’d learned a while ago that it was best to allow her mother’s pre-work tornado to run its course without giving it any fuel or obstacles. But tonight she had some big news and she couldn't wait to share it with everyone.

“Are you going to have to time to sit and eat?” she called to her mother, who reemerged carrying a handful of papers.

“I’ve got to fill this out,” she said, her voice sped up and distant. She dropped the papers onto the table but didn’t sit down.

Sabrina’s father had finished his burger and sat back with his hands in his lap. She looked at him and smiled, hoping to break through his stoic expression, even just slightly. He returned her gesture with a half-smile that ended at his cheeks, but was genuine all the same.

“Tell me about your interview, sweetie,” he said, his soft gray eyes like clouds hiding the sun.

Sabrina’s chest inflated with a small flurry of the excitement she’d felt earlier that day. She smiled involuntarily.

“It went really well,” she said. All at once everything flooded her mind and she didn’t even know where to begin. “I’ve got some exciting news.”

“Did you get the job?” her mom asked. Her eyes widened with excitement as she looked up from her papers.

“I did,” Sabrina said and nodded affirmatively. “They offered it to me on the spot.”

“Honey, that's amazing,” Anna said, smiling with motherly pride. “And this is the one that’ll...”

“This is the one that’ll get me to college,” Sabrina finished her sentence for her.

“That’s wonderful,” her father said, his lips curling into the largest smile she had seen from him in a long time.

“Thanks, Daddy,” she said.

“This is the best news I've heard in weeks,” Anna said, practically jumping up and down in excitement. “I'm so proud of you, baby girl. And you're sure this job will be able to put you through school? I'm not trying to question your math skills, but I just don't see how three months of work can possibly add up to enough money for four years of school.”

“I'll actually end up making more than I need,” Sabrina said. “I’ll save enough for tuition and have a bit for grocery money on the side. I’ll finally be able to put myself through college.”

“You're an incredible young woman, Sabrina,” her father said. “Seriously, I'm proud of you.”

“My daughter will be going to college, huh?” Anna said, looking dreamily toward the ceiling. “Won't that be something?”

“It almost seems too good to be true, but it’s all about to become a reality,” Sabrina said. “This is the opportunity I’ve been waiting for.”

“What kind of work is it again?” her mother asked.

“I'm a sort of assistant,” Sabrina said. “Among other things.” It was the best explanation she could offer.

“Other things?” Peter asked. He raised one bushy eyebrow at her.

“Yes. That actually brings me to another thing that I need to tell you about this job.” She trailed off and looked to her parents, who returned her stare without speaking. Sabrina gulped a short breath before starting again. “This job means I’m going to have to travel. I’m going to be gone for a while.”

She studied her parent’s expression, trying to guess a response before they spoke.

“How long?” her father finally asked. His smile had faded back to his usual defeated demeanor.

“A few months,” Sabrina said softly, her eyes meeting his gentle gaze. His nod spoke a thousand words that she knew her father couldn’t say.

“Traveling assistant work?” her mother asked, sounding skeptical.

“It’s kind of a unique position.” Sabrina directed her gaze toward her mom. “I’ll be an assistant for someone while they tour the country.”

“Tour the country?” her mother said, her eyes going wide.

Sabrina nodded. “That’s why the pay is so good, Mom. I wouldn't be able to make a quarter of this amount if I stayed in town.”

For a few moments, a heavy energy filled the trailer, shrinking the already small space.

“Are you sure it's safe?” Anna asked.

“Yes, Mom,” Sabrina assured her. “I made sure everything is on the up and up after the first phone call. One of their references was the chief of police. It's a real job.”

“You spoke with the chief of police?” Peter asked, slightly surprised. “That's a pretty good reference.”

Silence filled the trailer for a moment as her parents took in her words.

“I realize that this might be a little shocking, but I honestly didn't know it was a traveling position when I applied,” Sabrina said, breaking the silence. “I'll miss you guys so much, but I won't be gone too long. Just a few short months.”

“We're going to miss you too,” her father said, his words potent and sincere. “But you know, as much as I hate to see you leave, I want you to know that I totally support your decision. If I had an opportunity like this, you can bet your butt that I'd be all over it. I think this is a good thing. I'm proud of you for taking the leap and going for it.”

“Baby, your father is right.” Anna's tone was the softest it had been all evening. Sabrina even noticed her mother's eyes welling up with tears. “This is a great opportunity. I hope that it's not too good to be true, though.”

“It's not, Mom. It's real, I promise you.” Sabrina smiled. “Police chief, remember?”

“No matter what happens, we'll be here when you get back,” Anna said. “If you don't like it, then come home. Our door is always open, you know that.”

“I will,” Sabrina said. “I definitely will. But I think this will be great. Not just for me, but for all of us. I'll be able to make money that will end up helping us all in the long run.”

I’ll make a ton of money, Sabrina thought. And I’ll get us the hell out of this trailer park.

“Speaking of money, your father and I have to run to work. Peter?” her mother glanced at the clock as she bundled up the papers in front of her. “You ready?” She tilted her wrist in an attempt to signal the time on her watch.

Her father nodded and began his long process of standing up.

Sabrina’s heart grew heavy, drooping in her chest. Too many emotions were crowding her head all at once and she fought to keep them suppressed. While her mother went to fetch a pair of shoes, her father hovered by the table, realizing what neither of them wanted to say. But time was slipping and it pushed Sabrina to speak up.

“So the last thing I wanted to tell you guys is that I’m leaving the day after tomorrow,” she said. “With your work schedules, I’m not sure I’ll get to see you again before then.”

Her father nodded. Before he could respond, Sabrina smiled at him and launching into his chest for a full bear hug.

“Have a safe trip, Sabrina,” Peter whispered, squeezing her tightly. “We're here if you need anything. Anything at all.”

Sabrina released him and looked into his eyes.

“Thanks, Dad. I'll call all the time. I promise.”

“Do I get a hug?” Anna asked, coming up behind her husband.

“Of course,” Sabrina said and pulled her mother close. She was so frail, especially compared to Sabrina's father, and Sabrina almost felt wary about squeezing her too tightly.

Her mother broke the hug and pressed her palms to Sabrina’s cheeks, holding her face a short distance from her own before kissing her daughter’s forehead. There was a sort of bittersweet flutter in Sabrina’s chest. She was excited for the trip, but knew she was going to miss her parents dearly.

After exchanging hugs and goodbyes, her parents left the trailer. Her mom had a tear streaming down her cheek and even Peter's eyes appeared a little bit watery from the occasion. Sabrina watched from the trailer window as the two climbed into the Honda Civic and backed out of the driveway.

Sabrina's eyes fogged and she blinked away the tears before they escaped down her cheek. After a few seconds, a cloud of dust was all that was left in the driveway. Sabrina stared until it cleared. She could never get used to the forced feeling of her parent's disappearance when work came calling.

But I'm going to change that, she thought. This new job is just the beginning. I'm going to do everything in my power to make it so that, one day, my parents won't have to work anymore. I want to give them, and myself, the freedom that we all deserve.