The Baby Programme

It took me extra long to clean the tables after the dinner rush was over at the diner. Some teens thought it’d be funny to stick their gum underneath their table; I had been scraping it for at least fifteen minutes. How much gum had they been chewing?

The diner was one of those retro restaurants that tried to imitate the fifties and had a jukebox playing 24/7. All of us waitresses had to wear fifties style dresses and roller-skates while serving. By the end of a shift, I was pretty exhausted.

Callie was the only one remaining on the shift with me, though she wasn’t much help. She had one reason for staying late and it wasn’t to help me out. The secret smiles and winks shared between her and our manager made me want to vomit, but I just put my head down and finished cleaning my section.

It had been a couple years since I had been hired for this job. I knew it wasn’t something that would help my nonexistent savings account, but at least I could make ends meet.

I knew that I shouldn’t be complaining; at twenty-three, I was lucky to be able to pay the rent for my shabby apartment. The few true friends I had did not complain about my life, but I knew they probably pitied me in secret. Maybe someday my luck would change.

I used to dream about having a huge house and a really nice sports car. I was young and naïve back then, though I occasionally found myself thinking about that old desire when things were really bad.

I continued walking towards my car which was five years old and starting to have engine problems. It was a pitiful sight as it had a long scratch on it from the prior owner before me. I was reminded of my living situation

each time I looked at it.

Before I backed up and drove off, my phone started ringing.

I checked the caller ID and answered immediately when I saw it was my younger sister, Lola. Normally, she didn’t call unless it was something urgent.

I got a bad feeling in my stomach, but I tried to calmly answer, “Hi Lola. What’s going on?”

“Danica, I…I’ve got something to tell you. I didn’t know who else to call.”

Major sirens began ringing in my head.

My voice filled with concern as I asked, “Are you okay?”

Her voice got shaky as she said, “No. I’m not. I’m in a huge mess.” She hesitated before continuing, “I owe $200,000 to a mobster.”

“Oh my God. Lola, how did this happen?”

There was a slight pause on her end of the line. I heard her breathing get shallow which worried me greatly.

This was bad. There was no way that Lola had this kind of money. And from what I knew about local gangsters, they weren’t too forgiving when a debt isn’t paid. I couldn’t believe this was happening.

I knew immediately that I would help her. She was the only family member I had left and I couldn’t let her down. Our parents always wanted me to look after my sister, and I would honor their wish.

Lola finally answered, “I swear I wasn’t being irresponsible. I made some huge mistakes and got caught up in this mess.”

“I’m going to get you out of this.”

Lola swallowed and said, “I don’t want to burden you, but I didn’t know what else to do. I’m so sorry.”