Chapter 7
The next morning was Saturday. Mara and Cooper talked about getting their mom a Christmas present with the money they made.
“I want some of the money for myself, like $5,” Cooper said.
“Okay. I do to,” Mara replied. That leaves us about $24”
They walked to Walmart. They hadn’t any Walmarts close to them in California. Cooper thought they were amazing. They had everything you could think of and many things that you hadn’t. As they walked they talked about different things to get their mom: perfume, clothes, jewelry. Cooper thought a pretty shirt, but they didn’t know what size she was. After the long walk there they spent time looking at everything that their mom might like. It was so hard to choose. They settled on a box of chocolate covered cherries and a medium sized top they thought she would like. Then they separated for a few minutes to get something for each other. Cooper was hopping from foot to foot. Mara could tell he had a something in mind that he thought would make her really happy. She got him an electronic hand held game for $5. She hoped he would like it. She also got a box of generic hot chocolate mix to make when they got home. She was looking around for Cooper when a frowning woman came up to her.
“Are you Cooper Munroe’s sister?”
“Yes,” Mara replied.
“Please come with me.”
“Okay. What’s this about?” Mara asked.
“Just come with me.”
“What should I do with the stuff I’m buying?” Mara indicated the hard orange plastic basket she was holding.
“Bring it.”
Mara followed the woman to the back of the store and into an employee only section. Mara thoughts tumbled about what the problem was as she matched the woman’s stride. She couldn’t help noticing how ugly her shoes were. Black, square lace-up type. To wear those shoes should be a punishment for bad manners. You were rude. Three days in the ugly shoes.
Cooper was sitting in a chair in front of a squat metal desk. He had tears on his face. Mara rushed to him, “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“Please sit down,” said a balding man behind the desk. “Thank you, Marianne,” he said to the ugly shoes lady and she left.
Mara sat in the chair beside Cooper’s, put the basket on her lap and looked at the man. In front of him on the desk was a bag of sour skittles. They were her favorite candy.
“We caught your brother shop lifting.” The man’s hands were folded on the desk in front of him. His face was serious.
“Cooper!” Mara cried out.
Cooper started sobbing, “I didn’t want you to see it, so I put it under my coat. Then I had to go to the bathroom and they’re past the cash registers. I didn’t think . . . I didn’t mean . . .”
Mara face flamed red. This man probably thinks were some sort of criminal team who goes around stealing stuff. She wanted to shake Cooper for how stupid he was. Their mom was going to flip out . . . again. Her stomach twisted and she thought she might throw up. Would they arrest Cooper? Mara patted Cooper on the back and turned to look at the man. “I don’t think he meant to steal them. We have money to pay for them. I’m . . . really sorry.”
“We wanted to call your parents, but he said your father is in Kentucky and your mother’s asleep right now. Is that right?”
“Yes,” Mara acknowledged, “Our folks are divorced. We just moved here from California. Our mom works nights. We came her to get her Christmas present and presents for each other. We have money to pay for our stuff.”
Cooper wiped his tears and snot on his shirt sleeve and dug in his pocket. He pulled out two battered 5 dollar bills.
“This is enough, right?”
They both turned hopefully toward the man. He had pockets under his eyes that were dark grey. The fluorescent lights made him look a strange ashen color. He looked worn out. He was looking at them--studying them.
He is trying to figure us out. He is wondering if we’re lying or not, Mara thought. People probably lie to him all the time.
He leaned forward on his desk. “We take shop lifting very seriously here. We lose millions of dollars every year because of shop lifting and it’s especially bad during the holidays. However, we don’t prosecute under a certain dollar limit and your under that. So this time I am just going to warn you.”
Cooper started crying again. This time with relief. “I didn’t mean to shop lift. I just needed to pee.”
The man gave a small smile. “Did you get to go before they brought you back here.”
“No,” Cooper snuffled.
“There is a bathroom across the hall if you want to use it.”
“Yes,” Cooper jumped up and bolted from the room.
The man laughed and shook his head. “Reminds me of my son. Acts first, thinks later. It’s the age.” He gave Mara a sharp look, “Did you drive here?”
“I’m not old enough yet. Cooper and I walked. It’s not too far.”
“Where do you live?” he asked.
“The Koberlyn Apartments. They’re on Koberlyn Street,” she replied.
His eyebrows shot up. “That’s about 3 miles from here. Seems like a big walk. Why didn’t you take the bus?”
“We only have so much money for presents. It only took about an hour.”
“You don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to, but how did you get the money?”
Mara thought about saying stealing, but didn’t know if he would find that funny so she told him about doing odd jobs for people in the apartment. Cooper came back in looking relieved. He had washed his face and patted his brown, curly hair down to look more respectable. It made him look like he had been playing in the water.
The man stood up and came around his desk to shake their hands good-bye. He handed Cooper the bag of candy.
“Thank you, Mr. . . .” Mara started.
“Anders.”
Mara thought of the woman with gnarled hands whose car they had washed.
“Do you know Mrs. Anders at the Koberlyns?” Mara asked.
“She’s my mother.”
“We washed her car,” Cooper piped.
Mr. Anders gave a chuckle, “Bet that took awhile. She’s very detail oriented.”
“Yeah,” Cooper agreed, “Really oriented.” He frowned, “What’s wrong with her hands?”
“Cooper,” Mara was horrified. She gave him the look that said that’s rude and were aren’t free yet.
“She has arthritis in her hands,” Mr. Anders replied, “It’s very painful but, she doesn’t let that slow her down any.”
“She was a very nice lady and we were glad to help. She helped us out. She seemed really nice and not weird at all,” Mara couldn’t stop talking. She slowly tugged Cooper out of the room. Once out they headed for the door back to the store.
“Wait,” Mr. Anders called, “You forgot your stuff.”
He raised the orange basket for them to see.
“Right,” Mara grabbed it quickly. “Thanks again, Mr. Anders.” Mara wasn’t sure what to say so she blurted out, “Bye,” and took off. They paid for their purchases and splurged on peanut butter cups to eat on the way home. It used up all their earnings. They had less than a dollar left.
As they walked back Cooper asked, “Do we tell mom?”
Mara thought about it as the chocolate and peanut butter dissolved in her mouth. “Yes, but not today. Maybe Christmas day . . . after she’s opened her presents.”
Cooper nodded. “Good idea.”
No comments:
Post a Comment