Nothing In This World (BWWM) ✅

Chapter Twenty Three

"We're dealing with hot metal, not rose petals. Y'all men get a grip!" The manager stormed off leaving the men to continue back on work schedule.

Lance wiped the sweat from his brow as he organized the different bolt sizes from the other. The small yet tedious work is what he was assigned to when he got the job a month ago. Making the minimum pay and his entire check went to Charles on the day bills were due. Lance never complained though. This was his new life starting out. He figured it was better than taking care of cows and driving into town to sell whatever poor quality milk and eggs the stock dished out.

Charlene kept him going. She's grown closer to Darla and the woman puts a smile on anyone's face. He also enjoyed joking with Charles and the neighbors aren't so hard on him anymore when he pulls up in his truck.

Lance loved Oregon and he pictured bigger things for himself here.

"You daydreamin' boy?" One of his coworkers came and slapped a heavy arm on one of his already sore shoulders. "Cheeks is pink and your back is drenched."

"It's hot, sir. The perfect day to celebrate my girl's birthday." Lance cheesed as he thought of what he would pick up for Charlene on the way home.

His co-worker laughed a heavy laugh and leaned up against the shelf holding the screw buckets. Lance knew the man was looking for a conversation but he continued to work through the distractions. "Your girl, huh? What is she? Older? A beauty? What does she look like? Blonde hair and blue eyes, yeah? Those the best ones."

"She's younger actually. She turned seventeen today. I turn eighteen next month." The man grunted at Lance's excitement. "She's got this beautiful hair that she puts up in all these different styles like I've never seen it. Manages it so well. Skin so soft and voice so sweet." He tossed another screw into the correct bucket. "The love of my life. Can't live without her. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for her keeping me on my toes."

The man now completely lost interest in the conversation which made his eyes droop in boredom. "Young love makes me want to retire early. All you youthful bucks come in here and take up the jobs while they kick us 'seniors' to the curb. You all married and fresh and looking for a way to the top."

"How are you gentlemen doing?" Lance looked up to see Charles standing before him in a suit and tie. His position was higher than Lance could ever be so he often stayed fresh and clean despite the long hours. "I see you must be on break, Lester."

The man scoffed causing his beer gut to bounce. "I know I'm not being pestered by an upidy nigger." This caused Lance to freeze in his skin to see the expression on Charles's face. Surprisingly, it had not changed. "Hear this, Lance? Tryna get smart with me."

"Lester," Charles said calmly in a voice that Lance would assume is his work voice because he didn't sound like that at home. "I would hate to have to mark you down as taking extra breaks."

Lester looked Charles up and down then spat out something that almost landed on Lance's shoe. "Yeah, whatever." The man walked off which was almost like a signal for Lance to get back to it. Charles then looked at Lance and smiled before going to complete the worker's inspection.

"Oh! He burped a cute little burp!" Charlene pulled Ricky away from her shoulder and bounced him on her knee. "He's so big it'll almost break your back to hold him."

Darla laughed as she dried off the plates they had their lunch on. Charlene didn't want to let Ricky go the entire time. She's grown a fond attachment to her nephew. "I got to lay him down for a nap soon or he'll be cranky until he's twelve. But you can play with him some more. I know he's happy to have you because with the cleaning and cooking, I haven't had much time to give him the attention he needs."

Charlene saw the tired expression on Darla's face as she wiped down the table in a hurry. "Darla, I got the cleaning. You should spend time with Ricky. Every child should be attached to their parent at the hip."

"You sure?" Darla said while swinging off her apron. Charlene handed Ricky over in exchange for the wet rag. "Thank you so much. If you need anything, I'll be in my room."

They did a silent goodbye and Charlene went to finish wiping off the table before going to the sink and rinsing the towel out. She sighed as she remembered all the times she'd do laundry and meet Lance in the shed when she was supposed to be working. Now she has no choice but to follow through her daily duties with no breaks in between until she's done.

She wondered if Lance was at work socializing and making friends. She also worried that he would make so many friends that he wouldn't come home. She would only have Darla, Darla would only have Ricky, Charles would have the neighborhood's husbands. Before she knew it, she was slouching into the kitchen sink and staring at her reflection in the curvature of a spoon.

"Ricky is suddenly restless," she quickly turned to see Darla has since changed her clothes and Ricky's. "We're gonna go out for a little stroll. You want to join?"

Charlene was more than happy to get out of the house. The dishes could wait. "Of course." The two women and the baby put their shoes on by the front door and made sure Ricky was comfortable in his stroller. The temperature was in the old seventies which meant Darla wasn't the only mother bringing her kids out to enjoy the sunlight.

"Wow, Patty! How tall is he?" Darla pointed to a mother who was watching her son ride around on his bike.

The woman laughed while stepping a bit closer to the edge of her yard. "He says he's reaching to be taller than Charles! He probably has one more month to go!" The women exchanged a laugh which caused Darla to go off Route and approach the woman. Charlene shyly followed behind. "Who is this pretty young lady?"

"This is Charles's sister, Charlene."

The woman's smile faded quickly. "She's the one who came in with the..." Darla nodded nervously. "I see. You all ain't scared over there in that house. Them white men ain't too fond of switching sides. He could get yall into some trouble the rest of us don't want to see."

"Charles has it all figured out. You know he work up there with them people. Knows they every move and he doesn't hesitate to tell us a thing." Patty nodded to every word Darla said. "And Lance ain't like them crackers. At least I ain't seen any comparisons."

"What's your son's name?" Charlene asked to make her presence well known.

"Samuel. Named right after his crazy-ass father. He's tryna move us to that third street as close to them white folks as possible. Samuel don't need to be going to school with them folks. He don't know that Vanport is growing more segregated by the day. White folks still refusing to drive on that main road cause they scared what they might see." She used her hands to motion towards the street signs.

Darla gawked in disbelief. "I heard them whites was getting out of here." She looked at Charlene who was intrigued by the conversation. "That's what Charles said. Said they was moving closer to the shipyard headquarters."

The gossip and conversation went on a little while longer with Charlene having nothing to add because she knew nothing about Vanport or Oregon. The women had a lot to say and she knew they most likely did this often. She figured it was the outcoming of having to stay home with the kids all day and needing a way to relieve some built up conversation.

Eventually, she grew bored of standing around and decided to give Ricky some more of her attention. To her surprise, he was asleep and they were barely ten feet from the house. "I'm going to put Ricky down in his bed."

Darla nodded and quickly jumped back into her conversation with Patty. When Charlene took the stroller, she used this time to look at the direction where Patty said the whites lived and she began to wonder just how well Lance could fit in.