I lived in Spokane, WA when my wife was killed by a drunk driver.
She was coming home from work late one night when it happened.
I got the phone call at 1:45 AM and when I told my three kids
the next morning we were all a mess of tears. We saw a therapist
for months afterward and that helped. I was finally ready
to resume my life. My employer had been very generous in
granting me an indefinite leave of absence while I dealt
with my pain.
Now that I was ready to go back I had to see what I could do with
my kids. Before the wreck I was a stay-at-home Dad but now
I needed some help with the children. I had 2 sons, 6 and 3,
and a daughter, 9. I ran an ad in the local paper and on Craig’s
List. In the ad I said that I was looking for some help with
household chores and childcare from about 8 AM to 6 PM. In
the first 4 days I had the ad running I only got 2 calls and
they weren’t suitable. Then on the fifth day I got the
call for Melissa.
“Hello.”
“Way I speak with Mr. Dentino?”
“Speaking.”
“Hello, sir. My name is Melissa Pratt. I’m calling
about the ad you have on Craig’s List.”
“Yes. Thank you for your interest. What kind of experience
do you have?”
“I have cleaned my parents house since I was 10 and
I’ve been responsible for my 7 younger siblings all
my life.”
“You don’t have any professional experience?”
“No sir, but I’m very good.”
“I’m sorry. I’m looking for someone with
more experience.”
“Please, Mr. Dentino. I really need this job. I would
be perfect for it. I want this.
Since I had had so few responses to my ad I thought I’d
at least try her out.
“I’ll tell you what, Melissa was it? You can come
to my house and I’ll try you out for a weekend while I’m
home to supervise. Is that okay with you?”
“Yes, sir. And thank you, sir.”
I gave her my address and told her to be at my place at 8:AM
on Saturday.
Saturday came and my doorbell rang at 7:55 AM. I opened the
door and almost fell over backwards. Standing in front
of me was a small girl (maybe 4’10”) who looked
about 12.
Melissa could sense my unease.
“I’m older than I look, sir.”
“And how old might that be?”
“I’m 18.”
I invited her in and called my kids downstairs to meet her.
The three of them came bounding down the stairs and came
to a stop beside me.
“Rachel, Mike, Donny. This is Melissa.”
The three kids stayed right by my side. But then Melissa
smiled at them. When I saw her smile my knees felt as if they
would give out. This girl’s smile reminded me of Christie
Brinkley in “Vacation”. When the three of them
saw her smile they smiled right back and moved forward.
My youngest, Donny, held out his hand.
“It’s nice to make your applaintace.”
Melissa chuckled and knelt down.
“You’re adorable.” she said while offering
her arms to Donny.
He jumped into her arms and gave her a huge hug. Within minutes
the other two were hugging her as welll.
Throughout the day I put Melissa through the paces. She
passed every test. She made us 3 wonderful meals, cleaned
the whole house, watched the kids, played with the kids,
did some school work with the kids. After dinner I asked
Melissa to come back at the same time tomorrow.
