At Milwaukee and Racine

Dedicated to the memory of Lisa Kuivinen

Even in the middle of August, when the heat index is supposed to reach over 100 degrees, there are those days when Mother Nature decides to give everyone a break from the oppressive temperatures. Melvin Perkins could care less about the weather; he's more concerned with keeping the electricity paid for to keep his bride of three years along with their two-year-old daughter cool whenever they wanted. Carole has been out of work since she decided that being a telemarketer wasn't her thing; she choose homemaking instead.

By 5:22 a.m., Melvin awoke to the buzz of his phone charging on the nightstand. "Hello?" his voice attempts to say through the gravel within his throat.

"Mel, this here's Hank over at the Roy-al Brick Company."

"Oh, morning."

"Look's like I need you to haul a load down to the construction site down on Milwaukee. You have ta enter the site using the alley off Racine. I'll give ya more specifics when you get down here. Ya free today, right?"

Fully awake now, Melvin replies, "Of course. Thanks for calling me. I'm free all day for any sort of loads. I'm on my way."

"Don't thank me. Thank Malcolm. His back went out again. Geez," Hank adds then hangs up.

"You got a job today?" Carole asks while rolling on her other side. This second pregnancy has eased her suffering now that she's a few weeks into her second trimester.

"Mommm....y! Mommm...y!" echos from another bedroom down the hall. Annie's awake, probably standing up in her crib, bouncing up and down waiting for one of them to free her from her cage.

"Looks like it. This is the seventh time this month that Hank has called me to fill-in for Malcolm. I hate to say it, but I hope Malcolm takes a medical leave, then I can be on full-time for him instead of this part-time basis."

"Maybe...that'll be good. Then we can actually have insurance and a steady stream of money coming in," Carole says, running her fingers though her short blonde hair. She leaves Melvin to dress while she gets their daughter to start the day.

After Melvin ate his daily bowl of oatmeal with a banana and kissed his wife and daughter good-bye, he drives his aged, but in fair condition, F-150 truck for the thirty-minute drive from his west suburban home east to his job. Once he parks, checks in with Hank, he grabs the keys for the eighteen wheeler he loves to drive. 

Someday that'll be mine...

Climbing up, he pats his rear left pocket, which is lighter each paycheck due to the automatic deductions to pay for his haulin' ride. Off Melvin drives to pick-up the load of bricks standing by.

Less than twenty miles away, Guadalupe Delgado finished taking her shower. Her hair drips dry as she sits on her mom's bed to review their schedules.

"What classes to you have today, Lupe?" Melissa asks while straighten up the bed, shooing her twenty-year-old daughter out of the way.

"Tuesdays are the best since it's animation from nine to four. I can't wait to actually start learning how to draw for motion. You know, make my characters show life."

"I think it'll be great, honey. I won't be home until closer to nine; I have clients until eight today," Melissa adds fluffing her red hair high in all directions. 

Melissa's career as a hairdresser for a salon in the Gold Coast had been a lifelong dream come true. It is not unusual for her to travel to New York, Los Angeles, and even Paris if a client requests for her to do her or his hair. Even with her absences from time to time, Melissa knows that she has provided a stable home the past few years, unlike before, when her husband, Lupe's father, passed away from colon cancer. His passing was sudden and unexpected; within three months of Jesus being diagnosed, he was gone.