Ghost Camp

Chapter 4:Money Problems

     "Oh my little Fluffkins." Mr. Walker screamed after coming home from his trip. Fluffkins runs into him, scratching and jumping onto his pants leg. "Daddy missed you while he was away, oh yes he did." Mr. Walker being so old can't bend down in fear of damaging his back. So instead he moved his leg, rubbing the cats side.

     "Thanks again for watching him for me Ruane. Hope he wasn't to much trouble."

     "No, no." Ruane said. "He was great. Thanks for letting me go get his litter box. Don't worry, I put the key back under the flower pot." She smiled then added, "But you were right. He really doesn't like baths. I got scratched quite a bit." She joke.

     She and Mr. Walker shared a laugh, then Mr. Walker continued.

     "Well, I'm sorry for his behavior, but I'm glad you stuck through it. So now, here you go." He handed Ruane the $120 she'd earned.

     Ruane pocketed the money, before helping Mr. Walker transfer the supplies from cat sitting back to his house. He told her that if he ever needed a sitter again, she would be his first choice. She thanked him, said her good-byes, and went back home.

     Because she had to watch Mister Fluffkins, Ruane didn't go to school that Monday. She sat around letting the day pass by. Watching TV, and checking social media until her dad got home. Then they both hung out together. Watching TV, and checking social media.

     The rest of her school year went by the same way as the last few days did.  Ruane would invite Moxy over with her dad's permission. She worked on her grades in school, and made real change. She managed to get two more babysitting jobs as well. The first one was with the Berns. She got a call around 9:30pm one night. It was from Mr. Berns. His voice sounded a little shaky and muffled. He sounded a bit scared. The conversation went something like this.

     "Hello." Ruane says answering the phone.

     "Hi Ruane." Mr. Bern's started. "I'm sorry for calling so late, but it's important." It was apparent he was trying to whisper.

     "What is it?" Ruane asked.

     "Well..." He took a deep breath, "I plan to ask Veronica to marry me." He sounded anxious as he continued. "I've got a reservation at her favorite restaurant and I plan to ask her at dinner tomorrow. That's where you come in."

     "Say no more." Ruane interrupted. "I'll help you go over your game plan. Mrs. Berns will be blown away."

     "No, no, no. I need you to watch the kids tomorrow." He corrected. "I know it's last minute but I'm willing to pay you $15 an hour."

     Ruane knew she had nothing to do the next day so she gladly agreed.

     "Thank you so much. If you could please come over by 7 that would be amazing. And I think it goes without saying, but don't tell anyone about this. Especially Veronica."

     "No problem Mr. Berns. I wish you luck, although I doubt you'll need it."

     "Thanks, and I'll see you tomorrow. Goodbye."

     "Bye bye." Ruane ended the call.

     The next night she walked over to Mr. Bern's house and ended up staying up until 1am the next morning. She had put the kids to sleep at 9 and sat in the front room watching movies until the Berns got home. Mr. Bern's drove her home, and told her that he and Mrs. Bern's were now engaged. When he dropped Ruane off he handed her the $90 she was due. She graciously accepted the money and thanked him for the ride before heading inside.

     With that she now had $210 in total. She was certain that in the week and a half she had left she could obtain the remaining cash needed. Nothing came up until Monday the last week of her time frame. She got a call from Mrs. Phills asking if she could babysit her kids for a few hours while she handled some personal things. Ruane accepted hoping this could get her to meet her quota.

     Instead Mrs. Phills came back early that day. Ruane only stayed over for 5 hours, earning only $45. She left that house unsure of how she was going to come up with the left over money now. She made calls all week, hoping that someone would call her back with a job. As the week progressed and she lost hope. She had no choice but to call Moxy.

     That Saturday she had Moxy come over.

     "Sooo, did you show him yet?" Moxy asked eagerly.

     "No. That's actually why I called you over." Ruane confessed. "I don't have enough money yet. I know he won't give it to me, sooo?"

     "I thought you might say that. How much do you need?"

    "I only need $45. In my defense I would have had it but Mrs. Phills came home early."

     "Don't worry. I've got you girl. We are going to have so much fun this summer!"

     Moxy handed Ruane the money she needed to confront her dad with. "Thanks so much." Ruane rejoice before they both head down stairs to talk to her father.

     Ruanes father was sitting at the dinning room table, doing stuff on his laptop. Ruane and Moxy gently stepped up to the other side of the table and began talking.

     "Dad." Ruane started. "I've got the money, and my grades are great now. All I need you to do is sign the permission slip." Moxy pulled a folded piece of paper from her purse and slid it over to Ruanes father. After doing a quick look over he asked Ruane simply, "And your grades?" Ruane hesitantly pulled out her phone and pulls up her grade portal, and shows him her current grades. She didn't have a great GPA at the moment, but it was presentable. She managed to get 2 A's, 4 B's and 2 C's.

     Ruanes father was slightly pleased with her grades at that point in time. Sure it wasn't the best progress report, but at the start of the month she had mainly F's, so this was a real improvement.

     Her father let out a deep sigh, but persisted. "And you're sure that's $320?"

     "Yes." Ruane said. "I must have counted it about three times to make sure."

     Trusting Ruane he turned to Moxy and asked, "And you'll be joining her at this camp, right."

     "Yes indeed." Moxy blurted out. "I'm the one who told her about it. Don't worry, I'll make sure she doesn't have too much fun." She says this while grabbing on to Ruanes arm.

     Taking a few more seconds, he caved in and says, "Fine. I'll sign. But you've got to find your own way up there, I won't be driving you."

     "No problem." Moxy says excited. "I'll drive!"

     "Didn't you just get your license a month or so ago?" He asks concerned.

     "Yeah. But that's not important. I got it!"

     Ruanes father, now a little more afraid, signs the paper as the two girls giggle and whisper about how much fun they were going to have. They had both applied to be each other's bunk mates, which only added to the excitement. Ruane was genuinely happy.

     After he finished signing Ruanes father held out the slip and instantly had it snatched. Moxy explained how she had to get the slip and the money dropped off before it was too late. In a blink of an eye, she was out the front door and gone.

     Left alone Ruane and her father exchanged a few more words.

     "You know..." Her father started "This doesn't mean you're not still grounded."

     "What, but you just said I could go." Ruane argued.

     "Yeah, but that's this summer. Until then straight home as usual."

     "Yes sir." She complied.

     She couldn't fight it. She got this far and couldn't do anything to ruin it all. Instead, she went up to her room, and just waited. Waited until summer.