Another Day, A New Hope

Brothers

Her dream that night wasn’t sad or strange she just found herself remembering where she grew up, where ships did not fly and her family was always close. She still woke up alone in her apartment to something bumping around in her kitchen.

She ignored the noise thinking it was her cat when she remembered she did not like or own any pets. She quickly pulled her baseball bat out from under bed, and snuck through her open door where she started to smell burning. ‘Who breaks in just to make breakfast?’ She asked herself. Once she reached the kitchen door, shouldering her bat she got ready to swing and kicked the door open. She was about to swing as she recognized her brother in front of the stove “Tony?” Hope asked dropping the bat on Tony’s foot. He screamed and said, “Mom wasn’t joking about that short term memory stuff, huh?” He held his foot in both hands and reminded her of the promise they had made last night, “You said I could stay here ‘til I got a place of my own.”

The events of last night slowly came back to Hope, “But we never said anything about breakfast.” She bent down to pick up her bat, “What are you doing in my kitchen?”

“Well maybe I was appreciative of my sister for keeping me off the streets of New York and remembered how much she liked my hash browns.”  There were a few plates on the table and a pan of hash browns sat on the stove.

Hope was going to sit down, but was disappointed by the doorbell ringing, at the door she saw that she was still holding her bat, she stashed it away in the umbrella stand and the door opened to William Bennett, Hope wasn’t too surprised to see the boy because his mother was her neighbor and she had been paying Hope, a free-lance delivery girl to drop him off at and pick him up from school for the past few months, what surprised Hope was that the boy still stood at her door with a plastic orange flower he’d been trying to give her since the first time she dropped him off.

“Good morning,” William smiled, “You know, I’m almost an adult.”

“Not yet, Billy.” She pushed the flower away, “Have you had breakfast yet?” She started to move back to the kitchen.

“Nah, but I can smell something that could change that.” He sat at the table and both he and Tony asked, “Who’s this?”

“The chef of this fine meal, my brother, Anthony and a client of mine’s son, William.” She to sat down and was extremely thankful that she was not the one who cooked this meal, it would of turned out a big burnt mess and would have looked more like mashed potatoes than hash.

“Oh, come on, I’m much more than ‘a client’s son,’” He grabbed a plate of hash and thanked Tony, “Thanks, it’s much better than Hope’s, I mean she may look fine, but my baby ain’t no chef.” Hope would have protested, but her mouth was full and she was not going to waste a bite of this hash.

“Your baby?” Tony asked, “How old are you, kid?”

“Almost 18.” Billy defended, “I’m not a kid anymore.”

Tony was shocked so Hope finally said, “If you can’t pay me yourself, you’re still a kid.” Hope put some dishes in the dishwasher and continued, “Come on the longer we wait the faster I have to ride.”

“You’ll be gone all day, won’t you?” Tony asked.

“Just like my mom,” Billy said, then added, “One of her day employees was stealing from the cash so she has to take over their shift. She’ll be leaving in a few minutes.”

“Where does your mom work?”  Tony asked, hoping to scrape a new job out of the kid.

“She owns and runs ‘The Late Night Bakery,’ but to keep it open she’s got to run it in the daytime too.” Billy pushed his dishes away, was flicked in the head for it, and then put them in the dishwasher. “It was her daytime manager that stole the money so she’ll be interviewing new ones all day.”

“Where can I find her?”  Tony was sunk; this job would be his.

“Two doors down.” Hope warned, “Mrs. Bennett is not the type of person you want to wake up so you should probably wait at the front desk instead of knocking down her door.” Billy and her began to leave as she said, “She looks like a female version of this kid.” She knew that would be the next question he asked so she did not listen to whatever he said next.

Billy got off of the back of her bicycle at his school and she headed off to make more deliveries. The long day went by and she picked Billy up after school where he finally paid her, once he was home he said thanks and ran before she could remind him of his homework. Three hours, two meal breaks, thirteen scheduled packages and two improvised trips later Hope was back home and asking her brother whether or not he was employed. His whole countenance was filled with unhappiness as he answered, “No.” His haplessness seemed to be contagious for Hope instantly became unwilling even to smile. “She shot me down with the first word.”

“Well I’m sure a job will come along and if not we can find one and in the meantime you can stay with me.” His face brightened, they both knew he would be staying a long time.

There was a knock on the door and then it opened, Billy walked in and flopped on the couch next to the siblings, “Mom’s still out.”

He said, “Could I stay with you guys?”

“You can stay as long as you want. I’ve always got room, for you.” Hope was safe and sound as she watched a movie, sandwiched between her little brothers.