Clair Seale was, and still is, spoiled. She was the baby of the family.
Her older brother, Peter, moved to New York to become a lawyer; now he is one of the most successful in the country.
Her older sister, Tiffany, is a mom of three and lives in a large house with her loving veterinarian husband.
And then there is Clair…. She works at Sears and lives in a one bedroom apartment.
She is twenty-four but acts like sixteen. Her and her boyfriend, Richie, have been on and off for two years. He was the kind of guy to be covered in tattoos and own a motorcycle just to seem cool. His parents named his Richard, which sounds like a ‘queer’ name, he says, so he introduces himself as Bones. Bones; yes you heard it right. He acts tough but in reality he just and asshole with no sense of the word ‘cool’.
Clair’s sister, Tiffany would always ask, “Why is your choice in men so shitty?” and Clair would say, “I take after mom.”
Their mother and father live in a house in Westbrook, a community of people over fifty. Their dad, John, has gone senile. So much so that he mistakes his wife of 48 years as his ‘maid’; but in all honesty, she kind of is. He leaves his coffee mugs everywhere and hasn’t picked up a dish rag in years.
“Martha!” he’d call for his wife in his raspy voice to get him the remote which was a few feet away on the coffee table.
He was a good dad, but a slacker. “You don’t let just any man off the street get you pregnant, Tiffany.” He would say looking at her with his shaky eyes.
“Dad, I’m married,” she would say and hand him his pills.
“That’s right...” he said in a surprised tone and swallowed his meds.
Tiffany often lends money to her younger sister and sometimes even bought her groceries. The two were close and talked on the phone or visited each other almost every day. But sometimes Tiffany got sick of getting so little in return.
It was a hot Wednesday in summer, and Clair was having lunch with her sister on her day off from her job at Sears. They both happily sipped on their Chinese tea as calming music played in the background.
“I need to ask a favor,” Tiffany said with her eyes on her tea.
“Yea? What’s up?” Clair raised an eyebrow. Clair was usually the one asking for favors.
“So…. I need you to watch the kids,” she paused.
“Uhh.. ok, sure. Date night?” Clair chuckled.
“It’s for more than a night, Clair,” she said finally looking at her with a serious expression.
“What?” Clair asked confused. A getaway weekend for Tiffany and Andrew might be a little hard to handle. Ok, a lot to handle.
“It’s for a week.”
Clair nearly spit her tea out, “A week?! Where are you going? What about Mom?”
“We won a free week vacation to Malibu though Andrew’s work. And Mom can’t take them; not with Dad the way he is.” She explained as she pulled out her credit card to pay the bill like she always does.
“Neither can I! I have work. And your kids hate me,” she complained.
“You can take the week off. You always do when you have something stupid planned. I need you Clair.”
“But… I took a week off last month. They’re bound to be suspicious… and I need the money.”
“Listen Clair, How much have I done for you since you moved out? A lot. How much have you done for me? Hardly anything; I paid for your water bill this month. I help you buy groceries. I pay for our lunches for god sake!” she said slamming the credit card on the edge of the table.
“Ok, ok, Calm down, Tiff,” Clair sighed.
“And the kids don’t hate you. They love you,” the waitress came and took her card and the bill, nodding her head smiling.
“Yea…” Clair said looking down.
“Listen, I will pay you two hundred for the week. You’ll come to my house to stay for only six nights; seven days. We’ll stock up on food and everything before we go. Clair, it’s only fair. I need you.”
“I guess I could…” the waitress came back with two fortune cookies and handed Tiffany her credit card.
“Good, we leave Friday morning. Be there at 6am.” Tiffany said standing up and grabbing her coat.
“Tiff, you know I’m not a morning person,” she looked up smiling hopefully to see her sister’s stern glare, “Ok, ok. 6am.”
Tiffany started to walk away, irritated. Clair stood up, “You forgot your fortune cookie!”
“Keep it.” She said without looking back and walking out the door as the little bell rang.
Clair sighed and slumped down in her chair, and unwrapped her fortune cookie with her purple polished nails. She read it and snorted, “How freaking ironic.”
‘The next week will be stressful for you. Take time to relax.’
YOU ARE READING
Google it (DO NOT READ. Editing Process)
Humor“I need you to watch the kids for a week. Don’t worry it will be easy.” 7 days. 6 nights. With 3 unruly children…. Yea the hell right! Clair Seale is taking care of her sister’s children for a whole week, and she needs answers fast. Google: is it p...
