A Miracle for Mackenzie - 1

1

            “That’s discrimination!” Joy nearly screamed in my face, not that she could get past by seven month pregnant belly.

“It’s in the employee handbook, Joy. Right there in black and white.”

“That’s so stupid. Whoever heard of anything so stupid?”

“I knew wearing nylons was part of the dress code. But it was so hot this morning. I was hoping nobody would notice.”

“And you’re pregnant. What’s wrong with that guy? How could he fire you when you’re pregnant?”

“He said I’ve missed too much work lately.”

“Yeah, because you’re anemic. I mean, look at you, you’re white as a ghost. I think you should march right back over there and tell him that you’re going to bring him up on discrimination charges if he doesn’t give you your job back.”

“He said he wouldn’t fight it if I filed for unemployment.”

“Oh great. So you’ll get what? Sixty percent of a waitress’s salary. It’s your tip money that pays the bills, not that pathetic salary.”

“Oh that reminds me,” I dug into the front pocket of my black skirt – I had gotten to where I wore skirts with big pockets because I couldn’t fit the small black apron around my waist without looking absolutely ridiculous. It either sat way too high and looked like a bib or it got lost under the belly and I couldn’t find it. I pulled a folded twenty dollar bill out of my pocket and held it between two fingers and wagged it at Joy. “One of my customer’s must have heard Mr. Rukin firing me this morning. The guy slipped me the twenty on a six dollar special. I thought he wanted change but he told me to keep it. Wasn’t that nice?”

“You’re going to tell me that you kept waiting on customers after that guy fired you? Are you nuts?”

“You just told me that I should go get my job back.”

“That’s different, Mackenzie. Honey, I think you need a break. Your brain’s not working right”

I put the twenty back in my pocket. I thought it was a cool story. Just because Mr. Rukin was mean and nasty didn’t mean all people were. But then I felt guilty thinking that way of Mr. Rukin. He wasn’t really mean and nasty, just doing his job. I mean I would probably fire me with all the time I’ve missed. I didn’t want to miss work, it was just that I was so tired. And nothing I did seemed to help.

“Ok fine. The reality is unemployment might compensate for tips. A percentage, maybe? I don’t really know.” It was possible I supposed. I showed tip earnings on my tax return every year. Wouldn’t they take that into consideration?

“Who knows. No matter what though, it’s not enough to live on and then when the baby comes…What then? You can’t feed a baby on that kind of money.”

“I can’t think about that right now. I’ve got to find a job.”

“Look at you, Mackenzie. Who’s going to hire you in your condition? What are you going to do about health insurance?”

“Mr. Rukin has to offer me COBRA.”

“That’ll cost you more than unemployment will pay you in a month.”

“I’ll figure it out, Joy.”

Joy looked at me with those big brown sad eyes. I couldn’t bear to have her feel sorry for me. It was my mess. I’d clean it up. Somehow. Something would change.

“Mackenzie,” Joy said, rubbing her hands on my arms, “you need to call Jason.”

I pulled away, gently though. I knew her heart was in the right place. “No. Absolutely not.”

She inched back to me, only placing one hand on my right arm. “You need to call him. Let him help you. He wants so badly to be a part of the baby’s life.”

“He should have thought of that before…” I couldn’t bring myself to utter the rest of it.

“He has said he was sorry a thousand times. You need to give him a second chance.”

“No. I’ll figure this out on my own. I’ll find another job.”

“And then what are you going to do when the baby comes? You’ll need time off. You need to call Jason. Let him help you. He owes you that much.”

“Joy, I’m not going to call Jason. Period. End of story. I’ll figure it out. It’ll be okay.”

Joy sighed and let her hand slide down to my elbow where she let go. “Fine. You’re such a mule, Mackenzie Dalton.”

“It’ll be okay. You’ll see.”

“I still think you should call Jason.”

“I’m fine. I’ve saved a little bit. It’s amazing how much you can save when you stop going to the movies and watch what you buy at the grocery store.”

“You better be eating well, Mackenzie. Not only for the baby. You really do look awfully pale. What did the doctor say yesterday?”

“She said to eat more spinach. The iron pills were just making me too sick. I can’t take them.”

“Poor girl. What am I going to do with you?”

“Just keep being my friend, Joy. That’s all I need right now.”

“Yeah, that and Prince Charming.”

I held my hands out around my protruding belly. “Don’t think I’m exactly princess material right now.”

We both chuckled. At least I still had the ability to laugh. It made all the difference in the world if you could still laugh.

“Oh Mackenzie, I wish…”

I cut her off. “I know, Joy. It’s okay. I’ll be okay. The baby will be okay.”

Joy placed a hand on my belly and the baby moved. “Oh,” she said, surprised and laughed again. I placed a hand over Joy’s and felt the baby stretch out a foot, pushing against my stomach. So weird and cool at the same time. The baby had really become active lately. But I was getting more and more tired. And the anemia didn’t help. There were times I thought I was just going to drop. Pure and utter exhaustion. It was probably a good thing that I lost the waitress job. Standing on my feet all day was tiring enough when I wasn’t pregnant. I was certain that losing my job would turn out to be a blessing in disguise. It just had to be.