Sitters.(short story)(Short Story)

ROXANNE WAS SITTING on the corner of the mattress, trying to get an earring fastened to her ear, when the kid began bouncing on the bed.

She had it -- no, she didn't, damn it -- she almost had it, but a jolt sent the earring spinning out of her fingers. It bounced and rolled across the efficiency's narrow floor. It disappeared beneath the fold-out card table.

Judi, who was babysitting the kid again tonight, offered a tired smile and settled into the worn-out La-Z-Boy. Judi was youngish, but something about her seemed old, Roxanne thought. Maybe it was her clothes. Her jeans were frayed at the pockets and mere threads held the knees together; her sweater was unravelling at the shoulder seam. Maybe it was the rattiness of her clothes that rubbed off on her, so that she resembled a much older imposter, masquerading as a young, down-on-her-luck divorcee.

Misery loves company, Roxanne told herself, and got up to look for the earring. God, if she ruined this last pair of pantyhose crawling under there ... well, that would be a bitch. Because there was no money to buy a new pair and she needed to look good -- to be honest, she needed to look perfect. Because Mr. Deaton liked all his clerks to look perfect. He said a nice-looking clerk might encourage customers to linger, and when customers linger they buy things. And because Mr. Deaton was the manager, what he wanted was important.

"I wanna GO!" the kid shouted. Roxanne stretched and groped beneath the table, felt something hard, and came up with the plastic head to a toy robot. She pitched it aside and the kid yelled, "Hey! That's mine!" His voice was quavering between tears and anger, but he wasn't whining yet, whining in that tone which always meant he was about to throw a tantrum, and for that, Roxanne was thankful. She didn't want to deal with a tantrum. Not half an hour before her shift started at K-mart.

She found the earring. She stood and fastened it. She smoothed her skirt.

"I wanna go, too," the kid repeated. She composed a smile and sat down beside him. She mussed his hair. He made a face and rolled away, but when he looked at her again he was smiling, too. God, if there was anything that could shine through the despair she'd been feeling these past few months, it was the kid.