The Night's Legacy by P.T. Dilloway Read Free Book Online Page B

Melanie had done some temping for a couple of years, winding up at Olson Steel and catching the eye of Mr. Olson’s son Oliver.  “Ollie and I just clicked, you know?  We got married after like two weeks.”
    They got divorced after two years when Melanie caught him in bed with his new temp secretary.  “I’m glad I never had any kids with that rat, you know?”  While Melanie had thought Ollie was well off, his company was wiped out in the recession, leaving her with nothing.  “So I saw the job listing and I applied and Tony hired me and I can’t believe it but now you’re here too!”  Melanie wrapped Lois in another hug and then began bouncing up and down.  “It’s going to be just like high school again.”
    “Great,” Lois mumbled.  She had hated her two years of high school.  Not only the boring classes, but also the equally boring people who thought high school was the summit of their lives, people like Melanie.
    She caught Tony’s eye as Melanie took her hand to tug her away.  He gave her a smile and shrugged, leaving her to her own devices.  She couldn’t really blame him for passing Melanie off onto her, but she promised to make him pay for it later.
    * * *
    Melanie folded a T-shirt and said, “This isn’t really a hard job, especially not for super-genius like you.”
    “I’m not a super-genius.”
    “Sure you are!  I’m surprised you aren’t already a doctor like your mom.  It must be nice that you can work at the same place, though.”  Melanie finished folding the T-shirt and then picked up another.  “My mom was a cleaning lady for some rich people.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it’s not like I wanted to follow in her footsteps, you know?”
    “Yeah, I guess not.”  Lois had done a stint as a chambermaid for a hotel, which had given her a new appreciation for waitressing.
    Melanie held up another T-shirt.  “Now the secret is you want to fold them so most of the logo or whatever shows.  That way customers don’t unfold it, though some will anyway, especially the little kids.  You want to try?”
    “Sure.”  Lois picked up a T-shirt and repeated what Melanie had done.  It wasn’t really hard.  Still, Melanie clapped as though she’d just won an Oscar.
    “You’re a natural at this!  But you should do a couple more just in case.”  After Lois did so without any folding accidents, Melanie led her over to a rack of cheap toys.  “When we get too low on these you just go back into the storage room and get some more.  Tony’s not going to have you working the counter today being your first day and all.  He didn’t put me on the register until my third week but I’m sure you’ll get to do it sooner being a genius and all.”
    “What if I don’t want to work the register?”
    “Oh you have to!  We all take turns doing it.  It’s not so bad.  Most of the customers are pretty nice.  A few can get mean but if they get too mean you can call security to throw them out.  And if any homeless guys get in here you call security right away.  The ticket counter’s supposed to stop them, but they can be pretty smart about that and they start wandering around up here where they think no one will look.”
    “Does that happen a lot?”
    “Only a couple of times.  Mostly in the winter when it gets really cold, you know?  But when it gets really hot some might come in here for the air conditioning.”
    “I see.”
    “I hope I’m not scaring you because they aren’t really scary.  Mostly they just smell bad.”
    “Yeah, they don’t exactly use deodorant, do they?”
    Melanie screeched with laughter.  “You’re so funny!  I can tell this is just going to be such a blast.  Tony’s a really nice guy and all but sometimes it’s just nice to have another girl around, you know?”
    “Sure.”
    “Hey, are you married?  I don’t see a ring but that doesn’t always mean anything, you know?”
    “No, I’m not