Come Walk With Me by Beatrice Mosionier

Author:Beatrice Mosionier
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Portage & Main Press
Published: 2012-04-04T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 11

SINCE I LACK THE SELF-CONFIDENCE to send out a resume with no previous experience as a bookkeeper, I sign up with a temp agency. My luck is definitely changing. I’ve found a place to rent where the landlady agrees to baby-sit Billy. The upstairs apartment has no door, just stairs that go up to a landing and hallway, and I have a kitchen, living room, a bedroom, and a bathroom. On my third assignment the temp agency sends me to Wahn, Mayer & Smith, a large downtown law firm. They hire me permanently and I work in the accounting office with four others, supervised by the comptroller. On my own I would never have had the audacity to apply for a job in a place like this.

I really love working at this law firm. Everybody seems to be functional, while my life with Bill has been completely dysfunctional. Secretaries talk about their plans to ski on winter weekends, or go to the cottage on summer weekends. They talk about vacation plans to exotic destinations. They talk about redecorating their homes or what car they’ll buy. And they talk about their families, past and present. I have nothing to talk about. I just listen.

Sometimes the secretaries get together at one of their places, usually for bridal or baby showers. The father of one of the accounting clerks owns a huge construction company, millionaire stuff. And the comptroller’s secretary has us over to her mansion. It seems to me that everybody there is super-rich, super-beautiful, or super-smart. I am none of these things but I admire most everyone around me for their abilities.

My co-workers in accounting know of my personal situation and they never make me feel like I’m lower class. It seems that I’m the only one acutely aware of being an economic outsider.

At lunch we either go to nearby restaurants or have our lunches delivered and play cards in the lunchroom. I enjoy the games but I’m still very shy. A simple question could make my face flush. The confidence I found at George Brown College has melted away and I’ve reverted to my usual tongue-tied self, unless something is important to me. When I first arrive, the accounting staff has to walk to the other end of the building for coffee. I would buy milk for my coffee and by lunchtime it was usually gone, so I talk my boss into getting us a small fridge and coffeemaker near our department. Such a small thing but for me it’s a huge accomplishment.

A FEW TIMES GEORGE and I meet for supper. He has two daughters and a son but has been divorced for many years. He’s moving to Hamilton in September to attend McMaster University. I figure I will never see him again. I’ll certainly never forget him and I will miss him, a lot. I’m 20 and I won’t see him again until I’m 38.

IN SUMMER I TAKE Billy out for long walks in the stroller, stopping at a couple of the parks along the way, or we go do laundry.

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