Lost in Waste by Catherine Haustein

Author:Catherine Haustein [Haustein, Catherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781949090673
Publisher: City Owl Press
Published: 2020-02-17T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Mom gave me a melatonin pill and I slept deeply, waking up feeling as if I’d had my face in the pillow all night. I was groggy as we waited for Jane in the shop, and surprised by the first customer of the morning, Lady LouOtta Maliegene, the InVitro who wrote our national anthem. She had her nanny in tow, pushing a baby in a fancy stroller.

“I have a line,” she said to Mom, pointing to a faint crease peeking from the bridge of her nose to her eyebrow. “I need to get rid of it now. I am on stage tonight.” The bubbly voice she used in public was replaced with harshly barked orders. She bent forward and stretched out her long, smooth neck so Mom could examine her.

“You have got to do something,” she said, pointing to a worry line near her brow.

“Come sit behind the screen, Lady Maligene,” Mom said. “We’ll have it smoothed in no time. I have an e-mag skin plumping device that will give you little to no downtime and banish your line by tonight.”

LouOtta went to the place where the Agro woman had her procedure long ago. The round-faced nanny in a dumpy jumper frowned at me.

“I need a new toothbrush.”

We had a basket of giveaway items on the counter. Some of Mom’s customers were wealthy like Lady LouOtta but others struggled, and this poorer group included nannies, who were underpaid servants, even lower than married working women like Mom, not even allowed to leave the house alone. Basically, all this girl got was room and board in exchange for her services, and once the kid was sent off to school, she’d be out of a home. Mom was quick to provide the basics for her customers for no charge. It was part of the reason our house was falling apart. Clearly I wasn’t an employee, but I thought I’d be nice, so I tipped the basket toward the nanny. “These are complimentary.”

She rummaged through the toothbrushes, tampons, and small samples of lotion while the baby fussed.

“There aren’t any pink ones,” she said grumpily. I thought I might tell her to eff off. I didn’t care about her toothbrush. Instead, since I wasn’t NezLeigh, I went to the Smile Aisle and got a pink toothbrush and gave it to her. She quickly slipped it in her jumper pocket as LouOtta stumbled from the screened off area holding her brow.

“It will fade within an hour,” Mom assured her.

“I certainly hope so. I can’t be mutilated tonight.” She touched the area where the wrinkle had been. A smooth red line remained.

“On the house, ” Mom said. “No charge since you are not satisfied, Lady Maliegene.”

“I sure as hell hope so.”

A siren went off, making me jump and sending my heart to my throat. This was followed by a broadcast—a woman’s voice warped by speakers. “Alert. A security violation has been reported. Citizens, remain inside.”

People ran past shouting, holding hands over their noses. Voices tumbled over each other like a pack of Little Jerks after a possum.

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