Vetted

by K'Anne Meinel

  Allyssa knew that at nineteen they still considered her a kid and treated her as such. Carmen, so much older in many ways, was included in the ‘adult’ conversation as they discussed current affairs from the newspaper or what they had seen on the television. Children were to be seen and not heard, and Allyssa was relieved when eight came around and Derek announced they better be going.

  “I have a golfing date tomorrow if you wish to join us. We tee off at nine,” he informed her father who agreed immediately, pleased to be included.

  “We could have mimosas at the country club,” Carmen told her mother excitedly, including herself in their little outing.

  “It’s a bit too early for that,” Derek admonished and Carmen quickly agreed, subsiding into silence with his greater wisdom.

  Allyssa was ready to pull her hair out as she watched her family interact. Why did no one stand up for themselves? Why were they always so polite? If her sister wanted a mimosa at nine in the morning on a Saturday, why couldn’t she have one?

  “We’ll go shopping while they are golfing. Won’t that be fun?” Helen asked her daughters, including Allyssa.

  “I’d rather...” Allyssa began only to be cut off by Carmen.

  “Oh, that sounds great, Mommy. Where will we go?” she enthused.

  Without consulting or even really including her in the discussion they mapped out her Saturday. Allyssa knew she would have a headache by noon with their enthusiasm over shopping. She was grateful when Carmen and Derek finished up their plans with her parents and left. She escaped to her room to change out of the uncomfortable dress and pull on a comfortable nightshirt. Sighing deeply, she longed for an escape from this life. She had thought by escaping to live in the dorms, she would have something different. Her life wasn’t horrible, but the monotony and sameness of it got on her nerves.

  Chapter Two

  Her fourth quarter grades weren’t much better than her first half, but she had managed to pull them up so at least they were respectable. Her job in the lunch room was at an end, much to her mother’s relief.

  “I can get you a job with my friend in…” her mother began before Allyssa could tell her she had applied to work at the recreation center. Allyssa waited patiently for her mother to finish what she was saying before she told her.

  “At the recreation center? Why in the world would you do that? It’s full of…” she searched for an adequate word. “Isn’t that a public recreation center?” she asked, making it sound distasteful.

  “Yes, Mother, it is. I got the job all by myself too. Not that I don’t appreciate your friends’ offers, but I’d like to do this myself,” she tried to assert her independence.

  “If you wanted to work at the country club I could have gotten you a job there,” she began, trying to undermine Allyssa and any freedom she might incur. Plus, if she worked at the country club it would give Helen an opportunity to keep an eye on her. She wasn’t certain, but feared at some point Allyssa was going to embarrass her or the family and she wanted to prevent that at all costs.

  “Thank you, Mother, but I’m scheduled to start the week school gets out and I’ll be working there all summer,” she answered politely, the only way her mother would understand or listen.

  “You really should have asked your father and I…” she began and then went into a lengthy, one-sided discussion about the perils of girls her age working in the public sector like that.

  Allyssa listened dutifully, nodding at pertinent points, but she didn’t agree. She couldn’t agree. Her mother was a horrible snob.

  The day after school let out, Allyssa packed up the Volvo and brought her things home. She had just enough time to get to her new job. She knew she was going to love it. The kids were a blast and so real. They were nothing like the kids she had met and been raised with in Regal Crest Gardens. The children she had gone to school with were all jockeying to get ahead, to surpass their elitist parents, to become someone. Allyssa had just tried to keep her grades and her interest up. It wasn’t until she had to attend public high school that her interest in biology and anything having to do with animals came to the forefront. Her aptitude tests showed she should go into that field, maybe even become a veterinarian or technician.

  “Oh no, you don’t want to do anything like that,” her mother assured her when she saw the results of the examinations. She dismissed them since they were for a public school and not the private school she had wanted the girls to attend—that school was too far across the city and too expensive for them. She hadn’t let her husband forget her sacrifice for their daughters. They had been destined for so much more. He made up for it by sending them to college and making sure that Carmen could get into a much sought-after sorority. “You are going to need business courses to help your father,” she assured her time and again, as though it were already decided what Allyssa would be doing after college. Carmen hadn’t had to take those courses. She had stuck to home economics and other courses that a well-educated woman should have to show her husband that she would take care of him and his needs.

  Those fifties’ attitudes drove Allyssa crazy. She liked the idea of working with the animals. Even dissecting a frog fascinated her. All the other girls in her high school class had squirmed and screamed. Allyssa made the frog jump by prodding its muscle tissue in the right spot, convincing her lab partner that it was still alive even though they had already removed most of its major organs and it had been in a glass jar to preserve it until they were ready for the dismemberment. She had laughed as she made another girl vomit at the sight of her dissection. Her teacher had frowned, but he knew she was the only girl in all his classes that really understood these things. He didn’t know his class was the only one that she got an A in, time and again.

  “I fail to understand why they tell me you are flunking home economics,” her mother had lamented as a report card came in showing the low grade.

  Allyssa hadn’t the heart to tell her that she rarely went to the class and hadn’t a clue how to make anything they taught those girls. Instead, she could be found in the shop class making something, the teacher not even realizing he had an extra student as he never took roll call. She also helped in the mechanics class. The guys were willing to show a pretty girl how to fix things because she actually seemed interested in engines.

  She hid the grease that showed up under her fingernails from her mother, her hands deep in her pockets.

  “Your bike loses its chain more often than any I have ever heard of,” her mother shook her head as she saw the grease stains in her pockets and bought the excuse the teen gave her.

  Still, Allyssa managed to graduate high school and now in college, was trying to make her mark. She’d gotten through her freshman year and now this job was going to help her save up for the car she had her eye on. It was a ’65 Mustang, a convertible, and needed some work. She hadn’t dared to hope she could save up enough for it, and didn’t even think about what her parents would say or think if they knew she was contemplating it. She knew the owner didn’t realize its value and thought it was shot. She’d had a good look at it, and while the engine wasn’t great, she knew she could probably fix it. The paint was peeling and it had a few rust spots. The roof leaked, but the ragtop could be replaced. She’d put some honest money down and was going to make payments. By the end of the summer it would be hers. She had a signed agreement with the owner. She knew she could never have earned enough at the country club where they hired the kids of members for a pittance. At least at the recreation center she would be earning honest money.

  “You spend far too much time working,” her mother complained after the first month. “We never seem to see you anymore!”

  Allyssa had taken to avoiding Friday night dinners … and almost every other night too. She had convinced the owner of the Mustang to let her work on it in his driveway, the tools carefully hidden in the toolbox she kept in the back of the Volvo. She wore surgical gloves so that she didn’t have grease under her fingernails.
She didn’t think her mother would buy that her bicycle chain needed replacing, not at this age and not when she no longer rode the bicycle that her mother had sold. She also wanted to remain clean for her job since it was paying for this.

  “Hey, can you watch the pool?” Connie, her supervisor asked.

  “I’m not certified in CPR or anything,” she quickly answered.

  “I just need someone to help the lifeguard. You know, pick up towels and keep kids in order around the pool. It’s just for this Saturday and we’ll pay you overtime.”

  “I’d be happy to,” she agreed, knowing the extra money would come in handy. There was a tool she had to buy for the Mustang and it was a bit beyond her current means. She couldn’t touch her allowance as it was going towards school and the rest of her money towards her car. She couldn’t ask her parents as they would get suspicious about where all her money was going and she didn’t want them asking questions. Not when she was about a third of the way to owning her own car.

  “Now, they want you to work on Saturdays too?” her mother complained when Allyssa informed her that she wouldn’t be able to attend a family cookout her mother had planned.

  “No, it’s just this one time. They were short-handed and asked me,” she explained.

  “Well, that just shows you how badly they plan things out. People like that...” she began and Allyssa stopped listening. It was always so exhausting trying to explain that normal people did things like this. That normal people put in as many hours as they could to save up for things they wanted.

  That Saturday, Allyssa arrived wearing a modest swimsuit under her shorts and t-shirt. She hadn’t the nerve to let her mother know she was wearing it under her clothes as she was certain to receive a lecture on how unseemly it would be to be seen in ‘public’ in a swimsuit. The fact that people wore them at the country club didn’t seem to enter people’s minds—that was private, they were privileged, and it wasn’t like just anyone could see her in it.

  “Here’s your badge,” Lonnie handed her the clip-on.

  “No pin?” she asked, looking at it oddly.

  “It would rip your suit,” she explained the different clasp.

  “That makes sense,” she agreed as she put it on after she took off her t-shirt.

  “You are going to want to spritz this on,” she indicated the suntan oil, which had a high enough SPF balance in it to keep her from burning.

  “Thanks,” she answered as she spritzed a bit of it on and then rubbed it along her white skin. She was looking forward to working on her tan. She spent entirely too much time indoors and out of the sun.

  “I’ll be up on the stand,” Lonnie indicated the lifeguard stand that was ten feet above the pool. “I’ll signal you if I see anything you should really break up or something. You just walk around and be delightful,” she teased.

  Allyssa laughed as was intended. These were her kind of people. They were so … normal. She couldn’t stand the snobs at the country club, and as much as she enjoyed playing tennis there with her mother or father and even rarely with her sister, she couldn’t stand the pretentions. She often wondered if she had been switched at birth.

  Allyssa found the job easy. It was just a matter of chaperoning the many children that appeared at the public pool and keeping them from doing something stupid. She headed off a few fights from overzealous kids and kept one or two from falling or being pushed into the pool. Lonnie indicated a couple of things she wouldn’t have seen from her walks around and around the pool.

  “That’s it?” she asked as Lonnie and she took a well-deserved break, two others taking on the lifeguard and attendant duties while they grabbed lunch and water.

  “Yeah, it’s not too harrowing. I probably dive into the pool at least once every Saturday, but it’s usually some kid who went out too deep or didn’t listen to mom. Most of the parents are good about watching their own kids if they bring them, but some think we are a babysitting service.”

  “Most of the kids seem pretty respectful. A few seem to like horseplay,” she commented.

  “Yeah, you’ll get them anywhere. I’m sure you had them at the indoor activities.”

  “Yeah,” she shrugged, dismissing her regular job at the center. “They can only color and do other activities so long before they get bored.”

  “Excuse me,” a brown-haired woman asked them as they sat there catching their lunch, their tags clearly identifying them as employees. “How do I sign my niece and nephew up for a day pass?”

  “Oh, right over there,” Allyssa pointed, seeing no one at the counter. “Wait, I’ll help you,” she quickly said as she hopped up to help the woman.

  “Oh, don’t let me interrupt your lunch...” she began, trying to indicate that Allyssa should stay seated.

  “I’m almost done,” she dismissed her efforts as she wiped her hands delicately on the napkin and dabbed her mouth daintily, her mother’s training unconsciously coming through. She got up and went around the counter, opening the louvered glass as she looked at the screen of the computer. She’d only done this once or twice and wondered where the girls who normally manned the booth had gone. She scrolled up and down the screen until she found the day pass.

  “That’s twelve dollars for the two of them for the day,” she informed the woman who handed over a ten-dollar bill and two ones. “Are you planning on staying with them or swimming?” she asked.

  “I’ll stay with them, but I don’t intend to go in.”

  “Okay, here. Use this wristband, so they know you didn’t pay to play,” she handed her and the two children each a band that showed they were paid for. “You go through that door there,” she said, pointing, “for the changing rooms on either side, and beyond that is the pool.”

  “Thank you,” the woman said with a smile, showing off even, white teeth and a good jawline as the folds of her smile pulled back the skin.

  “You’re welcome. Have a nice afternoon,” Allyssa told her as she watched them walk away and closed the windows.

  “Hey, what’s going on?” One of the girls returned to the booth to find Allyssa there.

  “Oh, I just helped her,” she pointed at the retreating back of the woman. “Did I enter this right?” she indicated the screen where she had rung up the two paid wrist bands and one ‘watcher’ band.

  “Yeah, that looks right, thanx,” the girl said, but it was obvious she wanted Allyssa out of her space that she had left unattended.

  “You’re welcome,” Allyssa said automatically, her mother’s good manners pounded into her all her life coming out as she returned to eat with Lonnie.

  “Gawd, you could run this whole place,” the lifeguard teased as she watched the blonde return to finish her meal.

  “Yep, I’m taking over,” she teased back and bit into a potato chip.

  They sat back and finished the remainder of their meal, allowing it to digest before their hour was up and they returned to work. Allyssa slathered on more suntan oil, which looked good on her skin as she walked around and around the pool. She saw the brunette woman she had helped and watched as her niece and nephew played on the slide into the pool and then one of them jumped off the diving board. “Looks like they are having fun,” she commented as she passed and exchanged a smile with the woman.

  “Oh, they are! They’ve been wanting to come all summer, but their mom was too busy. I had a day off, so I brought them,” she explained.

  “It’s a good place to bring them,” Allyssa agreed as she moved off on her rounds. She grabbed a toddler who was determinedly heading to the deep end of the pool and returned him to his harried mother who had two other children she was watching.

  The day passed pleasantly and Allyssa was tired from the sun. She loved being out of doors more than her regular job and was going to mention to her supervisor that she wouldn’t mind helping more around the pool if the opportunity arose. She pulled her t-shirt on at the end of her shift, returning her clip-on name tag as she gathered her car keys from h
er locker.

  “Done for the day?” a voice asked as she headed for the Volvo.

  She turned to see the brunette woman shepherding her niece and nephew who looked tired from the chlorine-filled pool they had played in all afternoon. She smiled, and the smile was returned. “Yes, it’s been a long day.”

  “Yes, it has,” she agreed as she headed for a Jeep. “See you!” she said by way of farewell, waving at Allyssa.

  “Bye!” she said pleasantly, feeling none of the vibes she got from the snooty people at her parents’ country club. It was honest, it was real, and she loved her job. These people made her a lot more comfortable than her own family. She often wondered about that and tonight was no different as she made her way home and quickly showered the oil off her skin. Her mother would have a fit if she showed up to sit on any of her furniture with that oil. She would also be suspicious that she didn’t have a ‘real’ job as she had hinted a few times. She wouldn’t consider hanging around a pool, watching children, or socializing a job for her child.

  Chapter Three

  Allyssa’s summer passed pleasantly as she worked at the recreation center as often as she could, taking extra shifts whenever they became available. The ones around the pool had become her favorite. In fact, she had suggested they do some of their ‘activities’ out in the sun so the children could benefit from being out of doors, but it had proven too distracting. The children were more interested in the playground and the pool, and without their parents’ consent couldn’t go in the water. It caused more headaches than Allyssa or her boss wanted, so they decided out of door activities would not be repeated.

  Allyssa was proud as she paid in full for the Mustang. She had gone down to her father’s insurance agency and gotten insurance on the vehicle before she even drove it. The engine sounded a bit harsh to her ears, but she knew in time she could fine-tune it and she knew a couple of people who could help her restore it. She drove it proudly home after she took the bus to pick it up, leaving the Volvo in its spot in the driveway.