Chapter Text
I woke up to another morning of Solene’s tears in her bedroom. Another disaster of questioning whether the monster in her nightmares the night prior was real or a figment of the girl’s imagination.
— “Darling, it’s just a dream. It can’t hurt you,”
I assured her with my hand stroking her back, her tears wetting spots onto my thin t-shirt.
— “The monster is scary, mama..”
She cried, holding tight to the side of my shirt.
I sighed, knowing as much reassurance as I give her, she will still hold fear in her heart about the monster.
— “I understand. Where’s your stuffy, love?”
I asked, looking around for her stuffed unicorn I bought her at a store downtown a few days ago. The unicorn was poor quality but it was cheap and she liked it, so it was worth it.
— “Sparkles..”
Solene muttered, waddling out of my arms to go find her purplish-pink unicorn off the ground of her bedroom.
I took that as an opportunity to check the time. 7:32. Fuck. I was gonna be late for work.
I rushed around trying to get myself dressed to work at the coffee shop while making sure Solene was bathed and all set for daycare.
— “Solene, we have to go.”
I encouraged her to get her doll from her bedroom so we could leave. I swear she wouldn’t leave without her dolly.
At some point, I grabbed the doll and Solene and just ran to get her stroller.
We walked the two blocks to get to her daycare and I wasted no time handing her over to the attendant and signing her in.
Without a word, I ran out, trying to get to the coffee shop on time.
I ran in 3 minutes late. Of course. 8:03. Fucking hell. That’s three minutes of pay that I won’t be getting.
My supervisor was serving guests at the counter. She didn’t give me much other than an irritated glance and sigh when I ran in trying to tie my apron over my dress.
I grabbed my notepad from the employee room and made my way to my section to greet my guests. This day would only get worse.
— “Good Morning, ladies and gentlemen.”
I smiled at the small family bunched together in the booth.
— “My name is Ksenia, I’ll be your server this morning. Can I get you four started with some drinks?”
The mother, without looking up from her menu, spoke up.
— “You could get me some coffee and not let me and my family sit here for 3 whole minutes. Fuck good quality.”
I was a bit taken aback by the snarky comment. Like this bitch knew what I went through just to get here.
— “Yes ma’am. I apologize. That coffee, sweetened or unsweetened?”
— “Unsweetened, do you take me as a fool?”
— “Absolutely not. Creamer?”
My question was met with silence. I turned to ask the next person in the booth for their drink and so on until I had my drinks all written down.
As I headed to go put the orders in, the damned mother made another bitchy comment.
The rest of my 8-12 shift was a pain in my ass. Customers being impatient and sending food back left and right. I was starting to think I was getting orders wrong until I realized I had it all right. I didn’t know what was in the air beside the smell of snow.
At exactly 12:06, I pushed into the employee room after closing out the last few bills and getting the customers out.
— “I’m so done.”
I huffed, commenting quietly to both myself and the teen girl sitting on the couch with a magazine in her hand.
— “Cool.”
She nodded, as if it was much of a response.
I just tossed my notepad and apron into my cubby before running into the bathroom with my uniform for my second job.
I had exactly 24 minutes to get lunch and make it to the diner 4 blocks away.
The second uniform wasn’t as brightly colored and didn’t make me look like a run over traffic cone. Lucky me.
I smoothed out the obvious wrinkle in my blouse but I was honestly too lazy to fret over such a small detail. I made minimum-fucking-wage at both jobs. Who needed one wrinkle to be fixed? Not me.
I made it to my second job with just enough time. I swallowed the last bite of my street-food caesar wrap.
I grabbed my apron and put my hair into the uniform bun before getting behind the bar.
My job here was to bartend. Which was so slow for the first four hours. My shift was 12:30-8:30. Luckily I wasn’t working the closing shift tonight.
By 4pm, people started to fill up the seats at the bar. I had basically been twiddling my thumbs for the past 3 and a half hours waiting for customers and now I couldn’t handle the amount of drinks coming in.
While mixing a margarita, I overheard conversation from two young women at the bar.
— “That Michael Jackson has shows in Moscow starting tonight.”
The blonde one said to the red-head while sipping on a beer.
— “I’ve heard.”
— “Quite the handsome singer, yeah?”
The red head grinned.
The blonde one grinned, looking particularly amused by the comment from the red-head.
— “I heard he only dates pretty women.”
I chose to cut off my eavesdropping there and deliver the margarita to a young woman down the other end of the bar. It was her 23rd birthday, I felt bad she was celebrating in this dump.
As I returned to the mixing spot near the two women, they began to speak to me.
— “Pretty women.”
— “Like our bartender,”
The red head gestured to me.
I smiled at the comment.
— “Thank you, dear.”
The blonde stared for a minute.
— “You are fairly pretty. You have the pale skin and brown hair combination. Rare, yet exquisite.”
Pale skin and brown hair was not a rare combo. Even a blonde bimbo like her should know that, but it’s not my place to make these comments during happy hour.
I instead nodded, agreeing with her while saying fairly humble about it.
— “What’s your name?”
The red head asked.
I looked up.
— “I’m Ksenia.”
The blonde clapped her hands at that.
— “Pretty woman with a pretty name. Any man would kill for you. Tell me, why are you working here instead of living off a rich man?”
I decided to be honest with her. She was tipsy as I could tell so it would be funny..
— “Rich men fail women like me. That’s why I’m a single mother.”
I smiled, moving away to go deliver a drink.
The move was deliberate, designed to make her think about the comment for a moment.
When I returned, the red head spoke up.
— “Babe, you just need to find a better and nicer rich man. Any rich man would love for you to have his kids. You just have to play your cards right,”
I raised my brow, mixing another drink.
— “Is that so?”
The two exchanged a glance before nodding.
— “Do you think we’re toying with you? We’ve played the games. That’s why we’re engaged to and married to rich men.”
The blonde continued.
The conversation was boring me, yet I stayed interactive hoping for a high tip from these two supposedly ‘elite’ women.
The rest of my shift blew by. I collected a generous check from my manager by the end. It was just enough to scrape by some meals for the week for my baby and I.
I crossed the four blocks to get to my daughter’s daycare.
I stopped when I came across a TV display in a shop. It was a televised showing of Michael Jackson’s performance at the arena 20 minutes from here.
He was surely talented. And I wasn’t the only one who noticed the performance.
I was one among a crowd of many.
When I eventually pealed my eyes off his performance of ‘Remember the Time’, I kept my pace towards my daughter’s daycare.
I pushed the door open, causing the bell above the door to jingle.
— “Elena, darling.”
I smiled at the attendant.
— “Good evening, Miss Khustdinova.”
She returned the smile with what looked like ease but the tension behind her pearly whites looked more obvious by the moment.
I stepped into the other room and picked up Solene as she came to me
— “Hello, my love.”
— “You better have behaved today.”
I grinned at my baby girl.
She nodded ecstatically.
— “I was good today, mama.”
I was pleased to hear that. If all else today was poor, but my baby girl had a good day, it’s a good day for me too.
I maneuvered to grab her dolly. I gave her the plastic toy and walked back to the desk to sign her out.
— “I will see you tomorrow morning,”
I commented to the attendant.
She nodded along.
— “As usual, Miss Khustdinova. If you can, I would also like to chat with you after hours. Solene has been worrying us lately.”
I nodded.
— “Yes, of course. I’ll be here right at 8:15 for it.”
Elena gave me a look that came off fairly passive-aggressive.
— “Yes you will, Miss.”
I took that as my sign to leave.
I pushed Solene’s stroller into the elevator of our apartment building. It would be a ride to the 12th floor.
And at last, once Solene was tucked in bed with sparkles in her arms, and I was showered, I could finally sleep peacefully.