“Mom, what’s wrong?”
She pats my arms and makes an effort to pull herself together. My mom’s never been one to cry in front of her kids if she can help it. “Oh, nothing for you to worry about, mijo. It’s just…” She doesn’t finish her sentence and instead holds up two crumpled pink slips.
It takes me a moment to realize what the two pieces of paper mean. “You got fired? From both jobs?”
A sniffle and a nod are all the response I get from my mom.
I’m stunned. My mom’s been working at least one job since my dad left. “How…why…?”
She pushes away slightly and looks up at me. Her eyes are red from crying, and she has a hurt look. “Do you think I did something to deserve this?”
“No, Mom. That’s not what I meant. I just mean…well, I don’t know what I mean. I’m just surprised that both jobs would lay you off.”
Angry now, she stands up, and the chair scrapes against the floor. She paces the length of our kitchen before answering, “It’s that stupid buyout. Last week, some big corporation bought both the places I work. They promised that everything would stay the same, but then this morning a bunch of people got pink slips with their paychecks.”
“One corporation bought out both your employers? A hotel and a factory? Those are some very different businesses to buy.”
She shrugs. “I don’t get it either. They said something about diversifying their portfolio and investing in small businesses.”
Something seems off about this. Not trying to make my mom worried, I ask casually, “What’s the name of the company that bought your former employers Mom?”
She thinks for a second, then hands me the pink slips and points to a corporate logo. In the top, left corner of each slip of paper is the black and white image of a tall skyscraper and underneath are the words ‘Arschloch Corporation.’
My blood boils when I see that name. Would Auden use his family’s multinational corporation like this? Or is this because of my refusal to leave Lillian and join their group? Either way, it’s my fault that my family has gotten involved in all of this.
My mom is still pacing and wringing her hands. I walk in front of her to get her attention. “Don’t worry, Mom. I’ve been saving up some money from my jobs. We’ll be ok.”
She pats my cheek appreciatively, “No, Anthony. That money is yours. It’s supposed to be for your school.”
I shake my head. “No, Mom. You’ve been taking care of us all by yourself for a long time. I have the money. I’ll take care of the bills until you can get another job.” I try to recall how much I have in the bank and also convert the recent credits I’d earned into dollars. “I have a little over $12,000 saved up. That should keep us afloat for a couple of months, right?”
My mom looks at me strangely. “You have that much saved up? That will pay all our bills for four months, sweetie. Are you sure this is how you want to spend it?”
“Of course. You always taught us to take care of each other. How could I do anything less for you and Marie?”
My mom nods to herself. Now with burden and worry lifted from her shoulders, she stands up straighter and wipes the last tears from her eyes. “Ok, mijo. We’ll use your savings until I get another job.” She hugs me tightly then looks up at me seriously. “But don’t you think that I’m going to let you spend all your savings on us. You worked hard for that money. We’ll only use what we need, and I’ll pay you back as I can.”
I don’t tell her that I don’t expect to be repaid. That would hurt her pride. My mom’s a bit touchy about feeling like she owes people. In my mind though, I know that I’ll give every penny I have to make sure my family is taken care of and that I don’t care if I get the money back.
Instead, I nod and hug my mom again. She pulls away after kissing me on the cheek and goes off into the kitchen to make lunch for the both of us. She whips up a delicious dish of shredded chicken tacos and Spanish rice.
While I eat, I contemplate how I can make some more money to help out. I know my work at the Quickie Stop Mart, and my savings will keep us afloat, but Marie’s private school’s tuition payment is coming up too. She worked so hard to get a scholarship into that fancy school, and she’s doing well there. It would be a shame if she had to leave because we couldn’t pay the rest of the tuition.
Besides thinking about our finances, I also consider how I’m going to get back at the Arschloch Corporation for this.
Chapter 37
That same day, my mom and I look through the bills, so I know how much to give her. We list what everything costs.
Rent: $1200, Food: $600, Utilities: $300, Cell phones: $200, Transportation: $300. $2,600 a month for necessities. That doesn’t include other monthly costs like detergent, trash bags, soap, shampoo, etc. To be on the safe side, I decide to give my mom an even $3,000.
The school Marie goes to costs $35,000 a year and most of the people that go there pay it at the beginning of the school year. But because we’re not rich, the school lets us pay Marie’s tuition in three lump sums. Marie’s scholarship covers a little over half the tuition, but we still have to pay $15,000 a year. The next payment is due at the end of the month though. That’s going to be $5,000, and that leaves me with $8,000 in savings. That plus my regular paychecks from the Quickie Stop Mart means we’ll be ok for May, June, and July. Come August though; we’re in trouble.
I tell my mom that I have some money in my room. Once I’m in my room, however, I port over to Lillian’s office to exchange all the credits I have for dollars. She doesn’t ask why I need everything in dollars, but I can tell she’s curious. I’m not sure if I’m comfortable discussing my family business, but she’s my friend, or girlfriend when my mom’s around. Well, our relationship is complicated.
I port back to my room and hand my mom $12,012 cash a few minutes later. I happen to have $12 in my wallet.
“Anthony, don’t take this the wrong way. But why do you have so much money in cash in your room?”
The question catches me off guard. I hadn’t considered what it would look like for me to hand her that much money in cash. Thinking quickly I tell her, “I heard the banks were going to start charging fees for balances over $10,000 so I’ve been keeping it in my mattress. You know old, school style.”
My mom gives me a concerned look for a moment, then shrugs. I just gave her twelve grand, what does she care where I was keeping it?
When Marie comes home from school, Mom tells her about being laid off. Marie sort of freaks out. She’s just old enough now to realize what it’s going to mean for us if Mom can’t get another job. She’s such a good kid; she even offers to stop going to her private school and get a job if it helps out.
Mom’s response is a classic, “No, Marie. Your job is to go to that school and learn. Your brother and I have already paid for the semester, so there’s no discussion about you going.”
It’s a little lie. We’ve only put money aside to pay the semester. But the little lie helps Marie calm down and focus on her ‘job.’
“Ok, Mom. If my job is to do good in school, then I’ll get to it.” She then grabs her backpack and heads to her room to study.
I take a lesson from Marie and get ready for my shift at the Quickie Stop Mart. I know I should probably be dungeon diving or something since it pays more, but I just can’t give up my only source of steady income. Besides, where else can I do homework and work on my System skills while getting paid?
Chapter 38
Work and school for May and June are fairly predictable. I have college finals in June. But honestly, the classes are the least worrisome part of my life. Because of my high Intelligence stat, and my skills in Speed Reading and Mental Math, the algebra class isn’t a challenge. The intro chemistry is mostly memorizing facts, the periodic table, and some formulas. Any math in the class is at the algebra level. Physics is the most challenging class, but with my increased intelligence stat, memorizing all the formulas is easy. The only thing that’s challenging is picturing the word problems about multiple force vectors in my mind. The piano class is actually boring. I know I took it for fun, but I end up sitting at a piano practicing finger movement and helping other students to learn how to read sheet music. The final for that class was simply playing a piece of music of my choice. I’d already gotten the Piano skill and even gotten it to level 2, so playing Jerry Lee Lewis’ Great Balls of Fire wasn’t challenging. Even with 12 in dexterity, I play the song with only a couple mistakes. This semester I learned the skills: Piano, Chemical Mixing, and Vector Analysis. Vector Analysis helps me figure out to break up applied forces into component parts to—you know what, it’s just a physics thing.