Towels were a bargain too at a dollar apiece and we picked out ten of the largest ones that looked the most durable. Now that we had overflowing carts, Lucinda and I rounded up Kevin and Jim. Kevin hit the jackpot by finding a gallon-sized Ziploc bag filled with superheroes for only two dollars, which made up for the plain-Jane black backpack Lucinda made him get since it was only a dollar.
Jim wanted some fishing gear too, but luckily Lucinda vetoed the idea and sent a sulking Jim off to put his stuff away. We could hear his grumbling as we made our way to the front of the store, but I tuned him out working on the math in my head. With Kevin’s purchases, including the toys, all of my stuff and the linens and blankets, we were at a hundred-sixty-three dollars. As long as Lucinda’s stuff didn’t surpass a hundred-thirty-seven dollars, we would be okay.
Lucinda and Jim headed out to smoke while I handled the purchases.
Keeping an eagle eye on the register tape, I watched as the woman began to scan Lucinda’s clothes through. I groaned when I saw several dressy shirts, completely inappropriate for our lifestyle being scanned. Lucinda had an addiction to pretty clothes that she never had the opportunity to wear since she very rarely went out or worked. I grimaced when Lucinda’s clothes hit the ninety dollar mark and there was still Jim’s stack to go through. I mentally went through my items, wondering what I could put back if we exceeded the amount. My books would be the first that would have to go and that would at least give us an extra five dollars to work with.
The sales clerk finished with Jim’s clothing and our total sat at a hundred-fifty-five, nineteen dollars over what we had to spend. I pulled Kevin’s stuff out of the buggy first, stacking it carefully as she scanned it through. The linens went next, followed by the jacket I needed and my jeans. By the time she rang my hoodies and long johns through, we were at our limit. She hadn’t got to any of my shirts yet, or the couple pairs of sweats I had picked up to sleep in. Not knowing what to do, I continued to let her scan the items through even though I knew we were going over.
“That’ll be three hundred forty-four dollars,” she said as I handed over our three hundred dollar voucher.
“Um, we went over. I’m sorry, I should have said something sooner,” I said mortified, knowing I had caused her extra work.
“Well, let’s see what we can do,” she said nicely, studying the voucher over her rhinestone spectacles. “Ah, it’s a voucher from Thurston House. Well, we can take the taxes off because you get a tax free deduction,” she said, hitting a button that took our total down to three hundred twenty-three dollars.
I grabbed the last bag that had my books and sweats in it and started to pull out the contents.
“Now, now, not so quickly. Did you know that Wednesdays are senior days?” she asked. “And judging by the worn-out look on your face, I bet you could use a senior day break,” she said with sparkle in her eyes as she hit another button on the register, taking the total down to two hundred ninety-three dollars. “See, much better,” she said, handing me a gift certificate for seven dollars.
“Thank you so much,” I said, feeling a slight tickle in my throat.
“My pleasure, dearie, now you go home and take care of yourself and your sweet brother,” she said, nodding at Kevin who was bouncing around outside.
“I will,” I promised, loading our bags into the buggy.
“Did you get a voucher for the credit?” Lucinda asked as I pushed the buggy out the front door.
“Yeah, but it was only seven dollars,” I said, shivering in the cold, not bothering to tell her what the kind “leech,” as she had referred to the woman earlier, had done for us.
“Shit, I told you they were a bunch of blood suckers,” she complained to Jim as they stubbed out there cigarettes.
“Not really,” I muttered as I loaded our bags into the car. “We all got a lot of stuff,” I continued in an offhand manner.
Lucinda continued to complain as we pulled out of the parking lot, but I tuned her out by reading one of my new books from the bag I had placed on the seat beside me. Her voice faded away as I quickly lost myself in the story. I often speculated that if there was a God, he must have given me the gift of losing myself in a book as a lifeline. When I was reading, it didn’t matter that we were all crammed into the car together twenty-four-seven, or that we had skipped several meals. I could immerse myself so completely into a book that everything else became trivial.
My reading was interrupted when Lucinda pulled the car into the parking lot of a laundromat.
I stifled a groan. I knew we needed to wash the clothes, but after the stress of the thrift store, I just wanted to be back at our temporary home. “Can we do it at the laundromat at the trailer park?” I asked hopeful.
“No, it only has two washers. Besides, Jim and I deserve a coffee break while you and Kevin do the laundry,” Lucinda said, handing me a stack of crumbled up one-dollar bills. “This is it for cash until Jim can find work,” she added.
“Okay, I’ll make it stretch,” I said, smoothing out the bills as I went to retrieve a cart to transport our clothes into the building.
After I loaded up the clothes and laundry soap we kept in the trunk of the car, Lucinda and Jim pulled out of the lot, promising to return in a few hours.
I sorted the clothes into three large loads to conserve our money while Kevin used the coin machine to turn the dollar bills into quarters. At least the place was empty, so I could use three machines next to each other. It was a pain trying to keep an eye on several washers scattered throughout the facility.
“Okay punk, thanks for your help. How ‘bout a snack?”
“Really?” he asked, racing over to the vending machine.
“Pick one and we can split a soda,” I added, feeling extravagant.
He gnawed on his lip. “I don’t know, Katelyn, I don’t want you to get in trouble.”
“It’s fine, dopey boy. Mom and Jim are off getting coffee, right? Well, this is our treat. We’ll just keep it as our secret, okay?”
He nodded. He was smart enough to know I was breaking the rules, but his desire for something to eat outweighed his conscience.