Beep! Beep! Beep!
I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock screaming for me to awake. Sometimes I really think that it does that because it is jealous of the relationship between me and my bed.
I rolled over on my bed, placed my feet on the ground, yawning before I finally decided to stand up. I walked over to my clock which read 6:00 AM I had to be at the house I was babysitting at in two hours. I turned off my alarm then walked over to my closest to pick out some clothes. Usually I would shower first, but considering I was going out to the river today, I decided to wait and take it later.
I pulled a blue T-shirt from my closest and some shorts from my dresser. About 20 minutes later, after I was completely ready to go, I went upstairs to go get some pancakes for breakfast.
After I was finished eating I grabbed my purse, phone, and the keys to my red truck. It was around 7:15 by the time I had actually pulled out of the driveway and was heading towards Cathy's house (the lady who I was babysitting for).
About 7:50 I was walking up to the porch of Cathy's house. I rang her doorbell then a few seconds later I heard footsteps and the lock on the door unlocking.
"Oh hey, Jessica. Come in," Cathy said holding the door open for me.
"Thanks. Which kids am I watching today?" I asked. I knew that she had four kids total, but I rarely ever watched all four of them at the same time. Two of her kids were 10, twins, and were usually at sport games or something along the lines of that. The other two were six and three, I mainly watched over them.
"Tyler and Taylor have soccer games, Billy is going to the park with some friends, so only Abby today."
Abby was her three year old, she was probably the easiest to care for, today was going to be an easy day.
"Okay. What time do you plan on being home?"
"I have to work all day, but Michael should be home around noon."
Michael was her husband. He was a really kind man, their kids loved him, I could see why. He pretty much acted like one of them, which made him even better.
"Alright sounds good."
"Thanks again, Jessica," Cathy said walking out the door.
"Anytime, Cathy."
She smiled then closed the door behind her, leaving me and Abby alone in the house.
I placed my belongings in a chair then started for the hallway where Abby's room was. The door was open so I walked in and saw Abby playing with dolls. She looked up and smiled when I walked in.
"Hey, Jeswa," Abby said. She couldn't pronounce my name or very many things correctly so I was Jeswa to her.
"Hey, Abby," I responded smiling. "What are you doing, princess?"
"I am playing house with my dowwies (dollies)," she handed me a doll in a pink dress. "Here you can be wiwwie (Lillie), and I am gonna be Maggie."
"Have you had breakfast yet?"
"No, mommy said to wait till Jeswa got here."
"Do you want to go eat, then return to your playing?"
"Yes," she stood, grabbed my hand, and walked down the hallway to the kitchen.
"What would you like to eat?"
"Can I have wavvles (waffles)?"
"Yes you sure can. How about you go and play and I will call you in to eat when your food is ready?"
"Okay," then she ran back off to her room.
15 minutes later I had her waffle ready. She enjoyed it with strawberries in it so I decided to be extra nice and put a bunch of strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries.
"Abby! Your food is ready, girly," I hollered setting her already cut up food down on the table with a fork and a glass of orange juice.
Moments later I heard Abby's little feet stomping down the tiled floor as she giggled and ran to her chair. The minute she sat down she said a quick prayer that was literally all "Jesus make this food good" and then dove into her food. When she took her first bite her eyes lit up and I knew that Jesus had made the food good.
The day was a breeze. After she finished eating we played with her dolls, then we went outside to go play, then she colored, had some lunch, and right now she is in her bed taking a nap.
Ding, Dong!
I was curious on who could be at their front door. It was time for Michael to be home, but he should have a key; so I didn't know why he would be knocking. I didn't want to answer the door without knowing who it was, also since this wasn't my house and didn't want to get into any trouble. I ran to the door and looked out the peep hole. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that it only was Michael, although I still didn't know why he didn't open the door for himself. I opened the door to let him inside.
"Hey, Michael," I said.
"Hello, Jessica. Was Abby good today?" He asked.
"Yes she was fine. Did you lose your key?"
His face reddened a little so I assumed yes before he even said it. "I was at Cathy's parents over the weekend and I guess I left it there. And I can't find the back up so we will just have to go make a copy of Cathy's, I guess."
I chuckled, "Yes I guess so."
"Where is Abby now?"
"In bed taking a nap."
"Did she eat lunch?"
"Yes, she had chicken nuggets."
"And for breakfast?"
"I made her waffles with berries in it."
"Oh I am sure that she enjoyed that."
"Believe me she did," I laughed.
He walked over to the living room table and set his things down then headed down another hallway opposite from Abby's room, to his bedroom I supposed.
When he came back out he had money in his hand.
"Here take this," he said holding out a 20 dollar bill.
"No, I shouldn't."
"Please, allow me to thank you for what you've done for Abby."
"You don't have to I enjoy just watching and taking care of Abby, she is a fun kid," I said. I really hated taking things from people, money mainly, even if they were offering it to me. I always felt awkward and bad after doing it, no idea why though.
"Jessica, at least take this and use it for gas money or some other good use. I trust that you will, you're a good kid."
I knew that wouldn't be able to convince him to keep his money so I told myself to do it and that it shouldn't be awkward since he told me to.
"You know that I don't want to do this. Why force me?" I asked.
"You deserve this. Take it and consider it my blessing and my thank you to you."
"Fine," I said as he held out the money again, but this time I took it.
"Thanks, Jessica," he said grinning.
"Thank you. If you don't mind I should probably get going, me and some of my band are meeting up at the river."
His family knew most of the band, since most of them went to church together.
"Alright bye, Jessica. Tell them that I said hi."
"Will do, Michael. Bye."
And with that I grabbed my purse, keys, and phone then went out the door to my car. After starting my engine I looked at my truck's clock, 12:27. From Michael's house it should take me around little less than 10 minutes to get to the river. I pulled out my phone and went to my contacts to text Neal.
Me: Hey, Neal I am just now leaving Michael's house. Be there in a bit.
I was wrong.I was so wrong. After I sent that message I thought that I would be there in a bit, but I never even made it to the river. If only I hadn't decided to make one stupid stop.