A Second Chance

“Jaden?” Katie peeped around the side of the stainless steel kitchen rack. “Is he gone?” she hissed “Mr. James?”

Jaden came out from the drive up window cubby. “He gone Miss Katie.”

“Good.” Katie popped around the corner and grabbed the leftover fried chicken from under the amber colored warming lights and bagged it up. She moved over to the sides. “No cornbread? What about greens? Any left?”

“Child! You bet’ not let Mr. James catch you! And I know you bet’ not take all my greens!” Jackie appeared stern-faced from the back of the kitchen, and smacked Katie with a dish towel. She was all of 5’2” with dark chocolate skin. She had large round eyes, with golden irises, and naturally red lips. Shakespeare wrote “for tho she be but little, she is fierce!” and Katie was certain he’d written it about Jackie. She was the most intimidating, yet most beautiful, woman Katie had ever seen. Jaden, Jackie’s husband, was quite her opposite. He was 6’3” with broad shoulders, and skin the color of coffee with too much cream. He was soft spoken, had soft dark eyes, and a kind, freckled face.

“Jackie stop pickin’ at that girl.” Jaden chuckled.

Jackie’s eyes narrowed. She cocked her head to one side, and put her fists on her hips. Her long dark hair tied up in a purple scarf added a foot to her height. Katie put her head down, and Jackie smacked her with her dish towel again, her stone expression cracked wide open with a warm smile, and an opened mouth laugh exposing her perfectly straight, white teeth. “Baby, I got you!” She reached into her oversized apron pockets, and pulled out a bundle of cornbread and two go cups of greens. “Go on now, girl; it’s closing time. They gon’ be waiting for you.” Katie’s eyes started to glisten with rising tears. Jackie smiled and put her arm around her. “Come on with your big heart, child.”

Jackie walked with Katie to the booth near the window. The table top was covered with condiments, napkins, wax paper sleeves of buttered bread, and cups of sweet pickles. Katie sat down and pulled her backpack from under the table, took out her rollerblades, and stuffed as many extras as she could into her now empty bag, along with the chicken, greens, and cornbread. She strapped on her skates and stood up, now towering over Jackie on her wheels, her mousey brown hair hanging in her face in front of her gray eyes. She was tall and thin, plain, but lovely. She was a shy and timid girl, and Jackie always worried she was too naive for New Orleans.

“Girl, why you don’t let us take you home? You ain’t got no business skating through the ward at night.”

Katie forced a timid smile. “So far so good, I guess?”

Jackie smirked, once again smacking Katie with her dish towel. They turned to the window and peered out at the beat up red conversion van in the otherwise empty lot across the road. The red lights from the neon sign on the roof of the Chicken Shack flickered in the dark night, reflecting in the van’s windows.

Katie pressed her hands to the glass and leaned her head forward, squinting. “What’s their story, Jackie? Do you know?”

“What’s anybody’s story, child?” she sighed. She stood up on her toes, as tall as she could, and kissed Katie on the cheek. “On your way now, baby.” She disappeared into the kitchen.

Jaden had been standing silently behind them. He put his hand on Katie’s shoulder. “Mr. James ain’t all bad you know. He used to do just what you’re fixin’ to. You know he own the lot over there. That’s why that van never get towed. Mrs. James never liked it. Suppose Mrs. James never liked a lot of things…” Jaden trailed off. “Anyway, he quit givin’ after the divorce. I guess he strapped for cash. Had to buy her out her half. And he really do pay me and Jackie pretty good. But, he still let her park there.”

Katie stood silent. Not saying what she thought, that Mr. James could, and should, do more.

Jaden patted her shoulder. “He ain’t all bad Miss Katie. We all just trying to find our way in this life.” He smiled, hung his head low and whispered “Don’t you worry ‘bout Mr. James noway. Even he know Jackie the real boss ‘round here.”

Katie’s voice flattened. “Mr. James is the owner, Jaden.”

“Jaden!” Jackie stood akimbo, her small frame somehow casting a giant shadow in the walkway to the kitchen. “You gon’ get back here do this side work, so we go home ‘fore daylight?”

Jaden turned back to Katie, tossed a towel over his shoulder and with a wide smile he whispered, “He might be the owner, but Miss Jackie still the boss.” He winked at Katie, and then pointed to the van window, where a tiny, pale white face had appeared. “You better go on now, Miss Katie.”

Katie went out the front door, and Jaden bolted it behind her. Jackie came back out from the kitchen and stood beside Jaden. “White girl come to Crescent City to go to college and think she gon’ save the world.”

Jaden looked down at his wife and smiled. “She savin’ theirs. One day at a time.”

Jackie smiled. “Yeah…” she laughed. “Supposin’ she is.”

Katie held her backpack close to her chest and carefully skated across the street. She knocked on the window, and the same little white face appeared from behind a tattered curtain in the back of the van, only to disappear as quickly. The van had captain’s chairs. Leather. Tattered and worn now, but once majestic. Wood panel trim. Power windows and locks. A small TV and VCR above the rearview mirror. Katie wondered if it had always belonged to its residents. Had they taken road trip vacations in it? Had their lives been different once? She didn’t have much time to ponder her heavy thoughts before she heard the back door creak open. A woman appeared, thin and pale faced with a mop of blonde curls to match both her babies. One was a toddler on her hip, the other, that same small face from the window, a giggling little girl running toward Katie.

“Miss Katie came back, mama! I told you she’d come! Didn’t I tell you, mama?”

Katie straightened up, and smiled, doing her best to hold back tears. She opened her backpack and handed the contents to the little girl. She squealed with joy and ran back into the van. Her mother smiled softly, and put her head down. “Bless you, Miss Katie.”

Katie nodded. She couldn’t speak. She felt if she spoke, she would burst into tears. She just nodded her head, and headed home.

Katie opened her eyes to sun shining on the old bare brick walls of her studio apartment. Binx, her black cat, who had been her only companion on the long trip from Oregon, was head-butting her and purring. “No Binx.” She tried to shoo him away “It’s not time yet. It’s only…” she reached for her phone on the bedside stand to check the time. “Noon! Oh I’m so late!” She jumped out of bed, rushed to feed Binx, and threw on the first clothes she found on the floor. She strapped on her skates, stuffed her shoes in her backpack, and tied on her work apron. “Bye, Binx!” She gave him a much deserved head scratch. Binx licked his paws and flopped on the bed in the sun beams. “What a life.” Katie muttered, and shut the door. She was halfway down the street when she realized she’d forgotten her pen and her notepad for taking orders.

Jackie was always telling her to get a bike. The old brick streets, with their uneven surfaces, potholes, and oftentimes inches of water, weren’t exactly ideal for roller blades. Katie would love a bike, but she couldn’t afford one. She had come to New Orleans for school against her parents wishes, and she was on her own now. They were never supportive of her, beyond finances, and though she struggled now, she’d never been happier. She was living on her own terms. As she raced down the streets, she thought about the young mother in the van. She wondered what her family was like, and if it was her own terms that led her to live on the street. She got lost in her thoughts for a moment and was quickly brought back to reality when she hit the pavement, hard.

Katie stood up to assess the damage. Scraped jeans and a knee to match. “Great.” she groaned. It was then she saw what had tripped her, a little black notebook. “Ok universe, I guess that’s fair. Still need a pen, though.” She tucked the notebook in her apron pocket, and made her way to work.

The restaurant was busy. She was late. Mr. James wasn’t there, but Jackie was, hand on her hip, her other hand pointing to a table. Katie nodded, changed out of her skates, threw her bag under the booth, and grabbed a pen from the counter. “Welcome to the Chicken Shack, what can I get for you?” She whipped out her newly found notebook, and then she saw it. Something sticking out of the pages. She opened it, and there it was. A scratch off lottery ticket. A winning, twenty thousand dollar, scratch off lottery ticket. She went nearly catatonic. “Is this real?” she thought. “It can’t be real…”

“Ma’am? Hello!?” her customer called to her.

“Oh goodness! I’m so sorry!” Katie fumbled with the notebook and tucked the ticket in her apron.

She made it through the order, and somehow through her shift. It was dark now, and it was closing time. The last customer left, and she collapsed in an empty booth. The busy day had been a blur. She didn’t even remember it. She’d spent it fixated on that ticket, which was now sitting on the table in front of her. Jackie came out of the kitchen. She turned over the open sign, bolted the door, and slid in the booth across from Katie. She smacked her dish towel on the table. Katie shot up, out of her trance. “Girl what got you out in space all day, walkin’ round here like a zombie?” Katie put one finger on the ticket, and silently slid it across the table at Jackie. Jackie’s eyes widened. “Girl, where you get this?”

Katie stammered, “I forgot my notepad, and I tripped. I fell, and,” she pulled out the little black notebook “this was in the street, and that, that was the only thing inside.” She handed Jackie the notebook, and Jackie flipped through it.

“No name, no nothin,’ nohow.” Jackie whispered.

“Nothing.” Katie repeated.

“Well.” Jackie paused a moment, then slammed the notebook on the table. “It’s a gift, girl. It’s yours now. A life changing gift, if’n you wield it right.”

Katie’s eyes dropped. “Jackie, I can’t…”

Jackie cut her off. “Oh yes you can! You can do as you please.”

Katie held the ticket in her hand, and turned to stare out the window when her eyes met those of the little face in the van, the little face smiling and waving to her. Katie turned back to Jackie, eyes glistening.

“Child.” Jackie gasped, “This world ain’t deserve you.”

Katie strapped on her skates. “Might never be this lucky again, girl." Jackie cautioned. "You sure?” Katie nodded. “Yeah. Yeah I know you is.” Jackie hugged her, and bolted the door behind her.

Jaden came out of the kitchen, just in time to see Katie across the street, handing the young mother a little black notebook. “What she take them tonight, Jackie?”

“A second chance.” Jackie said. “She took them a second chance.”