Angel Over My Shoulder (7 page)

~1991 Fall~

“Leslie. I need for you to come into my office.”

“Oh, ok Glenn.” She looked at her boss as he headed into his office wondering what she’d done wrong. Glenn was a fifty plus year old man with a young wife and a son and daughter that he spoiled rotten. He very seldom smiled and was a man of few words. He could yell real loud when he had to but despite all of this he was fair and a good employer.

She told the other two waitresses that she had to be off the floor. The news wasn’t received well and Leslie promised to be back as quickly as possible. She had worked hard for her tips and didn’t want to see them going to another waitress.

Hastily she removed her apron and hurried to the office, knocking once on the door before entering.

Glenn was sitting behind his desk. He gestured for her to pull up a chair. “Have a seat.”

“Is there anything wrong?” She asked as she sat down.

“Well…I have some questions for you.”

“Ok…” Her drawer hadn’t been short. She couldn’t imagine what she’d done wrong.

The older man watched her closely.

“Leslie, one of the waitresses has been stealing bags of sugar.”

Leslie’s face fell. “Glenn, it’s not me-”

He held up his hand. “I know it’s not you. It’s Rebecca.” He paused, still watching her closely. “How long have you worked for me?”

“A year.” She responded nervously.

“And how old are you?”

“I’ll be twenty-one in a few weeks.”

“Leslie you saw Rebecca stealing the sugar.” She looked down guiltily. She had seen Rebecca place a ten pound bag of sugar into her bag. She had gone to the storage room and saw Rebecca trying to conceal what she’d done. Rebecca was a tired looking older woman. She spoke softly but knew her job. It surprised her to see that she was stealing from Glenn.

‘Are you crazy?’ She had asked.

Rebecca had just brushed past her. ‘Just…forget what you saw.’

‘Rebecca you got those kids to take care. What’s going to happen if you get fired?!’

‘Look, I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t need it!’ She had given Leslie a look of misery. ‘Are you going to tell on me?’

‘Of course not…just put it back.’ She reached into her pocket and pulled out five singles and pressed them into Rebecca’s hands. She’d left the storage room not sure if Rebecca had ever returned the sugar or not, but she certainly hadn’t returned the money.

She was biting her lip as she watched Glenn, now she was going to get fired over it. And she hadn’t even done anything wrong!

“Leslie, I just want to know why you gave her that money.”

“What?” She gave Glenn a surprised look. How did he know?

“I have a spy cam in the storage,” he explained in response to her look of confusion.

“A spy cam?”

“Yes. I’ve had them for years. You can’t be too careful. But I can’t hear, just see. What did you tell Rebecca to make her return the sugar?”

She was still watching him surprised and a little offended. “I told her that she had to take care of her children and shouldn’t risk getting fired.”

He watched her for a while longer. “You’re a good kid. But Rebecca steals a bag of sugar or a few loaves of bread about once a month. Actually everyone steals from me; a box of biscuit mix, some ground meat, left-overs…everyone except for you.”

She gave him a confused look. “Wait, you know they steal and you don’t care?”

“Wait, I didn’t say that I didn’t care.” He sighed, “but they’re real hard workers, Leslie. They don’t rob me blind and I know for the most part they need it. I know Rebecca is having troubles making ends meet. I know Rodriquez treats himself to a couple steaks a week and Billy has a few beers at the end of the night.” He shrugged dismissively. “But no one sticks their hands in the cash register; I know that for a fact!” He laced his fingers together and sat back.

“I know you’ve been doing extra around the restaurant, like cleaning the window sill and waxing the furniture. But you never tell me you’ve done it. You don’t ask for a raise. And I’ve caught one girl trying to take credit for what you’ve been doing.”

“Oh…” She felt pretty stupid now. “I did the extra work because…” She obviously couldn’t tell him that at some point in the near future, he’d be the only one to send her flowers. Her brain searched for an explanation. “I just…wanted to show my appreciation for the job, that’s all.”

He was still looking at her as if she was under a microscope. “You can show your appreciation and still get paid for it, Leslie. Is this your first job?”

“Yes sir.”

“Well maybe it will be your last.”

“What?”

“I mean, I’d like to offer you an opportunity to work for me and make a career out of it.” Her brow went up in surprise. A career as a waitress? Not much could suck worse than that…

Reading her expression he continued. “I don’t mean here at the diner. I have other businesses. I own a bakery and I need a manager there. I don’t trust too many people with things like my books and deposits; I certainly wouldn’t trust my own kids.” He paused and then gave her a sincere look. “But I do trust you.”

She was speechless.

“So? Do you want the job?”

She nodded vigorously. “Yes!”

He smiled and his face seemed to brighten and to look almost pleasant. “Good.” He scribbled something on a pad. “I want you to go through a Manager’s readiness program at a satellite campus of UC. Don’t worry, it’s only a two month course and I will pay for it.” He glanced at her. “And don’t worry, you get paid training.” He handed her the paper. “This is the name and number to the administrator of the program. And by the way, even though you didn’t ask, your starting salary is twice as much as you are currently making.”

“I-I can’t believe--Thank you!” She jumped up in excitement! The smile on Glenn’s face broadened.

“No, thank you for being someone I can trust.”

Leslie couldn’t wait to get home, fall asleep and tell Angel about her day. She would lie in bed, at times, with her eyes drooping and hold conversations in her mind with him. It was tough having a boyfriend that existed only in your dreams. Sometimes it would take her forever to fall asleep even when she was dead tired. Sometimes she fell asleep and woke up the next day without remembering her dreams at all. Those were the worst; then she’d have to go through the entire day wishing for night to come so that she could try again.

She had learned to do things to make herself tired; like going for a long walk, or cleaning the house. She did any and everything except take drugs. Somehow she knew that Angel would disapprove, and besides, she was clean now.

Over the last few weeks, Leslie and Angel developed a relationship that surpassed any that she had ever had with any other man. He was new and took a child-like joy in everything from something as simple as a walk through a flower garden to exploring her body with his fingertips and tongue.

And Leslie had learned a love that was more than just a man pumping in and out of her body. This love was built on a foundation of kinship and familiarity. Angel was wholly hers and no one else’s. Knowing him was like being with her soul mate. They completed each other; could read the other’s thoughts, and the other’s desires.

Sometimes she would say, ‘Angel, take me some place special.’ And he would take her home to her Mama and Daddy. He would take her to Grandmama’s house when her Grandmother was still alive and the house belonged to her and not to Leslie alone; before the cancer had began to eat the life out of her. The first time that had happened Leslie had almost dropped to her knees in tears, but then it became normal for her to walk into the house and to hear Grandma say, ‘Leslie, there is an apple pie on the counter but don’t eat any of it until after dinner.’ Then she would wink and say, ‘But I guess if we want it still warm with that ice cream I bought, we should have a little sample…’

Leslie would hug her so tightly, silently thanking Angel for this special gift, as he watched, never participating.

I want this to be our life
, she said to him one night, not using words but knowing that he could understand every word that she thought. They walked hand in hand through a world of flowers that Angel had created just for her. The flowers were beautiful, and had so many colors, colors that she had never seen before. But the roses didn’t have thorns. She stopped and turned to him.
There has to be thorns.

He shook his head.
Not in the world that I make for you.

~***~

Leslie unlocked the door to her house, mentally calculating what she would need to do in order expedite her travel into the world of sleep. She dropped her things onto the armchair by the door. She hadn’t done much to change the house since Grandma’s death. She liked that it reminded her of her grandmother. She didn’t feel alone even though she had absolutely no others in her life; just dusty memories and a dream lover.

“Hello, Leslie.”

She jumped, her heart almost leaped from her chest. She spun around and saw the figure sitting on her couch. Had he not been sitting clear across the room and quietly, as if he had no interest in jumping up, then Leslie would have been out the door! Instead she stood frozen in shock.

“What the hell are you doing in my house?” She hated the sound of her voice; it was weak and scared; the way she had been when he had first touched her at the age of eight years old.

“Well this was my mother’s house.” Uncle Monty spoke. “I still have a key.” Leslie didn’t respond. She didn’t think that was true. Uncle Monty had never let himself into Grandma’s house when she was alive. If he had a key she had never known him to use it.

“What are you doing here?” She stayed close to the door knowing that she could outrun him if she had to.

He gave her a steady look from across the room where he sat with his thick thighs crossed and his hands resting on top of his knee.

“Well I thought I’d tell you about how badly you ruined my life. I thought it might make you happy.”

Her eyes almost bugged out of her head. “Ruined YOUR life?”

“Well you certainly made your grand revelation in the most damaging way possible; at my mother’s funeral.” She had a look of utter disbelief as she stared at this man who obviously had no amount of remorse for how his filthy actions had affected her life.

“My family; uncles, aunts have walked out of my life. My girlfriend left. I’m not allowed to be alone with my children. I’ve been asked to leave the church.” Leslie rolled her eyes and Uncle Monty chuckled. She glared at him.

“Maybe you should count your blessings. You could be in jail right now.” She said bitterly.

His brow went up. “Well considering that you lied about this entire molestation thing makes it a little tough.”

Leslie had to replay his words several times before she could believe what she had heard.

“Listen you fucking creepy bastard, get out of my house! You get out of my house or I swear on everything that you still value—I swear that I will see you UNDER the prison for molesting me!” He stood and she flinched and then wanted to kick herself for letting him see her react.

“I’ll leave. But before I do, I want you to know that I hired a private investigator. You have been a very naughty little girl.” He walked towards her and she braced herself not to run. He walked through the door and she slammed and locked it then hurried to the front window and watched him walk a ways down the street where he had parked his car. She didn’t turn away from the window until she saw him drive away.

She ran to the living room and found the yellow pages. She dialed the first number under locksmiths; AAA locks and was told that they could be there in an hour…however the police showed up first.

When the knock came at the door she thought it would be the locksmith but was afraid that it could also be her Uncle. When she looked out the peephole she was surprised to see two uniformed officers standing on her front stairs, and opened the door suspiciously.

“Leslie Wilke?”

“Yes, is there something wrong?”

“Miss Wilke, you are under arrest.”

“I’m under arrest?” Her mouth fell. “For what?!” One officer took her arm and turned her as if she had no will. He quickly slapped handcuffs onto her wrist. “What am I under arrest for?”

“You’ll be told your charges when we get to the station.” The other officer said. “You have the right to remain silent…”

She listened to her rights being read to her. Nowhere did it say that she had the right to hear the charges against her before being carried down to the station.

There was a time when Leslie would have screamed and argued. But this was going to happen; she had already seen it. Despite the fact that she was terrified she went along with the officers quietly. One told her that he would cuff her hands in front if she promised not to start any trouble and she nodded her agreement.

The cop cars did not have their lights flashing, but she knew that her neighbors were probably still watching and had this happened months before, she would have been demanding answers and proclaiming that they were infringing on her civil rights. Now all she could do is wonder if her change of attitude would affect the outcome of her vision.