What job?
Esther sat with her legs stretched out on the couch, browsing through the newspaper. A sorry excuse for a newspaper at that. Her mission was looking for a job. What job? This little town had not one. The classified section of the paper was a swap meet. There came a knock at her door. “Who is it?” She called.
“It’s me.”
“Come in, me.” She teased. Oscar poked his head through the door. “Come in.” She smiled.
“What’s up?”
“Would you like to go for a walk?”
“Sure,” she got up from the couch to get ready to go outside. “Where are we going?”
“Just for a walk.” She reappeared from the back of the house bundled against the cold weather. “Cute ear muffs.” He smiled.
She grinned from ear to ear. “Ya think?”
“I know.”
“You don’t have to buy the paper if you want to save the wasted dollar fifty. I have a subscription.”
“Thanks.”
“Looking for anything special?”
“Just to see what the job market is like.”
“None existent.”
“Tell me about it. Is it because it’s winter?”
“No, it’s a small town. Jobs are given to people that are kin. There is no need to even pretend to advertise them.”
“What about the next town over? The one where you said there were hotels?”
“I’m sure their better off than we are. They are much bigger. Anymore sleepless nights?”
She blushed.
He pulled her into an embrace. She laid her head on his chest as he rubbed his fingers through her hair. “Esther?”
“Yes, dear,” she moaned.
He kissed the top of her head.
Oscar and Esther’s houses looked like the last two houses on this road that led to where, she had no idea. Instead of picking the direction toward town, the direction she knew. Oscar chose to walk in the direction Esther had no clue where it went. They had walked for about five minutes before Oscar spoke.
“You asked me something the other day that I wasn’t prepared to talk about.”
“You don’t have to appease me.”
He stopped, making eye contact with her. “I’ve never really talked to anyone about all of this. I have talked to professionals about a great many things but I have never told the whole truth.” He held her face in his hands. Hands with NO gloves. “I feel things with you that I’ve never felt. And, I feel like you understand more than anyone what this feels like.” They started walking again. “I think I told you that my dad was older than my mom?”
“Yes you did.”
“The house that I live in was my aunt and uncle’s. My dad’s baby sister. Dad lived to be 94 but his sister only lived to be 80. I’m telling you this as a back story for a reason.”
“Okay.”
He reached out for Esther’s hand. She accepted it and they continued walking. “You asked me what happened to me ten years ago and when you did, I couldn’t answer you. I know that I miss my dad but until that night I never really made the connection. I never really knew just how bad it had affected me. Mom fawned over Otis and dad me. Well, the latter half of his life. My relationship with mom, as you know, is a mess.” He stopped again. “It isn’t wrong of me to want a relationship with my mother?”
“No, it isn’t. It’s natural.”
“Ever since I’ve been out of college, I’ve been a caregiver in one respect or another. Then when there was no one to care for, I have drown myself in my work, teaching is my life. There’s work and there’s work.”
“May I ask you something?”
“Please.” They had turned down a road she guessed, it was covered with snow, it could have been a road. They were going deeper and deeper into the woods.
“Does your mother harbor animosity toward you because you look so much like your dad?”
“I’m not sure. I do know that she hates me.”
“How can you be so sure it’s hate? I mean that’s a pretty strong word.”
“You’ve seen how she acts toward me. What do you think?”
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