Her father, Peter, was seated a few feet from the door on a small couch that doubled as an even smaller pull-out bed. Checkered with a colorful and outdated pattern, it was his favorite spot to sit and rest his ailing back.
“Hey, sweetie,” he said, breaking his gaze on the newspaper in front of him to greet her as she came in. When he laid it down Sabrina could make out the word 'employment' headlining the top of the page.
“Hey, Dad,” Sabrina said, as she closed the front door behind her.
She noticed that her dad was still wearing his grease-stained blue jeans, the one he wore whenever he was working on cars.
“How was your day today?” she asked, glancing down to his dirty clothing.
Before he could respond, Anna emerged from the back half of the trailer.
“You made it,” Anna said, pulling and twisting her thick hair into roll behind her head. There were days when people marveled at the striking similarities between her and Sabrina. Sabrina truly looked like a younger version of her mother. The only real difference was that Anna had crows’ feet on the outside of her eyes and her hair had gone mostly grey.
Sabrina dropped the paper bags full of fast food burgers onto the small table in the corner of the trailer. Her father rose slowly from his chair, using one hand to push himself up while holding his lower back with the other.
“Dinner time,” Sabrina said, looking at her dad. “I got some burgers.”
“That was really nice of you,” he said, his voice soft and appreciative. “Thank you, honey.”
It occurred to Sabrina that had she not stopped and bought dinner, her father probably wouldn’t have eaten before going to work that night.
“Happy to do it,” Sabrina said, pulling out a wrapped burger and handing it to her father. He smiled gently and slowly sat down at the table.
“Do you still have time for dinner?” she asked her mother, who had dipped back into her bedroom.
“I need five more minutes.” Anna called out, after disappearing around the corner.
“So, how was your day today, Dad? You didn't get a chance to answer when I first came in,” Sabrina said, as she sat down at the table with her father.
“My day was fine,” he replied. He had unwrapped his burger and was preparing for a bite before Sabrina had even dug hers out from the bag.
“You were gone when I left earlier today,” Sabrina said, trying to bait more conversation.
Her father swallowed but didn’t look up. “Phil from Memphis Mechanic gave me a call, said he could use some help working on an old Mustang they had in the shop. I said I’d give him a hand.”
“He pay you?” Sabrina asked, studying her dad over.
Peter nodded. His soft gray eyes were like craters on his lean face, his skin worn from years under the sun. Gray-colored stubble lined his chin and jaw like short and thin blades of grass on a rugged field. “Yeah, he paid me. It was just a few hours’ worth of work, though. Nothing steady. But I couldn't turn it down. The hospital called again and we need to pay up.”
Sabrina nodded, taking a bite of her burger. The hospital was always calling it seemed.
The bills were always late. The collectors always banging on their door.
They had been getting by until a little over a year ago when Peter was laid off from his job. The halted income was just part of the detrimental effect, though. The psychological blow of the loss was far worse. The whole thing had sent her father into a spiral of depression that Sabrina wasn’t sure he’d ever truly recover from. He refused to talk much about it, but his face wore the evidence of his grief and shame, which pained Sabrina just as much as it pained him.
“And it sounds like you were able to find something for tonight, too?” Sabrina asked, trying to get her father to talk to her more.
“Yeah. Dan said the bar’s been having some trouble lately,” he said, focusing on his burger
“The Blue Star?” Sabrina asked. “Is it about to close down?”
“Nah, not that kind of trouble,” he said. “Dan told me they've been getting some especially rowdy guests lately. Something about some local bikers coming in there and acting like they own the place. Said he’d appreciate an extra bouncer for tonight. They're expecting a lot of people there because of some UFC fight. He's hoping extra people will keep the bikers from acting up, if they even decide to show up tonight.”
“Really?” Sabrina said.
Peter nodded and swallowed another bite of burger. “Yeah, but it's just tonight. This isn't exactly a career move or anything, just a chance to make a few extra bucks.”
Her father was tough as nails and could handle himself, but with his bad back, Sabrina wondered how great of an idea it was to take a job like that.
“Is that going to be dangerous?” she asked.
“Shouldn’t be. That’s what Dan said anyway. He figures just having an extra person at the front door will be good enough.”
Sabrina pressed her lips and smiled, knowing that even if it were dangerous, her father wouldn’t admit to it. Not if it meant extra grocery money and one less collector knocking at their door.
Her mother bounded out from the bedroom a moment later, wearing a white-collared shirt under a blue vest with the Walmart emblem stitched in the top corner. ‘How may I help you?’ the shirt read.
“Those burgers smell amazing,” Anna said, reaching into the fridge and pulling out a can of diet soda.
“One of them is for you,” Sabrina said, as she pulled the third burger from the paper sack.
Her mother nodded and took a quick sip of her soda. Then, without responding, she darted back into her bedroom.
On most normal evenings, Sabrina would watch the chaos without involving herself any more than a helping hand, and even that she did cautiously. She’d learned a while ago that it was best to allow her mother’s pre-work tornado to run its course without giving it any fuel or obstacles. But tonight she had some big news and she couldn't wait to share it with everyone.
“Are you going to have to time to sit and eat?” she called to her mother, who reemerged carrying a handful of papers.
“I’ve got to fill this out,” she said, her voice sped up and distant. She dropped the papers onto the table but didn’t sit down.
Sabrina’s father had finished his burger and sat back with his hands in his lap. She looked at him and smiled, hoping to break through his stoic expression, even just slightly. He returned her gesture with a half-smile that ended at his cheeks, but was genuine all the same.
“Tell me about your interview, sweetie,” he said, his soft gray eyes like clouds hiding the sun.
Sabrina’s chest inflated with a small flurry of the excitement she’d felt earlier that day. She smiled involuntarily.
“It went really well,” she said. All at once everything flooded her mind and she didn’t even know where to begin. “I’ve got some exciting news.”
“Did you get the job?” her mom asked. Her eyes widened with excitement as she looked up from her papers.
“I did,” Sabrina said and nodded affirmatively. “They offered it to me on the spot.”
“Honey, that's amazing,” Anna said, smiling with motherly pride. “And this is the one that’ll...”