Page 13 of Stronger Than Blood
I stared at her. “You’re firing me? You do know my Granny is in the hospital, right? I’m never late—”
She held her hand up to stop me. “I’m not just firing you 'cause you’re late. I’m letting you go because you are moonlighting outside the store, which is specifically forbidden.”
“Moonlighting? What are you talking about?” I asked, my desire to be respectful completely gone.
I could tell she wanted to chastise me for being so forward. “What I’m talking about is you baking pies for Mrs. Stewart.
“Oh,” I said and shook my head. “I did her a favor, and I didn’t get paid.”
“No matter, you still disobeyed the rules.”
“No, ma’am,” I said, my temper flaring. “I have every right to cook a pie for anyone I choose on my own time, and if you do fire me, you should know I’ll tell everyone you did it when my grandmother had just had a stroke and because I did a favor by baking a pie on my own time at my apartment for the church potluck.”
She turned on me like she was about to hit me. “I will not be threatened in my own store. Get out!”
“Where’s my final paycheck?” I asked and sat down. I’d had just about enough of the wicked woman and her bullying.
“Stephen,” she yelled, and the middle-aged man who stocked shelves came into the office. “Call the sheriff and tell him I’ve just fired Mr. Hensley, and he is refusing to leave the premises.”
“But, ma’am, his grandma…” Mrs. Milner spun on her heels and faced him.
“Did I stutter, Stephen?”
“I-I won’t do that, no. I’m sorry, not when his Granny Ida is—”
“Then you are fired as well.” I jumped up and went to Stephen.
“No, don’t do this,” I whispered. "She’s had it out for me for years, but you need your job.”
He straightened his back and looked at me, and I could see the fire in his expression. “No, son, I don’t need this job, and neither do you. Okay,” he said, looking at the hateful bitch fuming across from us. “You will be paying for my unemployment then,” he said and took my arm. “You need to have both my and Mr. Hensley’s pay ready tomorrow, or we’ll have an attorney be intouch. Might have one get in touch anyway,” he said and led the way out, only stopping to pick up a few of his belongings.
“If you got anything personal in the back, you best go get it now. That old hag,” he said, knowing Mrs. Milner was behind us and could hear him, “will likely throw anything of yours away if you leave it.”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t have anything here that she can’t toss.”
I had purposely not brought personal things in, even though some of my equipment would’ve been better for decorating cakes. I didn’t trust the owner not to confiscate it or toss it. She was just that way.
“Then let’s go,” he said, and he and I walked through the store toward the exit. Stephen glanced at Mr. Milner on the way out, and I could tell he was giving him a meaningful look as he left. Stephen basically kept the store together.
Mr. Milner never stood up to his wife. She drove off most of the decent workers. Stephen, although in his early sixties, did most of the work in the store, and I did most of the work in the bakery. I had no idea what they were going to do now. Lose the store, probably. Oh well, it wasn’t my concern. I just hoped it didn’t hurt Stephen too much. He’d been working at Milner’s store for as long as I’d lived here, and now he was leaving because of me.
As soon as we were outside the store, I asked, “Stephen, you… you need the work, why don’t you go back in and talk to Mr. Milner? I-I don’t expect you to throw away your career.”
He laughed. “Son, that woman has been firing me for years. She fires me, and Delton hires me back. But I told him last time it’d be my last. I’m too damned old to be putting up with that woman’s mess any longer. Come on, I’ll get you a beer at Patty’s tavern. I haven’t been there in a month of Sundays, and I could use a good cold one about now.”
I followed him around the corner to what used to be the old Mason building downtown. I didn’t drink often, and my Granny Ida was a teetotaler, so I didn’t frequent these places, but I couldn’t disagree about how good a few beers sounded despite the early hour.
"So, what’cha gonna do now?” I asked after taking a sip of the pint he’d put in front of me.
He smiled. “I’m going to sell my farm and go live with my sisters in Atlanta. They’ve been trying to get me down there since Martha died six years ago. My son moved down there before that, and he and his wife both work for the movie studios. Truth is, I only stuck around here ’cause Delton is my best friend. Bless that man’s heart. He’s had his hands full with that woman. I don’t know what he’s gonna do now.”
I shrugged. “Well, Walmart gets most of their customers anyway. I doubt he’ll be able to stay open.”
He sighed and nodded. “Just one more mom-and-pop store closing in Chattanooga. Well,” he said and slapped me on the back, “that ain’t nothing for us to ponder on. She fired us fair and square, and don’t you hesitate to sign up for your unemployment. It makes her crazy, you know, so that’s about the best revenge you can get.”
I laughed. We’d all heard her hollering about employees being on unemployment. The fact was that she fired a bunch of people and didn’t even think about it. In Tennessee, you’re not supposed to qualify for unemployment if you’re fired because of something you did or didn’t do, but Mrs. Milner fired so many people the unemployment office didn’t even check any longer. If you filed after being fired from there, you pretty much just got it.
I didn’t know what I was gonna do now. I could go back to school and finish my bachelor's degree, but there weren’t many restaurants looking for skilled cooks. I mean, I could probablyask Brenda at the restaurant in Piston Creek, but that seemed like putting a lot on her, and I didn’t want to be a charity case.
