We, Jenny thought and felt tears of helplessness fill her eyes. You don’t mean we, Dad. You mean me.
“Now,” McGrath said, “it won’t bother me none to live outta the truck again for a while, till things gets better, but I know how you hate it.”
“Dad,” Jenny said, fighting to stay calm, “I’ve got more than half the rent money put back. I didn’t tell you, but I’ve been keeping money—”
“No, you don’t,” her dad said in a softer voice. “Not anymore you don’t.”
He’d found her money. Jenny leaned back against the house and quaked from anger and frustration and pain. Hiding money in the McGrath household was a game, a brutal and vicious game. She couldn’t keep money in her purse because her dad went through her things. She couldn’t keep money in her room because she had to go to work and he stayed home. At different times, she’d hidden the money she’d been able to save in different places in whatever residence they’d been living in at the time.
“Gotta admit, though,” her dad said with a little pride in his voice, “hidin’ the money in the truck like you did was dang smart. I’da never looked there if the police officer hadn’t pulled me over and asked to see my insurance verification. Didn’t have no insurance, though, but I had to give him a show. While I was goin’ through the glove box, I found that money.”
“Dad—” Jenny sucked in her breath and struggled for control—“I work for tips.”
“Girlie, I know that.”
She made herself speak. “The check I get, if I even get it, is nothing. That won’t even begin to pay the rent.”
Jackson McGrath was silent for a time. “Well, now, I guess we’ll just have to do the best we can. That’s all anyone can expect.” He puffed on his cigarette. “Anyways, I was calling to let you know that we’ll probably be out on the street come Monday. And to apologize.”
“Apologize?” Jenny wiped tears from her eyes. “For taking the money I’d saved back?”
“Well, that, too. But I was talkin’ about not comin’ and gettin’ you yesterday mornin’ like I said I would. I just got caught up in a few things.”
Was dead drunk to the world, Jenny thought. She’d even forgotten that her father was supposed to come get her. Things at Camp Gander had been hectic as always.
“But I’m sorry about takin’ the money too,” McGrath said. “Sure didn’t mean to do that, girlie. But it was just settin’ there an’ I got to feelin’ sorry for myself after the police officer took my driver’s license an’ told me I was lucky he didn’t have time to impound my truck. Man had a real attitude on him, I’m tellin’ you.”
“How much trouble are you in?”
“Some. Got me drivin’ under a suspended license an’ a couple of back bench warrants. Told me if he had room for me in his jail, he’d probably have loaded me up under it. I’m gonna have to pay some heavy fines. Maybe even rack up some jail time, which I ain’t gonna do. Could be we’re gonna have to move out of Columbus for a while. But that’s okay. I never much liked this place anyway. Too big and noisy.”
Jenny’s stomach churned. Leaving Columbus meant leaving the opportunities the city offered. Her father would, as he had done so many times in the past, drag her into another small town in a rural area of the state and settle into whatever menial ranch labor or construction or concrete job he could find.
Jackson McGrath sighed again. “I tell you, girlie, I ain’t had nothin’ but bad luck in a month of Sundays. I know I told you before, an’ I’ll tell you again. You are the best thing that’s ever happened to this ol’ cowboy.”
A woman’s voice murmured in the background, but the words were too indistinct and slurred for Jenny to make them out.
“Look, I gotta go,” her dad said. “I’m over at a friend’s house an’ she’s gettin’ a mite irritated at me tyin’ up the phone.” He lowered his voice into a whisper. “An’ I think she’s kinda sweet on your ol’ man.”
So he’d gotten drunk and found someone to share it with, Jenny realized. He was also probably paying for the booze as long as that held out.
“I just wanted you to know that I’d be by in a couple days. I see they opened up the base there—”
“Post, Dad,” Jenny corrected automatically. “They call it a post.”
He laughed. “Well, listen to you. You gone all army on me now, girlie?”
Jenny refused to answer.
“Well, I just want you to know that I think that’s kind of cute.”
“Dad—”
The woman’s voice sounded in the background again, more demanding now.
“Look, girlie, I really gotta go before she gets ticked. I just wanted you to know that I’d be by there in a day or two and we can figure out—”
“No,” Jenny said. Everything suddenly felt surreal, as if she were a step outside herself.
“What?” The black anger that sometimes filled Jackson McGrath sounded in his voice.
“I said no, Dad.” Jenny drew in a long breath. Help me, God. I’ve never stood up to him before, and I just can’t do this anymore. I don’t know what else You have planned for me, but this can’t be what You want for me.
“What you tellin’ me no about, girlie?” Some of the drunkenness disappeared from Jackson McGrath’s voice.
“No, I’m not going with you. I’ve been carrying you for years now. Taking care of you. Paying the bills. Listening to every excuse you ever shoved my way. Well, I’m done. This world has changed. I’ve changed. I probably changed before
