The Saver (6 page)

So I decided to make a few trips and stock up while I still have my bus pass. I had nothing else to do.

You're lucky, Xanoth, that food is free on your planet. Everything's expensive down here. When I went shopping with Mom we never bought the really expensive things, like cashews or butter, but we bought some medium things, like ice cream and chips.

But today I realized I can't even buy the medium things. I have to stick to the really cheap food. Luckily I'm the sort of person who can eat the same thing every day. I don't need variety like some people.

My first trip was just cat litter. That stuff is beyond heavy.

The second trip was mostly potatoes, which were on sale for $1.98 for a big bag, and cans of tomato sauce, and Whiskas. Beauty really likes the seafood Whiskas, and it isn't all that more expensive than the No Name,
only around $1.50 more for the big size. I don't trust the No Name for cat food.

The third trip was more potatoes and more sauce and bread and bananas and rolled oats in a bag and bread-crumbs and tuna, which luckily was on sale and which I have a good recipe for. Tuna-potato burgers. Simone taught us that recipe.

For my next trip I got cauliflowers, which were also on sale, and milk and carrots and two big jars of peanut butter for $5.45 each, and three big bags of flour for $1.88 each, and sugar. Finally on my last trip I got a ton of pasta. The No Name was $4.10 for a big bag, which is cheaper than at the dollar store. I was trying to decide if I could afford the chicken. I stood there for about half an hour staring down at the chicken, picking it up, putting it down, sticking it in my cart, taking it out again. In the end I didn't buy it. It's almost $8 for a small chicken and it only lasts one day. I'll wait for a special.

I also didn't buy beans and chickpeas and lentils because there's a place on Sherbrooke that sells things like that in bulk. I'll go there tomorrow. Beans and chickpeas take forever to cook, but you can get a lot of meals out of a small amount.

I'm also running low on toilet paper and detergent, but I get those at the dollar store.

All five trips cost me $181.38. That's less than I earned doing the three houses, so I'm still OK. My total in the tin box is now $1227.35.

I put all the food away and then I made orange cake. I also made lentil soup with carrots and cauliflower. Lentils are cheap and they give you a lot of protein and iron. Only the red lentils though. The green ones taste like mud.

I figured out that if I put newspaper at the bottom of the litter box I don't have to use as much litter. It's more work, because the newspaper gets all gross and has to be changed every day, but it's worth it. So now I have to start collecting old newspapers and plastic bags.

Yours forever,

Fern

Wednesday

November 28

Hi Xanoth,

I'm really depressed.

I called this place yesterday about a janitor job, and I was all excited because they said I should come over for an interview. The address was on Côte St. Luc Road, but all the way west, near the train tracks. It gets a bit slummy there, so I figured maybe I had a chance. I left really early, and the whole way on the bus I planned what I was going to say, like about being bilingual and having tools and knowing how to fix things. I was worried they'd test me by asking specific questions, but I figured with a bit of luck I'd be able to get away with it.

But when I saw the building I realized I didn't have a chance. It was at least twenty floors, and even though the area is bad, they fixed this building up. There was even a doorman.

I was going to turn back and go home, but right then an old lady came in and the doorman buzzed her through, so I went into the lobby with her. The doorman didn't stop me. He thought I was with the lady.

We got on the elevator and I pressed the third floor, which is where the office was. I figured I'd just peek in without telling them who I was.

The door of the office was open. There were lots of filing cabinets and computers inside, and a woman and a man were sitting behind two desks. They were the sort of people who basically want to be Barbies. They probably wake up every morning wishing their skin was made of plastic and their arms only moved in two directions.

I took the elevator back down and left the building. I had to wait forever for the bus, and there was this icy wind that goes right through to your bones. It was cold to begin with, but it was minus a zillion with that wind.

On top of everything, my nose was running because I was crying. I never cry where anyone can see me, but no one noticed or cared. It was too cold to notice anything.

Yours forever,

Fern

Saturday

December 8

Hi Xanoth,

I haven't written to you for a while because I've been kind of down. We had 31 cm of snow on Monday. A foot of snow doesn't sound like a lot, but it comes out to way more once you shovel it into piles. They said it was going to cost the city 17 million dollars to clean it up. I saw on TV how people were trying to dig out their cars.

Every year people act like they're surprised there's snow in Montreal.

Mostly I've been reading mysteries in bed, or lying on the sofa and watching videos from the library. Any old mystery video, including ones I've seen a hundred times, like Cracker or Death in Holy Orders. I also took out some travel videos, like Greece and Egypt, which I've also seen a zillion times. I'm not into depressing movies, or action movies, or horror, or comedies full of beautiful women and guys getting attracted to them, so that rules out a lot.

The only other thing I did was clean the Coopers' house on Wednesday.

Today I have some news though. I got a letter from Jack. The Coopers drove over this morning and put it in my mailbox. They also gave me a reference letter when I was there, but the way things are going I don't know if I'll ever need it.

Jack's letter goes,

Dear Fern, It was so heartwarming to hear from you but I am deeply grieved to hear about the passing of poor Felicity. She was a wonderful person and you were the light of her life. She loved you more than words can ever say and you will carry that love with you forever in your heart and remember it when you most need it. She sent me a photo of you when you were six and I've had it with me the whole time. You are beautiful inside and out, and I am sure you have grown up into a beautiful young woman.

I'm sure your friends and teachers at school are all there for you if you turn to them. I'm planning to come to Montreal but I don't know exactly when.

I had some dark times, but I'm on the right path now and listening to the good spirit inside me and letting it guide me. I'm enclosing twenty dollars for now. I'm sorry it isn't more.

Your loving uncle, Jack

Quite sappy, you have to admit. But at least he isn't a criminal type. I think he was in jail for stealing a car while he was drunk.

Xanoth, I don't know what to do next.

I'm thinking about your tulip and daffodil and pansy garden and about how flowers don't have seasons on your planet. They stay the same all year round. I love how when the sun sets the whole sky turns purple and gold and pink. I love how when it gets dark all the silvery lights come on and light up everything and people start dancing on the lawn in their flowing gowns. I love how people just go to stores and take what they want. How is Lulu? Will her wedding invitations have sparkles and rose petals on them, I wonder.

Yours forever,

Fern

Sunday

December 9

Hi Xanoth,

More news. Even though I figured it was hopeless, I've been checking the ads in the
Gazette
every day. Well, today I saw an ad that said
SUPERINTENDENT IMMEDIATE 45 UNITS BILINGUAL REFERENCES
. No tools and no experience, and they gave an address on Clanranald. There aren't any huge or expensive buildings there, I don't think, so I called and left a message.

Then I got impatient because no one was calling back, so I went down there to take a look at the place. I mean, I had nothing else to do and I thought at least I'd be able to see what kind of building it was. I had to buy a strip of six bus tickets, but I still have the Reduced Fare card from school, so I only paid $6.50 instead of $12.

It was unbelievably cold, and my ears almost froze off waiting for the bus and then looking for the building. Luckily there was a small space between the outside door and the buzzer door, so I went in and tried to thaw out a bit. The building's OK – five floors with an elevator, old but not too rundown.

One of the buzzers on the wall said
JANITOR
. I tried ringing it because I figured maybe the janitor who's leaving could tell me something about the job, but there wasn't any answer.

About half the mailboxes had names. In real dumps you never get more than one or two names, because the name either gets torn off or else the person's a criminal or junkie or doesn't know anyone, or just can't be bothered. Anyhow, who wants to visit you if you live in a dump? It's not like anyone's having Candlelight Suppers. That's from a show Mrs. Johnston liked, about a woman with illusions, and one of her illusions is that she's going to have all these candlelight suppers, whereas in reality everyone avoids her because she's insane. I got all excited around three years ago because I suddenly saw that video on the shelf in the library, and I remembered Mrs. Johnston talking about how she liked it, and how it showed that things on the outside don't count, only things on the inside. She laughed telling us about the show. I mean laughed almost out of control. We didn't really get what she was talking about, but it's always nice when your teacher's happy. It turned out to be a bit lame, but some parts were funny.

Anyhow, I was just about to leave the building when suddenly this man wearing a suit and a black coat came out of the elevator. He was around 30, not bad-looking. I could see he didn't live in the building. He was too well dressed and neat and in too much of a rush. He looked
like a lawyer or someone important, but not fake like the Barbie people in that Côte St. Luc building. So I said, “Excuse me, do you know about the janitor job?”

He said in a big rush, “Yes, why?”

I could tell he was the person in charge, so I said, “I'd like to apply. I'm strong and I can fix anything. I have great references. And experience.”

He looked surprised and very not sure. But he was in a huge rush, and that was my luck. He said, “How old are you?”

I told him I was nineteen but that I've been doing house-cleaning for three years. Which is true, actually. Apart from all the times Mom was sick, the summer Ricardo broke up with me I did a house on Old Orchard all on my own.

Well, the guy was really not sure, but because of his rush he said, “OK, come tomorrow at nine. No, make that ten.” He handed me his card and hurried off. So at least I have an interview.

I was right, he's a lawyer. His name is David Frost. The only poem I know by heart is about frost.

The door was shut, as doors should be,

Before you went to bed last night,

Yet Jack Frost has got in, you see,

And left your window silver white.

I know all eight verses. Mrs. Johnston made us memorize
that poem. Every day we memorized another verse, and when we knew the whole poem we got 20 bonus points.

I don't know if I even have a chance, Xanoth. Someone better could come along with more experience and with tools, or a couple. Also I'm not bilingual. I used to know French before Simone left, because until I was four we lived way out east where everyone was French. But I mostly forgot it after we moved.

Still, I don't think a janitor has to talk a lot. You can just fake it with “oui, oui” and “non” and pretend you know what the person's talking about. Besides, it's mostly immigrants on Clanranald. They don't know French either.

The good thing is that he told me to come in the morning, which means he probably won't see anyone between now and then. And maybe he's too busy to interview a lot of people. I'll bring the reference letter with me. The Coopers really exaggerated in that letter, but I'm not complaining.

I need this job, Xanoth. I never needed anything so badly.

Yours forever,

Fern

Monday

December 10

Hi Xanoth,

I had the interview today. I came at ten, but no one was there, so I waited an hour and a half in that little space. It was kind of claustrophobic, so I walked up and down in front of the building, but I only lasted a few minutes because it was freezing. There were some muddy flyers on the floor, and I picked them up and found a garbage pail to dump them in.

I was getting really stressed, thinking maybe I had the wrong time, or maybe David hired someone else and he couldn't call me because I didn't give him a phone number.

But finally he came rushing in. He was very impressed that I was still there.

He unlocked the buzzer door and we went into Apartment 101, on the ground floor. I guess that's the janitor's apartment. It's one room, with a kitchen area at one end and a bathroom at the other. There was a round table that had a weird black sort of cover, like something you'd put on a roof to keep out the rain.

We sat down at the table and he put his big briefcase in front of him and said again, “How old did you say you were?”

I said, “Nineteen. I was living with my mother, but she died. I'd be a really good janitor. I have a reference.” I handed him the letter. I said, “It's from Dr. Cooper.”

He said, “Dr. Cooper, who's that?” He talks like a lawyer.

I said, “I cleaned house for him and his wife. Only I haven't told them my mother died yet. I didn't want them to worry.”

That was fast thinking, because imagine if he told them before I did. I realized I'd have to call and tell them as soon as I got home.

He read the letter, but he still looked suspicious. I said, “I'm really strong. I don't drink or smoke or anything. My church doesn't believe in it.” I've never been to a church in my life, but I was desperate.