Becoming Johanna (7 page)

“
Where am I?” Johanna
asked.

“
You’re still in the ER.
We can’t start treatment until you finish filling out these forms.”
The woman shoved a pen in Johanna’s hand and held a clipboard up to
her face. “Sign here,” she said, pointing to the appropriate line,
“and here.”

Johanna scribbled her name
and closed her eyes, wishing more than ever that she had never run
away from the orphanage.

Doctors fitted a cast to
support Johanna’s broken leg, and she was given a pair of crutches
and a small container of painkillers. The staff seemed reluctant to
let her go without the help of family, but after Johanna told them
for what seemed like the one-thousandth time that she had just
moved to the neighborhood and had no family, they agreed to put her
in a taxicab.

The good news was the
hospital would bill her.

The bad news was she
didn’t think to write down the license plate of the car that hit
her. Still, the police might have it. She would have to track it
down, when she could.

Her immediate problem
would be getting to work. She couldn’t afford to take cabs every
day, and she couldn’t ask Derrick or Amaranda to help when she owed
them both money. She thought about losing the money she had planned
to use to pay Derrick—and cried.
Life
shouldn’t be this hard.

Someone banged on her
cottage door. She hobbled over and pulled it open, even though she
was in no mood for company. She found Derrick and Amaranda standing
there.

“
You know … ” Amaranda
began, before her eyes widened. “What happened to you?”

“
I went to the bank to
cash a check so I could pay you and Derrick back, and I got hit by
a car. I’d just come out of the bank and was holding the cash in my
hand and it went flying. Most of the money flew off or was pocketed
by people on the street. Now I’ve lost a half-day of work. My leg
is broken. And I have no insurance. So just say what you want to
say and get it over with, because I know I’m a terrible friend, and
I deserve whatever you spit out at me.” By this time, she had
staggered back to the futon and sank down. Her stomach
growled—memorably.

“
When was the last time
you ate?” Derrick walked over to the refrigerator and opened the
door. He found a half loaf of bread, peanut butter, jelly, and an
open box of instant soup. “I can’t believe you still have no
real
food.”

“
I’ve had other things to
worry about,” Johanna answered.

Amaranda sat next to her
on the futon. “Are you going to sue?”

“
No. Who would I
sue?”

“
The guy who hit you with
his car.”

“
How do you know it was a
guy?”

“
Because I saw the
accident. I just didn’t know it was you. I was too busy running
after … hmmm … I guess you can deduct twenty dollars from what you
owe me. I grabbed it off the sidewalk. I would have grabbed more,
but some juvenile delinquent—who should have been in school, I
might add—beat me to the other bills.

Johanna sighed but didn’t
speak.

“
I’m running down to the
sandwich shop in the strip mall. What do you want?” Derrick
asked.

“
I’ll take a BLT and a
diet soda,” Amaranda answered.

“
Nothing for me,” Johanna
mumbled, closing her eyes.

“
Wrong answer. It’s my
get-well gift to you—a sandwich and a soda. What will it
be?”

“
It doesn’t
matter.”

“
Okay. Then I’ll decide
for you.” Derrick walked out the door with his keys in his
hand.

“
Does it hurt?”

Johanna opened her eyes.
“Only when I breathe.”

“
Did they give you any
painkillers?”

“
I guess that’s what they
are. Look in my coat pocket.” Her coat lay in a heap on the floor
where she had shrugged out of it.

Amaranda picked it up and
removed a pill bottle from the pocket. “This is pretty heavy duty
stuff.”

“
I’m sure I wouldn’t
know.”

“
You’d better wait till
Derrick gets back and eat first. Then take one of these and we’ll
leave you so you can get a good night’s sleep.”

“
I hope it works. I need
to get up early, because I think it’s probably going to take me
twice as long to walk to work.”

“
Walk to work! Are you
crazy? You need to rest a couple of days. And even then, you can’t
walk there. It’s too much, too soon.”

“
I have to go. I don’t get
sick days, and if I don’t work, I don’t get paid. Not to mention, I
could lose my job.” An image of Lucinda’s angry face popped into
her mind.

“
It doesn’t sound like
much of a loss, if you ask me.”

Johanna clammed up. She
knew Amaranda would counter everything she said. It would be better
not to argue and just to let her friend think she had won this
round. The next thing she knew, Derrick woke her up to
eat.

“
I wasn’t sure what you’d
like,” he said, “so I got you a turkey and cheese hero, and a BLT
like I got Amaranda, and a chicken salad sandwich in case you
didn’t want either of the other two.”

Amaranda dragged over the
folding table and chair. She unwrapped her sandwich and took a
bite. “Love … B … L … Ts,” she said between chews.

“
Which sandwich do you
want?” Derrick asked Johanna.

“
Take whichever one you
want.”

“
I’ve got rare roast beef
on rye with Russian dressing.”

She wrinkled her nose.
“I’ll take the chicken salad, I guess.”

He unwrapped it for her
and opened a can of soda. Then he sat down and dug into his own
food.

Amaranda stopped eating
and held up her hand. “I’ll bet this is your first dinner
party.”

Johanna gave her a crooked
smile. “It’s more like Derrick’s dinner party.”

“
He’s just the caterer.
It’s your home, so it’s your dinner party.”

Derrick pulled out his
cell phone and took a picture. “ For the society pages …
”

Johanna took a pain killer
for dessert, while Derrick put the extra sandwiches and soda in her
fridge.

“
It’s there when you get
hungry.” He kissed her forehead.

Amaranda gave her a hug.
“We’ll come by after work tomorrow. And don’t get any ideas about
walking there in the morning. You’ve got to stay home with your leg
elevated so the swelling goes down. If you do that, it won’t hurt
as much, and you won’t need painkillers, and then you’ll be able to
return to work. But. Not. Tomorrow.”

“
My boss. I have no
phone.”

“
I’ll pop in and tell
him,” Amaranda said as she pulled the door closed.

The next morning, Johanna
slept through the alarm. She dragged herself into the kitchen, and
made a pot of coffee. She was going to make a peanut butter
sandwich until she saw the sandwiches Derrick had left behind. She
ate half the turkey hero instead, and it felt good to have a full
stomach.

Her leg began to throb and
she took another painkiller. She sat on the futon with her leg on
the folding chair and alternated between reading and dozing off all
day. At five o’clock, she pulled herself together so she’d look
presentable when Derrick and Amaranda arrived.

A short time later, the
three of them shared a pizza while Amaranda recounted her
conversation with Johanna’s boss about her broken leg. “He’s such a
jerk. He went on and on about how you’re not entitled to sick days
and said he’d almost asked management to fire you when you ‘failed
to’ return to work yesterday afternoon. He seemed to know all about
the accident, just not that you were the victim.”

“
Really, Johanna,” Derrick
said between chews, “you should look for a job somewhere else,
where they treat their employees with respect.”

Amaranda laughed. “Does
such a place even exist?”

“
Don’t worry about it. I’m
feeling much better,” Johanna lied. “I guess I’ll face his wrath
tomorrow.”

Amaranda shook her head.
“Absolutely not. I know you don’t get paid for staying home and
all, but you really need to take one more day.”

“
I’m bored,” Johanna
replied. “I might as well be bored at work. I can sit with my leg
up there just as well as I can do it here. I owe both of you money
and my landlady just raised my rent.”

“
Okay,” Derrick broke in,
“but don’t walk. I’ll pick you up in the morning.”

“
Thanks. I don’t know how
I’ll ever repay you.”

“
Oh, I can think of a few
ways.”

Johanna felt her stomach
lurch. She liked Derrick as a friend. Nothing more.

Amaranda sighed
deeply.

Johanna fidgeted. “You’re
upset that I’m returning to work?”

“
Christmas is next week.
I’m upset because I’d hoped you would pay me back before then. Now
I see it’s impossible.”

“
I’m sorry. I had
Derrick’s money in my hand when the car struck me, and I was going
to run to the store after work and return the dress and shoes I
bought, so I could pay you back.”

“
You bought a dress?
Without me? Where is it?”

“
Hanging in the bag on the
bathroom door.”

Amaranda slipped away,
leaving Johanna alone with Derrick.

“
Don’t worry about paying
me back,” he said. “Consider it a combination house warming and get
well gift.”

“
I do worry, and I
will
pay you back. We’re
friends, Derrick. And friends don’t take advantage of friends.” She
hoped he got the message.

Amaranda walked in and
modeled the dress. “How do I look? You don’t have a full length
mirror, so I can’t tell.”

“
Nice!” Derrick said
appreciatively.

Johanna’s eyes opened
wide. “It looks spectacular on you.”

“
The holiday party where I
work is this Friday. Would you consider lending it to
me?”

How can I say no?
“Sure.”

“
The shoes are a little
tight,” Amaranda continued, “but they go so well with the dress, I
don’t mind suffering a little.”

Johanna shrugged. Amaranda
was bigger than Johanna and had more curves, so she undoubtedly
weighed more. By the time she returned the dress and shoes, they
would no longer be pristine and would probably be stretched out.
Then a little light bulb went off in Johanna’s head.

“
That dress and those
shoes add up to almost what I owe you. I also bought a small purse
that will actually make the outfit worth more than that. Would you
be willing to take the entire
ensemble
as payment for my
debt?”

“
Where’s the
purse?”

“
Open the top drawer of
the chest. It should still be in the bag.”

Amaranda ripped open the
bag like a kid at Christmas. “Ohhh. This is perfect.” She turned to
Derrick. “You’re sure it looks all right?”

“
You look like a million
bucks,” he said.

Amaranda gave Johanna a
dazzling smile. “It’s a deal!”

The next morning, Derrick
knocked on Johanna’s door right on time. He helped her navigate the
two steps down to the sidewalk and held her crutches while she got
into the car. They made small talk until they got to LOI Book
Services. “Will you be able to get inside by yourself? I thought it
would be better to drop you off here before I park the
car.”

“
I’m fine, Derrick.
Thanks.”

“
I’ll pick you up here at
five-oh-five, unless you want me to bring you lunch?”

“
You already
did.”

“
Huh?”

She took a half turkey
hero out of her bag. “I’m still stocked with food you brought over
the other night. I’ll see you at five. Five-
oh-
five.” She shuffled to the front
door and someone held it open for her as she disappeared
inside.

Johanna found her desk
PILED with work—not only her regular work, but also the pile of
invoices Lucinda had foisted upon her a few days before. She sat,
turned her empty trashcan upside down, and hoisted her broken leg
on top to keep it elevated. It throbbed because she refused to take
a painkiller before going to work. She started entering invoices
and didn’t look up until she heard people leaving for lunch. That’s
when she realized everyone, except her, had gone out. Not one
person asked if they could bring anything back for her. They
didn’t know she brought lunch from home.
The least they could have done was
ask
.

The clock struck one, but
the room remained empty. Johanna didn’t let her curiosity stop her
from working. By the time the other employees trickled back in, she
had finished her paperwork and started returning the phone calls
that had come in over the past day and a half. Her co-workers
seemed to be in a good mood, even if the clients who had been
waiting for their return calls did not.