I get up at 5:00 the next day, my inner body clock setting itself for the first time. And for the rest of my life, I will get up at 5:00 a.m. My new life has begun. I throw some clothes on and run to the principal's office. We need to have a little chat. I inform her that I need to leave school by 11:30 a.m. to go to work and that I would like to be able to stop back at the administration building for my homework later in the day. Her eyebrows go up above her glasses. She asks where my place of employment is, and when I inform her it's the furniture factory, she leans forward in her chair and her lips purse together as hard as the hands she places on her desk and glares at me. She is apparently not happy with this information and wants details.
It is my first day on the job and I cannot be late. I can tell this is going to be a battle so we may as well hash it all out here. She picks up the phone and punches a few numbers. Asks for the supervisor on duty and starts firing out questions. She wants to know why an outdoor furniture company hired a 5 foot tall girl who tipped the scales at 100 pounds. Exactly what type of work will I be doing there? It takes her less than 10 minutes to throw me into unemployment status. I can feel my ears are hot, so I am about ready to blow. She informs me that, "you will not be the only woman working with 150 men. I will not even discuss with you that you do not know how to drive a fork lift or truck. Should I have discussed your lack of a drivers license with them?"
It's all on the table then. I have managed to break more than a few school rules in less than 24 hours, and one or two laws as well. "You’re making up rules just because you don't want me to go to school here. Why did you even let me come here if this was how it was all going to play out?"
She grins at me and informs me that "Plane hijacking was not a crime either until someone came up with the grand scheme. The world must accommodate the loonies Miss. Roberts. You seem intent on testing my patience." Welcome to my world Mildred, it's my one gift in life, I think to myself.
She asks me to remove my gold hoop earrings. A gift from my brother. Jewelry is not allowed on campus. It can be used to differentiate the “haves” from the “have not’s”. I find this hilarious as I am the only “have not” on campus. And for days I would be asked where they went. My outfit of a bandana to keep my curly hair back, gold hoop earring and frye boots mixed with a plethora of bottoms had earned me the nick name of Gypsy Queen.
She tells me to go to breakfast and then to my classes, we will discuss my employment after school. I have been dismissed. I walk out of the building and can smell the food. I decide that I hate all of the kids here. The staff too. The joy of my new clothes is wearing off very quickly, and I have a hard time paying attention in class as I am worried about the first bill that I must pay before it is sent to my parents home. I return to her office that afternoon to be given my new school schedule. I have been placed on an accelerated program. All of my second year courses and 3 of my Junior year courses. No gym so I am expected to participate in an extracurricular sport to make up for it. My schooling is done by 1:00 with no breaks. I then have two and a half hours in which to study and do homework. I am sternly told not to waste this precious time. My new job working in a frozen bread factory starts at 3:30 sharp and my shift ends at 11:00 p.m. It is one mile away and I am not allowed to hitch hike. It is 50 cents and hour less than what my other job would have paid. I'm screwed. I start today, she informs me. In a half hour.
I run and throw on jeans and am forced to run the mile to get there in time. She is not kidding. I AM working in a freezer. I am a bread bagger and some kind man hands me insulated gloves. I am from Wisconsin and colder than I have ever been in my life. I work for 7 hours with a half hour break in which I go outside in the seventy degree heat and sit in the dark trying to get warm. I have to mentally tell my self that if my mother pulled up right now, I would still choose to go back into that freezing building. It is my first conscious revelation that everything I am doing, I am doing by choice. And that while I may be forced to live the way everyone wants me too, I still will always have choice.
My job ends in the dark of night, and as we file out, we walk past a table of warm bread. Some people grab a loaf, others do not. I ask the man in front of me what they are there for. "Test loaves, he says. We are allowed to take as many as we like. but they are only available at the end of the day. After the 11:00 shift. The extra's will be thrown away. I greedily grab two loaves and look around. No one seems to care and I gobble my warm bread as I walk the mile back to the dorm looking at the brilliant stars in the sky.
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