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“It’s okay, lady. You don’t start for another five minutes, I think this old man could do with a five-minute rest to be honest.”
He sits down next to me, staring up at the sky that is starting to darken, not saying a word. It’s a comfortable silence and I find myself relaxing in his company.
“Did you look over your duties?” I nod my head and pull the three pieces of paper out of my bag, holding them up.
“I did, I made sure to study it. I know everything that is expected of me, sir. I won’t let you down, I promise.”
His eyes move to mine—the only part of his body that moves. “I know you will. I knew it the first time I looked into your eyes. I don’t know what got you to the place you’re at now, but I know an honest person when I see one.” My mouth opens and closes, not knowing what to say back to him, but he doesn’t wait for an answer as he stands up and holds his arm out. “Let’s get you set up and put you to work.”
I push the papers back into my bag, rushing to follow him and nearly tripping over my own two feet in the process.
He leads me into his office that sits behind the front desk where he says I can keep my things while I work my shift, then has me sign a load of documents that I don’t really read before he hands me a set of keys. The room is full of boxes and paperwork, so much so that you can hardly get inside. I make a mental note to tackle this room first.
“You need to be here six nights a week, alternating Saturdays and Sundays.”
“Okay.”
“You’ll clean the place up and be available for the people who rent the rooms if there are any problems.” He points to a board that has papers clipped to it. “My number is on the board over there.” I nod. “You lock up when all classes have finished and everything on our daily list is done. There’s two doors out back and the main doors, as well as all of the windows.” I concentrate really hard as he throws all of this information at me. “You’ll need to put the alarm on as you leave: this is the code.?
?
He hands me a piece of paper as he walks from behind the front desk and waves his arm at me as he walks toward a room.
I follow as he opens the door. “This is one of the main rooms.” I step into the room; my eyes immediately being drawn to the mirrors that line one whole wall. A ballet bar sits in front of half of it and as I step farther inside, I realize that the wooden floor is a dance floor as it has a slight spring to it.
I spin around, walking out of the room behind Roy before he points to a door next to the room and opens it, showing me a small storage space. “This is where all of the equipment is kept.”
He shuts the door and continues walking farther into the center and toward the stairs at the back. “Kitchen.” He stops as I have a quick look inside the smallish space. “We have cooking classes and things like that, also fun days which I’ll expect you to come and help run and make food and the likes for.”
“Of course,” I reply, my gaze landing on the stairs opposite the kitchen.
He goes up them slowly, me following on his heels, trying to soak in all of the information he’s providing me with. I should have brought a notepad and pen.
“Two more rooms up here, although they’re only used until eight most weeknights, so when they’re empty, you can come up here and clean before going downstairs and doing the same.”
He spins around once I’ve had a look in both rooms: they’re pretty much identical, both floors covered with dark-brown carpet, tables and chairs stacked off into the back of each room, and a bathroom on this floor as well as the one next to the kitchen.
“The room downstairs is used three nights a week until eleven, all of the other nights it’s used until ten.”
“Okay,” I say, not knowing what else to say.
He walks back down the stairs, telling me that the room downstairs has to be mopped every night and the mirrors cleaned.
Finally, once we’re back behind the front desk, he starts to take off his coveralls as the main door opens and in walks a group of girls, all in uniforms for what looks like Girl Scouts, but I could be wrong because I never did any clubs as a kid.
“Evening, ladies,” Roy announces. They all greet him back before giggling and running toward the stairs. “Walking!” Roy shouts, his lips spread into a grin as he shakes his head affectionately. “Girl Scouts is every Tuesday until eight,” he tells me.
“Got it.”
“Right…” He looks at me. “Are you ready for your first shift?”
“I… I think so.”
“Don’t worry, you have any problems then you give me a call.”
“I will,” I say, smiling softly as he grabs his coat and keys.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.”
