Bleeding Perseverance - Episode 22

Autobiography Fridays

Being tired of never having money, I wanted a job. Since I was only fourteen I was too young to work at most establishments, including fast food. I heard that the neighborhood newspaper boy was about to quit so I looked into that. Soon I was being trained on the route. I was nervous because I had to memorize which houses were subscribers, along with where the subscribers wanted their paper. (Door step, garage, mailbox, etc.) Tweety had an old bike I was allowed to get fixed up, (sometimes taking Jesse for rides on it) and as for the newspaper rack and bag I needed, the cost would come out of my first month’s paycheck. I made about eighty dollars a month. Not a lot, but enough to have some happy pocket change.

Once I got the hang of the route it would only take me about thirty minutes to complete each day. On Sundays it would take nearly twice as long since the papers were so thick. (Many times I’d topple over because the bag was heavier than the bike!) The advertisements to the Sunday paper would be dropped off to me on Saturday afternoons. After awhile I thought of a plan that would make things easier.

I started delivering Sunday’s advertisements on Saturday, so the only thing I’d have to deliver early Sunday morning was the thin front page. Not only did this cut my time in more than half, but it allowed the customers to look through Sunday’s ads and plan their shopping a day earlier, which also saved them time.

How could I tell they preferred this way better? By the amazing amount of eatable gifts I got on Christmas! Tin cans of cookies, boxes and boxes of candy. I couldn’t believe it! The gifts were waiting for me where I’d normally place the papers. By the time I collected them all the stack was like waist high! I was proud that my work was appreciated. It really helped instill a strong work ethic in me.

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Back at the temporary foster home we couldn’t even go play in the front yard, so being able to come and go most of the time in this new foster home was something I took advantage of. Mom and I started to secretly meet. Of course this was the small side of Mom we rarely saw while growing up. She was happy to see me, and we’d do things like go out to lunch. We even devised a plan that involved tricking Angie and Kenneth. Mom would sometimes call me there at the house in a soft teen voice. She was ‘Debbie’, my girlfriend, named after my dream girl Debbie Gibson. They really fell for it and even let me stay the weekend at ‘Debbie’s’ house, after talking with ‘Debbie’s mother’.