The Stuff of Legends, Chapter 4
by Pleasant Dreamer
Chapter 4: Kim
Monday morning Mel and I had breakfast while Dad was still sleeping. As she was eating her sugar coated candy disguised as cereal I tried to convince her how important it was that we take our role in the nanny interviewing process seriously. Mel was smart enough to understand that if we found someone we liked (or in my case someone I found to be less objectionable) we’d have to be able to make a smart well thought out argument for why Dad should choose to hire her. Mel understood that completely. One of the reasons she never threw a fit or got overly emotional or whinny when she didn’t get her own way was because she knew that sort of stuff wouldn’t work with Dad. He’d raised us better than that.
I really wasn’t all that excited about hiring a new nanny since I was certain to dislike all the candidates anyway, but I was still proud that Dad had included me in the process. When the time came I sat next to Mel on the couch and listened as Dad interviewed one granny after another. I smirked as I watched Mel feverously scribbling notes in her notebook and was curious as about what in the hell she could possibly be writing. The only thing I really took note of was the amount of condescension when Dad finished his questions and allowed Mel and me to ask ours.
The whole thing went just as I expected, all the candidates were pretty much the same. The only pleasant surprise came right after lunch when a girl from the local college showed up with her resume. Her name was Kim and she looked to be in her early 20’s and of Asian descent. She was slim and looked good, really good. She was tall with dark hair and green eyes. She was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, but I could tell she had a nice figure and automatically thought of how nice it would be to see her lounging around our pool in a cute little swimsuit. When Dad asked her what she was studying I could tell he was pleased to hear that she was a history major (just like him.) The two got talking and I could tell that he liked her, but I didn’t like her chances when she told him she didn’t have any experience in child care other than taking care of her own kid sister Julie. Apparently her dad left when the she was young and with her mom always working she took care of her sister and the house until she left for college. I suspected the two of us had a lot in common and I knew I had made my choice, but I also suspected it was going to be a hard sell.
All in all we interviewed a dozen women. Dad had timed the interviews in a way to make sure we’d have time to get to Mel’s soccer practice that afternoon. While sitting with him on the bleachers I casually asked him if he had any favorite candidates for the job.
“I think I’m leaning towards Miss Jones. She has nearly 20 years of experience raising children and she was a nurse. That’s a hard combination to beat.”
I remembered her and thinking that Dad seemed impressed by her. Honestly I didn’t find anything too objectionable about her either, but I wasn’t the least bit interested in seeing her working on her tan out by the pool or living in a room down the hall from me.
“What about Kim? You know the only one we met all day that didn’t smell like some type of ointment.” Dad tried to hide his laughter and sound disapproving of my rudeness.
“Come on, they weren’t all that old. She was great, but unfortunately there are just too many reasons why it wouldn’t work.”
I think Dad could tell I was a bit confused by that so he continued with his line of thought. “The first problem is there is just no getting past how young she is. Sometimes it’s scary to be so far away from you two. If something ever goes wrong I want to know you’re being cared for by someone with enough experience to handle a crisis.”
“Second, she’s a student at a very prestigious college. I can tell you from experience how demanding that is on someone’s time, especially since her resume says she’s an honor student. I need someone who is able to put you two first. No matter how good her intentions are I just don’t see her having that kind of free time.”
I wanted to argue on her behalf, but as usual Dad’s argument was sound. It left me feeling defeated, but I hadn’t thrown in the towel just yet. Just then Mel scored a goal, which was perfect timing, since the silence between the two of us was starting to linger as I struggled to find some counter to his argument. As we leapt to our feet and cheered I decided it was best to just drop it for now and consider what it was I wanted to say for next time. I was going to need back-up and I hoped Mel could be useful because I was really getting excited about the idea of having Kim around the house.
>>Chapter 5>>