Wish Come True

"Why don't I just shoot myself?" Kate Bishop grimaced at her best friend. "Better yet," Linda Farrell joked, "I'll shoot you, and your kids can collect on your insurance." Then she became serious. "I wish I could help you, Kate, but you know my circumstances." Yes, Kate thought. She did. Linda's finances weren't in any better shape than Kate's. Linda had opened an exercise studio for women a year ago and was barely scraping by. In fact, she recently admitted to Kate that she'd allowed her credit card balances to get danger-ously high. Kate knew the feeling. Her Visa card was just about maxed out. She did have a new MasterCard, but she didn't want to use it unless there was no alter-native. She sighed. "The ceiling mess is pretty much the last straw." Kate still couldn't believe it had happened. Ap-parently, her roof had a bad leak, and because of all the rain this part of Texas had been hit with in the past week, water had accumulated in the attic until the weight of it caused the family room ceiling to cave in the night before. "I know," Linda said sympathetically. "What did the roofing company say?" Kate sighed again. "They say I need a new roof. But that'll just be the beginning. I mean, the ceiling will have to be repaired, and the carpeting will need to be replaced. God knows how much the whole thing will cost. What Idoknow is that I can't afford to spend a dime." Kate was divorced and had four children: nineteen-year-old twins and two younger daughters, sixteen and thirteen. She got monthly child support for the two younger children from her ex, but even combined with her salary, the total was barely enough to cover basic expenses. Like many families, Kate and the kids lived so close to the edge, they were constantly in danger of falling off. Kate briefly considered asking her mother to lend her the money to put on the new roof and make the repairs to the house. But if she did, how would she pay the money back? And could she stand to be obligated to her mother? Wouldn't that give Harriet August license to become even more bossy and opinionated about Kate's life and choices? Most of which Harriet didn't approve of or agree with, anyway. It was so hard to be alone. So hard to shoulder every burden. Kate missed having a partner. Since her divorce seven years ago, she'd rarely even dated. Who had the time or the energy? "So what are you going to do?" Linda asked. "I don't know. Today, I kept thinking about the root canal I need, and about the cost of my health insurance going up, and about--" Linda frowned. "Your health insurance?" "Didn't I tell you about that?" "No." "Dr. Holland told us last week that the insurance company has raised our premiums. Mine's going to cost $168 more a month." Linda's mouth dropped open. "Oh, Kate. That's terrible!" "Tell me about it." Wearily, Kate glanced up at the clock on the wall. It was almost nine-thirty. Erin, her youngest, who had spent the day with her dad, was supposed to be home at ten. Kate drained the last of the coffee in her mug, then walked over to the sink and rinsed it. She smiled at Linda, who still sat at her kitchen table. "I'm sorry about dumping on you." "Hey, what're friends for? Besides, I do my share of dumping myself, don't I?" Kate smiled crookedly. What would she do without Linda? "I've got to run. I need gas, and Erin'll be home in about twenty minutes." She waved goodbye and let herself out the back door. As Kate drove to the discount gas station she always used, she thought about moving. Cranbrook was a nice town and a good place to raise kids, but as in most small towns, there weren't many job opportunities. Kate's job as an office manager for the best doctor in the vicinity was probably one of the better positions available. Certainly, it paid more than she could make doing anything else. Even if I were qualified to do anything else.,But just the thoughtKay, Patricia is the author of 'Wish Come True ', published 2007 under ISBN 9780373881291 and ISBN 0373881290.