A Plan to See the Ocean

“One, two, three, and a nickel makes eight,” the girl muttered to herself as she ran her small hands around the cylinder of the dryer. Satisfied there was nothing left, she backed out and slammed the door with a distinct ‘clunk’ before moving on to the next machine.  She could feel the owner’s eyes on her back but didn’t feel the need to face him. He wouldn’t say anything to her – any small child digging for change in obscure places, particularly without a parent in sight, wouldn’t find much trouble. Perhaps a few questions but rarely any scolding. The sympathy strand thickens in almost anyone once they take in the situation at hand. Perhaps she was hungry, needed a new pair of shoes, or even a newspaper to help keep her dry.  Surprisingly few people take much initiative in fear of doing something wrong.       
                          

Dani’s mother was proud of her little entrepreneur. Her intuition to pick up on other’s emotions was a trait her mother had fine-tuned as Dani got older. Pretending to be the lost kid in the supermarket, crying on cue as a distraction – things Dani had under her belt by the tender age of eight. Old enough to understand what she was doing but not old enough for others to see through her.   

                                                          

Dani finished searching the rest of the dryers and washing machines for change and headed towards the door, a fist clenching the small coins.              

                                   

“Hey,” a gruff voice spoke from behind her.      

                                                                  

Dani tentatively turned, facing the owner.                  

                                                              

He bent down to her level and smiled, flashing his overly white teeth at her, “Would you like some icecream?” 

                                                                                                           

Dani slowly shook her head, her tangled brown locks falling forward into her face. Her eyes automatically looked down at her dirty shoes that had effectively lost their laces, making them appear too large for her.   

                                                                                 

The man reached out and gently grasped her other hand, placing a five into it. “Well, if you change your mind. Or for whatever else you’d like, little miss.” He smiled again and stood, feeling satisfied with his good deed of the day.     

                                           

Dani smiled crookedly in return, clutching both fists to her chest, “Thank-you, sir.” She spoke softly and backed away a couple steps before turning to leave. The door clang shut behind her, and Dani couldn’t help but feel a small accomplishment.  She helped her mother often in the same sort of situations, though they really didn’t live that poorly.  For every day affairs, Dani had more than one pair of shoes – each with shoelaces.  The pair she wore today were called her working shoes.                                               

She walked up to her mother’s Nissan Maxima parked a couple spaces down and climbed into the back. Her mother turned in the driver’s seat to look at her, lifting up her sunglasses to reveal the bright green eyes that always made everything they did seem exciting. “How’d it go, honey?”  

Dani held up the money and smiled, “Only a little bit more until we get to go, right Momma?”    

Her mother nodded with a small smile of pride, “That’s right.”