Alaina’s Job

The Great Depression. The words rang in Alaina’s head as she roused herself on a gloomy Tuesday morning. She should, she supposed, be thankful that she had a job she liked. At least she was better off than her five-year-old brother, Luke, who scrubbed the floors of her family’s tiny apartment every day. Still, she wished that Father was still here, in Cincinnati, and not off in Ohio looking for work. She wished that she could go back, to the days when they had a comfortable house and a warm, cheery fire. . . . Alaina shook herself. She couldn’t think about the past. Now was now, and she couldn’t change that.

As she set off a few minutes later for the tailor’s shop, she looked around at the people trudging belatedly along Cincinnati’s dark streets. She felt bad. She shouldn’t have wished she was back in the days that were good and plentiful. Some people didn’t even have jobs.

As she passed the shelter she stared. It was more crowded than usual. This time the line of people, some without shoes or coats, stretched all the way down the sidewalk to the baker’s house.

She hurried past and stepped into the tailor’s shop. There she stopped, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. She smelled the scent of fresh bolts of cloth, heard the sound of a needle stitching a seam, and felt a rush of warm air.

“Why! If it isn’t Alaina, just on time!” came a cheery voice! Alaina opened her eyes and smiled at the cheery seamstress, Mrs. Martello. “Would you please deliver this to the Dobson residence, on Eleventh Street?”

Alaina smiled, took the package, and hurried out the door!

Delivery after delivery filled the morning, while the afternoon was spent inside helping Mrs. Martello to sew or help customers, or to just keep her company. And when Alaina started home that evening, after passing the shelter and the gloomy people hurrying home, she realized, for the first time, how lucky she was, not just to like her job, but to have one.