ON ONE ESPECIALLY HOT and humid morning, following an especially late evening, Frankie woke early. She found Daddy adjusting the knot in his tie at the dining room mirror. She watched him quietly from the hall for a while, watched him pull at his collar and straighten his vest, his good eye close to the mirror and stretched open extra wide.
She didn’t know why exactly, but at this moment Frankie didn’t feel quite at ease. Daddy looked the same to her, he did, and he seemed the same, straightening his tie and such as he always did each morning. But still, there she was in the hall, just standing there silent and watching, something she had never done before.
As she looked on, Daddy dropped his hands from his tie and for a long and quiet moment stared at his reflection. His mouth dipped down at the corners as he watched himself, his eyes becoming like slits, staring so long and hard that he became almost unrecognizable to himself. To Frankie, too.
Frankie grew uncomfortable there in the shadows of the hall, spying, and not understanding what Daddy was looking at, or looking for. She stepped into the light. Daddy jumped at the sight of her and his hand went to his chest. “Good Lord, Frankie, where did you come from?”
“Back there,” she said, pointing toward the hall.
His mouth and eyes returned to their regular position as he undid his tie for the second time and shook it out to start again. “Well, you really shouldn’t sneak up on a person like that. It’s uncivilized, you know.”
“Sorry, Daddy,” she said.
He sighed and then got back to the mirror. “Very well.” He looped the tie around his neck and fastened it at his throat after a number of twists and pulls. Then he turned toward Frankie. “What do you think?”
Frankie had been thinking, but not about ties. “Daddy,” she said, “I’d like to try out another job at the restaurant.” Then she added, just to be clear, “One that doesn’t take place in the kitchen.”
He frowned slightly. “Honey girl, we’re a little short-staffed in the kitchen. That’s where we could really use you most.”
“But there’s got to be another place where you could use my help,” said Frankie. “I can do anything, you know.” She took a few steps back so that he could see her, really see her.
Daddy smiled, but he couldn’t see her, not really. It wasn’t entirely his fault, Frankie knew. How could he see her for who she was with only one good eye?
“You do know that, right, Daddy?”
“Of course I do,” he said. “You’re a Baum, after all.” Then he squeezed her shoulder. “Tell you what: stick it out in the kitchen just until we get more people hired, and then we’ll see what else you can do.”
“But when will that be?” said Frankie. “Today?”
Daddy sighed. “Not likely today, no.”
“Tomorrow, then?”
Daddy shook his head. “Frankie.”
But she was beginning to feel desperate. “When?”
“Patience, now,” said Daddy. “Please.”
But let it be known, it’s hard to be patient when you are perpetually last and forever at the bottom.
“Now, I have to get going,” said Daddy. “Tell your mother that I’ll see you all down at the restaurant later this morning.” He kissed her on the head as he passed by.
“All right,” said Frankie. But things weren’t right. And no one but Frankie seemed to notice.