When The Right Door Opens Read Free Page B

independent and if he would have his way,
she would never grow up at all. But as it was, Agnes was turning
from a child into a young lady who acted more maturely than her old
father on occasion. Jamie smiled to himself. He loved his daughter
so much and most memories with her were happy memories. Now, he
could also laugh about the nights he spent with a crying, teething
child, now, he could laugh about the temperament she had had as a
child. Agnes understood well from an early age on what her father
did for a living, and she understood why she was with her mother
every night. A mother who insisted being called by her name –
Lauren – because she didn't want to be a mother to a child. She
understood that they struggled to make ends meet every month and
she knew that she was not to tell a soul what her father did or they would come and take her away from her father. It was
ingrained in her brain. Her friends liked her young father and
commented on his good looks or how fun he was. If someone asked her
what he did for a living she always said that he was a salesman,
which was only a small lie. She knew, how dangerously her father
lived and recently, she voiced more and more often that she wanted
him to stop doing this. It was a hard life for a child and Jamie
knew it. He did his best to raise a good girl and be a good father,
to protect her from his job, but he also knew that she was not
naive. And while she seemed to be carefree and a normal
fourteen-year old, complete with first period, first bra and first
crush, Jamie knew that, inside, she was more mature and more
grown-up than she let on and was good for her.
    Jamie dreamed of leaving this life behind and
giving Agnes a better start than this. Jamie didn't like the fact
that life was getting harder and harder, and he knew that he
couldn't keep doing this for the rest of his life. He needed a
serious, grown-up job and still have time for his girl. He needed a
chance and some support, but there was nothing and no one.
    Jamie remembered the last words his
grandfather had said to him: “Every choice we make helps us become
a better man. Every road we take leads the way to a new future.
Never regret your choices and never question the roads you took.
Everything happens for a reason.” the old man had patted Jamie's
back and walked into the house. Two days later, he had died and the
last ties Jamie had had with his own family were cut. Those words
though, he heard them loud and clear every day and they helped him
to stay sane and to walk on.
    Jamie checked his cell-phone for a text from
Agnes or her mother, but there was nothing. He sighed and leaned
casually against a cold brick wall and waited. It was freezing
cold, and standing still like this made the cold penetrate his
body. He could have worn a thick coat, but then the clients would
not see what they were buying, so Jamie stood there, with a light,
opened leather jacket.
    Somehow, he still had that dream – that
Pretty Woman-dream that someday, a rich handsome man would pick him
up, he would fall in love with Jamie and Agnes and take them away
and all of Jamie's problems would be solved.
    Reality was very different. Very different.
Jamie rubbed his cold hands against each other and blew on them. He
stepped from one foot to the other, to move a little. But it was
cold and Jamie prayed for a car to stop sometime soon.
    Car after car drove by, some slowed down to
look him up and down, some asked for his price, but none of them
invited him inside their car, and none of them paid any money.
    Jamie didn't like the feeling he got, being
eyed like a piece of meat, but this day was not very different from
his other days at work, and it was, after all, part of his job
description. Still, Jamie was more nervous than he usually was,
partly it came from the pressure he was under, partly, it came from
the doubts and the wish to change his life, which became louder and
louder. No clients, no money, no home. Eviction.
     
    The