The Red Coat

1

"Mom, nobody's hiring anymore." I complained for the 17th time to my mother.

"There's something somewhere," said my mom, not believing a word of what she was saying.

Have you ever had a "finding a job" party? If not, you're crazy. Everyone has those. You invite your mom, dad, brother, and grumpy sister and you serve ice cream with pecans and look into hospitals hiring orthopedic surgeons. Huzzah!

Addy, my sister, hated it, but tried to cover it up. I kept telling her she could go home but she gave me a pretty smile and said that she was going to help me find a job no matter what. Occasionally she would grumble to herself. She forgot to have her coffee and she had a two year old, a baby, and her husband was never home until six. Today she had my brother's 12 year old daughter, Hallie babysit. Hallie pretended to enjoy it but my sister's kids are a real handful, no matter how sweet they are. "They're a handful and a heartfull," she would always say cheerfully.

I myself was the youngest of my siblings, and I was not married. I thought I might get married some day, and my dad has had talks with me about finding the most beautiful wife. Not the outward beautiful, but a sweet, selfless, gracious Christian girl kind of beautiful that I've been looking for but I couldn't find.

"Also," my mom would pipe in, "she'll be looking for how you treat your mother as an example so..."

I would say, "okay I'll buy you that cleaning supply kit and coffee mug."

"Hey, Riley, I found one." My mom said.

"Oh joy! Our prayers have been answered!" Said Addy snarkily. That girl needs to go to bed and fast.

Callan, my brother, seeing the distressed look in my mom's eyes, said, "where is it?"

"Err... Boston."

I sighed. "I'll keep looking. You guys go home." Addy smiled again and flung out the door.

My dad and brother sighed, packed up their computers, and headed out the door.

But my mom stayed.

"Riley... maybe you should take this opportunity in Boston."

I stared at her. "But... it's... its... Boston. And this is... Wyoming."

"Riley," said my mom, "don't we pray for God to give us open doors? He's opened a door, one. There must be something good in Boston."

That struck me at the heart as I realized she was right. Leaving Wyoming would be the hardest thing I ever did. I started to see blurry. I pinched myself.

Maybe I didn't spend eight years in medical school. Maybe I didn't go to college, maybe I didn't move out of the house. I imagined me, Addy, and Callan playing football while I was in fifth grade.

Yes, I'm just in fifth grade now...

I shook out of it and said to mom, "I think I should do it."

I hugged her and said, "I'm going to do it."

My mom hugged me tight. I remembered her telling us to just stay close when we grew up.

But God had other plans for me, big plans.

I woke up with a sigh the next morning, knowing that moving was going to be hard and that I'd better get to planning. But I had an interruption. Addison was FaceTiming me.

I frowned and switched it to audio.

"Hey Addy." I said.

"Hey Riley I'm sorry about last night (no James put it back) I had no excuse except for I didn't have any coffee yesterday, (James Grayden I said put it back!) I would be willing to help you today if Hallie is willing to babysit."

"It's ok Addy..." I started, feeling sorry for Hallie.

"James put Tyson down!"

"I found something... well... mom did."

"MOMMY I WANT TO TALK TO UNCLE RILEY!!"

The sound was so intense that I had to jerk the phone away from my ear.

"James please sit on the couch until I'm finished talking on the phone. I'm so sorry Riley. What did you find?"

"The one in Boston. I'm... I'm moving." This is why FaceTime is so dumb. Do me a favor, and don't FaceTime your friends. Addy likes to FaceTime me ALL THE STINKIN TIME. Audio is way better.

There was a silence on the phone. "Oh," was all Addy could say. We waited together for three-ish minutes. "Well... I'm happy for you!" I heard her sniff. There was another long silence. "So... Boston, huh? I wonder how that will treat you? I'll look into houses. But... you NEED to visit. Ok?"

"Ok, I'll try," I said. Well... uh... I better let you go. I have a lot to do."

"No, no! Let me help you! I'll bring the kids to a daycare! Tyson's old enough... do you want me to tell Callan?"

"That would be great!" I said. I said goodbye and hung up.

Now, where would I get some boxes? I think all I had where my clothes pretty much. Addy would have some boxes for all the care her kids need, and Hallie might have some from all the pectin and jars she orders. My mom is the Amazon queen and she lit orders everything online.

My family and I worked for me again. We had a moving party. Everyone brought their boxes and Addy looked on Zillow.com for houses near my hospital in Boston. Callan cleared my clothes with me. Mom took all of the things that I didn't even know that I kept. My dad gathered my books and they all left my house cheerily saying that furniture was next once I picked a house. But there was sadness in their voices.

Okay huzzah I'm moving to Boston now I guess.