Jessie & Elizabeth (abandoned)

2. Ready for Take-Off

In the backseat, Camille was humming a song, watching the streets fly by with interest. I was glad she was occupied, because miss Schneider drove like a hurricane was chasing the BMW, and I had to focus on a steady point on the horizon in order not to throw up. The last hour had passed quietly, with Camille showing me her huge bedroom and all of her toys. Miss Schneider had taken her boss's order seriously and had sat chatting to me with a glass of self-made iced tea in front of her, while Camille and I gift-wrapped plastic animals in handkerchiefs to give to Elsa. Why on earth Elizabeth had been so against miss Schneider watching the kids, I didn't get: if she was trustworthy enough to watch me watch the kids, why couldn't she do it herself? One thing was sure: that woman had issues—a lot of them.

Finally, we turned into a small parking lot, next to a nice-looking school with a shiny new swing set and metallic slide. "Monty... monty-sorry... monty-sorry school?" I read from the green sign.

Miss Schneider gave me a look. "Montessori school. It's this fancy-schmancy teaching method. Supposed to be good for the little ones. Elizabeth gathers it teaches them independence."

Sure she did. I was starting to get the impression she was trying to have her kids grow up as fast as possible, so she wouldn't have to deal with them anymore. Honestly, though, what did you expect from someone who had given their child a weird name like 'Manon'?

"Jessie," Camille called from the backseat, her voice rising high in her excitement to tell me something, "I err — I will go to school too when I'm four."

"Really? That's so cool. I'm sure it'll be fun."

She nodded happily, pressing her nose against the window and licking the glass. I was about to tell her not to do that when she squealed: "Manon! Ari! Here, here, here!" She flapped her arm, waving at two girls coming towards us, both of them with their arms full of books and artwork. I hurried out of the car to open the trunk, but when I reached it, miss Schneider had already pushed a button to make it go automatically.

"Hi, you two," I said, "need a hand?"

The younger one glared at me, with such a resemblance to her mother that I almost felt the need to call her 'ma'am' too. Even though she looked delicate, with fine lips and soft, pale skin, her eyes told me not to mess with her as she dumped her stuff in the car.

"Be careful, Ariane," the older girl said, puffing out her chest importantly and gently placing a pointy carton that looked like it was supposed to be the Eiffel Tower next to her sister's backpack.

"Be careful, Ariane," Ariane mimicked with her tongue between her teeth. "You're not my mom. And don't call me Ariane."

"It's your name, you stupid head."

"Kids, kids," I said, gesturing for them to calm down. "Hey, be nice to each other."

Ariane put her hands on her hips, staring up at me with her eyes narrowed. Her honey-brown hair had exploded sometime earlier today: if her mom was a lioness, she was a fierce lion cub, growling at me suspiciously. "Why, because you say so?"

"No," I said, "because you guys have to live together for at least ten more years, judging by the size of you. Unless you have kind grandparents."

The girls shared a puzzled look, both of them with their mouths slightly open. In the meantime, Camille had managed to turn around in her car seat: her nose was peeping just over the backseat, her hands clutching the fabric tightly. "Ari, Ari, Ari! Manon, Manon, Manon!"

"See? She knows my name, and she's three," Ariane said.

The oldest one, apparently the one who was called Manon, opened her mouth to give what was definitely going to be a snarky retort, so I said quickly: "Come on, say 'hi' to your little sister. She's been talking about you nonstop."

Manon sighed. "Hi, Camille."

Ariane grinned cheekily. "Hi, poopy head."

At this, Manon rolled her eyes, but I decided to let it go, seeing as how Camille was now in stitches, and at least they'd all acknowledged each other. Progress. I had a sudden flashback to myself at twelve, with my sister and four little brothers flinging mac 'n cheese at each other, and I figured these three weren't far off.

"I'm Jessie, and I will be your captain for the day," I said, and again, Manon rolled her eyes. She was nothing like her mom, with thin straw blonde hair and squinty eyes, standing there with her arms awkwardly at her sides. "So, you're Manon, and you're Ari?"

Both of them nodded. "And you're the new nanny?" Manon asked, sizing me up with her head tilted.

"That's right. Just for the day, though."

She crossed her arms. "You don't look like a real nanny."

Ari, who had been waving at someone in the distance, said: "You look like a hooker."

Pressing my lips together, I tried not to laugh. Woo, I was going to have my hands full today, that was sure.

"You can't say that!" Manon said. "Do you even know what that is?"

"She's right, you know," I said. "That's not a nice word to use. You should always say 'sex worker'."

The oldest girl gaped at me, blinking, while Ari asked: "What's a sex worker?"

Alright, I should've seen that one coming. Maybe I wasn't fit for this job after all. "Get in the car, kids," I said, and to my surprise, they did, Ari at a run, making airplane noises, and Manon with her nose stuck in the air.

"Ellen," Ari said when we took off, and I needed a second to figure out she was talking to miss Schneider, "where's mom?"

"Had to work, sugar bug," miss Schneider answered, sending her a smile through the rearview mirror. "She was real sorry she couldn't come to pick you girls up."

"Yeah, sure," said Manon, which, coincidentally, was what I had been thinking.

"Now, don't be like that. You know your mama loves you. She just has to be putting food on the table."

Somehow, I doubted their mother needed to work for them to be able to eat — maybe it was the mansion, or the BMW, or the fact they had a housekeeper and a nanny.

Ari leaned forwards through the gap between the driver's and passenger's seats. "Yes, but today was the last day of school. Everyone was going to do something fun. Nila is going swimming, Peter is going on a real airplane, but we are stuck with a nanny."

"Hey!" I said. "I happen to be a lot of fun. In fact, I have something planned."

"You're just making that up," Manon said.

Ari was glaring at me again, now from up close. "Get back in your seat," I said, "we're going to the zoo."

Behind me, Ari cheered while Camille shouted, "the zoo, the zoo!" and even Manon said: "I want to see the tigers."

While they were chatting with each other, I turned to miss Schneider. "Err, does your boss leave you with a credit card or something?" My wallet contained no more than forty dollars, and I doubted that would be enough for the entrance fee.

Miss Schneider shook her head, though she smiled. "Yes, Jessie. Don't fuss. Although I'm not sure she's gonna like this, she is."

That was fine. I was sure Elizabeth wouldn't like anything I came up with, and I was only here for the day anyway.