The School Kitchen Job I Took to Stay Insured

What He Did About It

I sat in that truck and let him feel it. I am not going to pretend I was a saint. I did not reach over and pat his hand. I let the quiet do its work, and the quiet did plenty.

After a while Ron sat up and wiped his face with the heel of his hand. He took out his phone. He looked through it and found a number and pressed it, and I heard it ring.

“Dale,” he said. “It’s Ron Albrecht. That renewal I sent you. Has it gone through yet?”

Dale Hoffman has handled the business insurance since Ron started the company. I could hear him on the other end, tinny and cheerful, saying something about the carrier and the effective date.

“I need to change it,” Ron said. “I need to put my wife back on. Spouse coverage, starting October first, same as before.”

Dale said something about the deadline for changes before the effective date. Ron listened. He said, “Friday. Okay. I’ll be in your office first thing tomorrow.”

He hung up and set the phone on the dash. I looked at him.

“Ron,” I said. “Where are you going to get three hundred and ten dollars a month you don’t have?”

“I’m selling the Chevy,” he said.

The Chevy was his second truck, a 2017 Silverado 2500 with a utility bed. He had paid it off the year before and was prouder of it than anything he owned.

“The guys can make do with the trailer,” he said. “Leroy Schmidt’s been after me to sell it to him since spring. He’ll give me twenty-six five. That pays your premium a long way, and it keeps the guys on through winter.”

I did not say anything. I did not know what to say. I had spent two weeks being angry and the anger did not know where to go.

“Tam,” Ron said. “Are you going to keep working here?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I start my break in about ten minutes. Then I’ve got pots.”

He almost laughed. Then he did laugh, a terrible broken sound, and put his hand over his eyes.

I got out of the truck. I went back in through the kitchen door. Joan looked up from the dish window and did not ask me a single thing. She handed me my apron.