Quagmire: Day 3

Word Count: 18,004

Summary of Events:

Jesse ended up sleeping in late after having gone with the boy — who was a friend of his younger brother David — to his uncle's murder scene where Jesse finally convinced the family to call the police before going home to write the article before going to bed. He managed, however, to get up in time to get the article in for the morning edition — where the editor decided it would be front-page, the first time Jesse's work had ever been there. Jesse then looked at the possibility of actually buying his sister a birthday present after having breakfast . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"Sliding his wallet out of the inside pocket of his jacket, Jesse opened it and startled.

There was nothing in his wallet.

Jesse checked to make sure and his shoulders sagged. There really was nothing in his wallet. The last bill he'd had was that dollar he'd given to Maurice last night.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out three dimes, a nickel, and about a dozen pennies. He didn't even have a quarter.

There was no way a book would cost only forty seven cents; especially not with how elegant those volumes at the store had looked. They'd have to cost at least one dollar apiece.

Jesse sighed. He wasn't getting paid until the end of the following week, and it would be ridiculous to go to the bank for a dollar. He wasn't going to be able to buy a book for Maureen today.

Unless he used that money.

He looked toward the desk drawer, behind whose front was hidden the wad of hundreds he'd been given.

But it was all hundreds. It would be just as ridiculous to lay a hundred down for the purchase of a book that only cost a dollar as it would be to go to the bank and withdraw a dollar.

Unless he went to the bank and got change from the hundred. But that would be odd too.

Jesse put his fist to his mouth and bit the skin on the back of his forefinger. He slowly shifted his jaw forward and backward. He didn't know what to do.

He could wait until he received his paycheque and the buy the book; after all, it wasn't like Maureen's birthday was the next day. It was the last Sunday of the month.

Sighing, Jesse went to rise from his seat when the bedroom door opened. Rose peeked in, then sighed with relief. "You're still here."

"Why?" Jesse asked.

"We need some beef for supper tonight," Rose replied. "And it'll be cheaper to send you for it than to have the butcher deliver it."

Jesse nodded. It was cheaper that way, but being as he was in charge of the household finances and he had no money in is wallet, he wouldn't be able to buy it.

"I'll need a pot roast," Rose said. "Unless there's any cubed beef available, then I'll take that."

Jesse nodded again and Rose ducked out.

He sighed. He didn't know how much money was left in his account — which was where all the family's money went because he was the one who made it all — and he knew that meat was fairly expensive.

Shifting his jaw, Jesse opened the drawer and peeled a hundred off of the stack. He felt a twinge of guilt as he put the bill in his wallet, but he wasn't sure he had any other choice; for some reason they were short on money, and Jesse hadn't the faintest idea why."