“If that’s okay,” Saylor says. I whip around and look at her, but Miss Anita just says okay.
“You’ll have to walk with me, though.”
“Not a problem.” Saylor falls into step behind Miss Anita, and I rush to catch up.
“I don’t have questions ready,” I whisper.
“It’s okay. I got it.” She smiles back, pulling out her phone. “Miss Anita, is it okay if we record this?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Great.” I watch Saylor press record. She doesn’t point the camera at Miss Anita, but at the ground instead. I’m extremely confused about how this is going to work out, but we keep following Miss Anita down the street. We fall into a rhythm—well Saylor and Miss Anita do. I just watch, worried this is somehow going to go terribly wrong. Pretty quickly, though, I see how it’s coming together. I don’t know where Saylor is pulling these questions from. Miss Anita is from Inglewood. She still lives there with her husband. She has four kids and five grandkids.
“How did you become a postal carrier?” Saylor asks as we get back to Miss Anita’s truck.
“They were hiring. The pay was good. There were benefits and I like being outside alone with my thoughts. It’s hard work, all the walking, but my route is peaceful. Now talk to a rural route carrier or someone delivering mail where it snows, they’ll probably say something a little different.”
“Is there any advice you would give two gals like us?”
I watch Miss Anita as she sets down her bag in the back of her truck and then takes a seat. “Be kind to people and have fun. I think a lot of people are miserable because they don’t know how to have the nice kind of fun when you’re with your people. It’s all gotta be all flashy and expensive or something. Anyway, actually take the time to enjoy what you have together.”
“That’s great advice. I guess, that’s it. Can we get a selfie with you?”
“Of course.” Miss Anita waves us over. We sit on the edgeof the truck bed and Saylor manages to get a really cute picture of the three of us.
“Can you send that to me? I have to tell my family how famous I am. People actually wanted to interview me.”
“For sure.” Saylor laughs. We say goodbye and start heading back to my house. I’m about to ask Saylor what next, but she’s already ahead of me.
“Okay. So, we have the recording. We write down her answers so your parents don’t know that I did all the talking. Make it look all cute in Canva or whatever. Attach the selfie and then we present it to your dad. Parents love a presentation.”
“No. You’re right. He’ll eat that up.”
“I’ll send you the video and you can, like, study how I did the interview and then when we do the ‘interview a small business owner’ box, you can ask the questions. You know Miss Anita, but if you really practice interviewing someone you don’t know, your parents will be super impressed.”
We stop on my porch, and I just sort of look at her. I’m the one who’s impressed. “How did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Just run out of my house ready to go?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugs. “I just did it. You wanna finish lunch?”
“Oh crap. Yeah.” I let us back into the house. Our sandwiches are cool, but still buttery so neither of us mind. We finish eating, and the whole time I can’t decide if I want to be Saylor, to have her confidence, or if I’m falling in love with her.
15
Saylor
I only met him like ten minutes ago, but the look on Dr.Campbell’s face when Heaven hands over her tablet is priceless. Dr.G is looking over his shoulder, equally captivated.
After we finished eating, Heaven freed the dogs and we all went to the living room. Heaven did most of the transcribing, but I was definitely there for moral support. When we finished that part, Heaven agreed to at least one episode ofLove Island Australiawhile she was busy making our report look pretty. She was not a fan of any of the boys, but she didn’t object when the second episode started.
We were more than good to go before Heaven’s parents got home. Dr.Campbell barely introduced himself before I blurted out that we finished our first square. “Ladies, I’m impressed. I’ve talked to Miss Anita plenty, but I didn’t know any of this. Good work.”
“The presentation was Saylor’s idea,” Heaven says.
“But Heaven typed it up and made it pretty. That was all her.”