A day in her shoes #ShortStory #Fiction by Leni Korhonen

Lena stood behind the counter, a little sweat glistening on her brow, trying to ignore the hum of the fryers and the constant drone of orders being barked at her. The fast food joint wasn’t glamorous, no matter how much she wiped the countertops, the greasy smell of fried food seemed to cling to everything, especially to her uniform, which already felt like a second skin after a year of wearing it.

Her son, Evan, was ten years old, and every morning before she headed to work, she’d try to remind him to do his homework and brush his teeth. She never got to see his school performances or attend parent-teacher meetings because her shifts at the fast food restaurant kept her too busy. Most nights, she had to rely on a neighbour to make sure Evan ate his dinner, and by the time Lena got home, he was already asleep.

“Hey, Lena, we’re out of ketchup!” barked Carl, the teenage manager, from the back, his voice high-pitched and unnecessarily loud. Lena’s heart sank a little. Of course, it had to be the ketchup. Of all things, ketchup was always the thing they ran out of first.

She glanced at the clock. It was 2:15 PM. Two more hours until her break. Two more hours until she could escape for fifteen minutes and just breathe. Maybe if she closed her eyes and thought about the life she had once dreamed of, she could push through.

When Lena had been younger, she’d imagined herself in a sleek office, wearing nice clothes, working in a field where her ideas mattered. She’d studied business in college, but life had a way of throwing curveballs. The sudden pregnancy, the breakup with Evan’s father, and the struggle to make ends meet, those were all part of her story now. They didn’t fit into the image of success she’d once had.

But she couldn’t quit now. She couldn’t afford to be a failure. Not with Evan depending on her.

“Lena! You listening?” Carl snapped, snapping her out of her thoughts. She nodded quickly, grabbing the ketchup bottles from the supply shelf.

Her hands trembled slightly as she returned to the counter, and she forced a smile as she handed a customer his tray. He didn’t even notice the hesitation in her gesture; he just grabbed the food and went on his way, oblivious to the weight Lena carried.

By 4 PM, her feet were aching, and the lines at the counter never seemed to stop. The fast food joint was always busy during the rush hours, and the noise in the kitchen was deafening. The grease from the deep fryers made everything sticky, and Lena’s hair felt weighed down with it all. She longed for a quiet evening, maybe a glass of wine, and a chance to watch TV with Evan.

But even those little pleasures felt like a luxury she couldn’t afford.

At the end of her shift, she clocked out, finally breathing a little easier as she gathered her things. The sky outside was painted in shades of pink and orange, the first sign of twilight, but it wasn’t a time to relax. She had to pick Evan up from his after-school program, get him home, help him with his homework, cook dinner, and do it all over again tomorrow.

“Hey, Lena,” Carl called out as she was heading for the door. “We’re short-staffed for the late shift tonight. You think you could come back in?”

Lena paused, her hand on the door. The question hung in the air. She thought about Evan, how he needed her. How her paycheck needed to be bigger. How the bills didn’t stop piling up.

“I can’t, Carl,” she said, her voice firm despite the exhaustion in her bones. “I’ve got to pick up my son.”

Carl shrugged. “Alright. See you tomorrow.”

She walked out the door into the cool evening air, her thoughts swirling. The guilt weighed heavily on her chest. She didn’t feel like a mother some days. She felt like a worker, a machine that kept running despite how much she needed to rest.

The streets were busy as usual, the sounds of traffic and chatter filling the air. Lena pulled out her phone and checked for any messages from Evan’s school, but there was nothing new. She made a mental note to check in with his teacher about the upcoming parent-teacher conference. Another thing to add to the list.

When she reached the school, she saw Evan waiting near the entrance, his backpack slung lazily over one shoulder. He was smiling, talking to his friend Danny, but as soon as he saw Lena, his face lit up.

“Hey, Mom!” Evan greeted, running toward her.

Lena’s heart melted a little. “Hey, buddy. How was your day?”

“It was good! We did a science experiment,” he said, his voice full of excitement. “You should’ve seen it! We made a volcano!”

Her exhaustion melted slightly as she listened to him talk, his voice full of energy and joy. It reminded her of the dream she had for him, a dream where she could provide him with the best of everything, where she wasn’t just scraping by, tired all the time, missing moments like this.

But for now, this was her life. Her reality. She couldn’t give him everything she had hoped for, but she could give him her love, her time, and as much as she could, she would be there for him.

After they got home, Lena warmed up some leftover spaghetti, the only meal she knew she could prepare without too much effort. She sat down at the small kitchen table, watching Evan eat with gusto. He was always hungry, always growing, and Lena couldn’t help but feel a pang of regret as she thought about the years that were slipping by too fast.

Her son was growing up so quickly. How many more dinners like this would she have before he’d be too old to want to sit down with her? How many more nights would she spend wondering what life would have been like if she’d made different choices?

As Evan finished his plate and ran off to finish his homework, Lena leaned back in her chair, staring at the pile of bills on the counter. There would always be more bills. More work. More things she would regret not having time for.

But there was something in the way Evan had smiled at her, something in the way he had told her about his day, that made the regrets a little easier to carry.

For now, it was enough.