What Is Lay a Way

Lay away. I had never heard the term Until I saw a friend use it. We were in seventh grade. We had both fallen in love with a purse with large ugly brown beads attached to the side. Hers was blonde, mine was orange. I lamented I could not have it. Lay a way, she chanted. Lay a way! Lay a way! I had never heard of it. This is where you put three dollars down, The only three dollars you have, Your babysitting money that used to come hard back then, when We babysat a family of six for twenty-five cents an hour. And you have to come back to the store and pay the rest of the money in installments Until you are finally finished plunking down the whole twelve dollars. Her mother had taught her, And she taught me. It nearly worried me to death. Scared I would never get the rest of the money to them. Knowing not only would the purse not be mine But that if I could not scrounge up the Rest of the cash, I just lost twelve hours Worth of babysitting six children.