Unca Jeem's Adventures in BabySitting Class

Chapter Eight - Job Related Skills

On the Enterprise

25 June 2270

Jim stood in front of his closet. What was he going to wear today? Wait a minute, wasn't he supposed to have picked up his laundry yesterday? Was there anything to wear? He pawed through the closet, frantic now. There, way at the back, he found a pair of jeans, a bit frayed, but still wearable. He pulled them out and checked all the seams, finding nothing that threatened to give way. Okay, there's half of my body covered. He pulled the last pair of short out of the dresser - these were those tie-dyed ones his nephew had sent him for Christmas last year. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers. Socks, were there any socks? Ah, good. And a tee-shirt - here's one without any rips in it. Now I just need a sweater or something to go on top. Red? All I have left is red? Sigh.

Grab the PADD, head for the mess hall. Last time I have to get up this early on Saturday. I feel like dancing. Better not dance down the hall, wouldn't want the crew to get the wrong idea. Hey, pancakes for breakfast! Lots of butter, maple syrup, and here's even sausage links. Man, this is the best breakfast I've had in months!

Okay, down the corridors into the depths of the ship. Here's the room, now to find that one chair that isn't going to pinch my butt. Why the heck do they keep moving them around? Room's full of giggly girls again, I am not going to pay them any attention. I am going to get through this last class and be FREE!

"Good morning, students. Today we are going to discuss skills you will need to actually secure a babysitting job - writing a resume, being interviewed, evaluating jobs which are offered to you, how to behave on a job, how and what to report to the parents when the job is over, and other related topics."

Damn, I've never written a resume in my life. Can't say that I've ever had many interviews, either. Huh. Who knew those would be important skills in connection with babysitting.

He listened while she droned on about resumes. And then panicked when she gave them twenty minutes to write one. Panicked even more when he had to read it out loud to the roomful of giggly girls.

Then they divided up in pairs and interviewed each other. And the girl he was paired up with kept asking him questions about things like hairdos and applying nail polish. Is that what she really expected to do with her charges?

Next they were given sets of jobs and told to pick the one best suited to their own skills. Or to decide whether or not to accept a certain job, based on what was in the description. This was worse than deciding who to put on an away team! Wait, there were some similarities there!

Proper work behaviors. Yeah, I understand that one. Okay, here's a whole list - mark the ones that are appropriate. Huh, well I guess talking to your boyfriend the whole time would not be appropriate. Right.

Now here's another of those self-assessment things. This one has all the skills on it that have been in all the classes, so we have to gauge how well we've learned those things. Wait, I don't remember anything about this - or that! When did I miss those? Damn. I'll bet that was the week I was half dead from being on the bridge most of the night.

What to report to the parents when they get home. Well, I'm not going to tell them I ate all the cheesecake. Not on your life. Nor that I watched all the porn I could find. Good thing those questions aren't on here. Better not tell them I let the kids stay up until half an hour before the parents got home, either.

Limits - I'm supposed to assess my own limits? That's a hard one.

Job Preferences? Grayson. Not really looking to babysit with anyone else. He's enough.

What's this? A certificate? No kidding. Hey, I'm a certified babysitter. Go me.

He swaggered off down the corridor, gloated over having finished the damn course. And found Grayson standing in the middle of the corridor, small duffle in hand. "Hey, where's your dad, kid?"

"Gone."

"What do you mean, gone? Did he just go off and leave you in the middle of corridor? Spock? Where the heck are you?" He looked around, but didn't see anyone but Grayson.

"Unca Jeem!"

"Yeah, Grayson, I'm here. What do ya need?"

"Ride way up high, Unca Jeem."

He picked Grayson up and sat him on his shoulders, finally realizing that he held a small duffle. He took the duffle in one hand and wrapped the other around the small boy's waist. "What's this for, Grayson?"

"Clothes and fuzzy, Unca Jeem."

"Okay, why do you need clothes and a fuzzy, kid?"

"Fuzzy to sleep with tonight. Clothes to wear tomorrow."

Something began to register. "Uh, Grayson, where were you planning to sleep tonight?"

"With you, Unca Jeem. You take care of me all weekend. Mama and baba said so."

This must be the real final test. They must be around here somewhere, hiding and watching. So much for his own plans for this weekend. But hey, this was why he took that stupid class in the first place.

"Okay, kid, let's go put your stuff in my quarters. Then we can go play on that trampoline again, how about?"

"Okay!" Grayson forgot he wasn't supposed to bounce when he was riding way up high and had to grab hold of Unca Jeem's hair, just for a minute. And then they were off down the hall - and two sets of eyes watched from hiding until they were out of sight and then turned and headed back to their own quarters for a much-needed quiet weekend - alone.

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Author's Note: This is the last chapter of this story. The next story in this sequence, "Baby Book - Phase Two", starts tomorrow :-)