FIC: Work is Good (G)
Title: Work is Good
Type: Fic
Age-Range Category: One
Character(s): Tobias, Eileen, Severus
Author: iulia_linnea
Rating: G
Click to View [Warning(s)]Implied domestic violence, infidelity, and alcoholism.
Summary: Work is good.
Work is good; Tobias is respected at the mill by his peers and supervisors alike and brings home a hefty pay packet-and Eileen makes the most of it, she does, even recovering from little Severus' birth. His good wife is indefatigable!
Work is good. Tobias is relied upon at the mill and brings home a hefty pay packet-and Eileen and Little Sev spend a tad of it on sweeties, which they always share with Tobias.
Work is good. Tobias has good friends at the mill and brings home a hefty pay packet-and his sweet Eileen and Sev go over their budget with Tobias once a week whilst they all plan the meals Mam will cook for them.
Work is good. Tobias is made a supervisor and given extra responsibility with a promise of a future pay rise-and Eileen and Severus, who gurgles his approval, are so proud of Da!
Work is good. Tobias is able to keep the men in line when a widowed mother of four begins work there, and he brings home a hefty pay packet-some of which he, Eileen, and little Sev, all of five years old, now, agree to set aside for Widow Marple's eldest child's school fees.
Work is good. Tobias treats his mill mates round for round and still brings home a hefty pay packet-Eileen budgets enough to join them down the pub upon occasion whilst Severus plays with the publican's young son in the kitchen.
Work is good. Tobias brings in a new customer he meets at the pub the night Severus celebrates his sixth birthday with the biggest cake Eileen can bake, and Tobias tucks away almost a third of his hefty pay packet in the Savings jar.
Work is good. Tobias is gentle as he sacks Old Bernard, and from his own hefty pay packet, he gifts the man twenty pounds-Eileen's not entirely happy to learn that, Tobias knows, but Severus asserts that it's "right to help people," and that's that.
Work is good. Tobias is obeyed at the mill and brings home a hefty pay packet, though there's been no raise this year-Eileen doesn't remark upon that as Tobias runs down to the pub to soothe ruffled feathers; increasingly, Eileen doesn't remark upon much, and shushes Severus a fair bit when it looks like he might be about to speak.
Work is good. Tobias still has a job and his pay packet remains the same-Eileen shakes her head to hear how some of the other workers have had their pay reduced, but she agrees that she, Tobias, and Severus are "lucky."
Work is good. Tobias is running the men, and the Widow Marple, with increasing efficiency and he continues to bring home a decent pay packet-Eileen wonders aloud why it shouldn't still be "hefty" given all the time he's away from his family, and Tobias, much to his wife and son's astonishment, snarls at her. He tries flowers as a remedy after going down the pub. They don't soothe anyone, they don't.
Work is good. Tobias' change in attitude keeps the complaints at bay and he brings home a pay packet-but why it's not enough for Eileen to put meat on his table of an evening, he doesn't know. He takes out his displeasure on Severus. Once.
Work is good. Tobias' injuries heal quickly and the mill doesn't keep from him his pay packet during his recovery-and Eileen's recovering, too. Tobias regrets the lesson he's taught his wife, but he knows he'll repeat it if necessary. But his boy, well, he won't trouble his boy again, not with his hands, that is.
Work is good. Even with fewer customers, Tobias manages to fill the orders the mill does have, and he brings home a pay packet-not that his increasingly surly son and bitter wife seem to care about that. Was ever a working man so plagued?
Work is good. The mill has yet to close, and Tobias has found a grateful recipient of his pay packet-Eileen swears she'll kill the "merry widow" if she sees Tobias with her, so Tobias meets Verity Marple down the pub in the snug. His workers always clear out when they arrive, and no one says anything, no, nothing at all.
Work is good. Tobias doesn't have to countenance his unnatural wife's nagging or the sulking of his ten-year-old whilst managing what's left of his workers, and he still leaves them a good third of his pay packet-Verity's always so grateful for his money, grateful in a gratifying way.
Work is good. Tobias is managing the mill with a skeleton crew and still receiving a full half of his old pay packet-Eileen collects it from his manager each week, a fact that infuriates Tobias, but he knows he'd get the sack if it comes out he's been pulling Verity. Eileen doesn't threaten. And she does keep a tab open for him down the pub.
Work is good. Tobias is the last man employed by the mill and earns a decent sum for supervising its closure-Eileen gives him a list of tasks towards that end, but Tobias doesn't mind; he's too pissed to mind anything much at all.
Work is good. Tobias receives a relatively generous final pay packet, which he resolves not to share with the unfaithful Verity, who's running off with the mill owner's son-Eileen says, "Told you so," and Tobias attempts to strike her. . . but falls over and shouts about the unfairness of the world. Severus, who's grown so old all of the sudden, spits on the floor next to him.
Work is good. Tobias remembers bringing home a hefty pay packet whilst warming a stool down the pub of a night-he misses his Eileen, though, who's too busy to trouble with him due to all that laundry she takes in, and wonders where he went wrong with his boy. No one talks to him any longer. No one cooks. No one smiles. And Tobias can't think clearly enough to understand why.