Daddy’s truck pulls up some time later and Momma has been listening for it for some time I guess since we hear her run to the door and Jacob gets up and closes the door to our room since he senses a storm a brewin’ and he lays back down on his bed and puts his hands behind his head. “welp” he says and I say nothing and I hear Momma and Daddy both coming into the house in mid talk only we can hear muffled “buh buh buh blugh. Bu bub!” coming from behind the walls so it’s no good trying to listen and we can pretty much guess it’s the same thing what they was arguing about yesterday.

After a while the mumbling stops and I feel like we’ve been in here a good enough amount of time and I have to use the bathroom something fierce so I get up and open the door to our room and head on to the bathroom and Momma is sitting on the couch with her feet propped on the coffee table and Daddy ain’t around and she ain’t say nothing as I pass by.

I finish up my business and walk through the living room and Momma says “I ain’t heard you wash your hands. Did you wash your hands?” and I turn right back around and wash my hands and walk back through the living room and Momma says “well, you got any dinner ideas? It ain’t have to be too much since It'll only be you, me and Jacob since Ross is sleeping right now and probably won’t make an appearance until tomorrow afternoon judging by the state of him”

I ain’t know what all state she means but I guess Daddy was sleepy so I say what I always say “macaroni and cheese and hotdogs?” and she sighs and says all right and now that’s two of the best things I can think of happening in one day what with the ice cream before and whatever is going on here I ain’t too ashamed to admit that I like where it’s heading. I run back to our room and I tell Jacob that we’s having Macaroni and cheese and hotdogs for dinner and he says ”yesss!” and is excited too.

I hear Momma banging away in the kitchen and I go out to see if she needs any help but really I’m trying to sneak a raw hotdog which is my favorite snack. She’s already cut up the hotdogs and put the whole ones back in the fridge and my she is fast and I ain’t had no chance to snag one, but cooked is OK too, I guess. Pretty soon dinner is ready and me and Momma and Jacob is at the table and I’m spooning in the yellow gold and salty dogs I seen that Momma even added extra food coloring to make the macaroni and cheese even more yellow and she calls this radioactive macaroni and cheese and I expect that I’ll have super powers soon enough if I keep eating this.

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Which I do.

We is all done now and Momma says to just leave our things at the table and to go watch some TV and we ain’t need to be told twice. Jacob gets there first and gets to turning the dial and he gets to pick for being number one to the T.V., which is fine since I like what Jacob likes and he settles on a show with talking stuffed animals that’s a good one.

We is zonin’ out now real good and Jacob has the zombie eyes and so do I and it’s getting dark but Momma ain’t tell us to stop watchin’ so we don’t and I guess she’s still in the kitchen but I ain’t really paid too close attention since now our favorite show is on where there’s pirates that float on a sea of black tar and one has a black pony tail that reaches all the way to his waist and a red pair of pants and an eyepatch and he sure do look menacing.

A commercial comes on and I wonder if I can sneak in the kitchen and snag me a cold hotdog for a snack and I tiptoe over and look round the corner and Momma ain’t in there so I sneak to the fridge and get me one of those wet dogs and am about to scurry back to the TV with my prize when I catch sight of Momma’s head out in the back yard and she’s sittin’ on the stoop and I’m torn for I want to eat this hotdog but I also ain’t never seen Momma act the way she done today, so I careful put the hotdog in the silverware drawer out of sight so I can grab it up quick when I come back through.

I walk to the door and open it and Momma looks back at me and is surprised, “I though you and Jacob was watchin’ the TV.” she says and is waving some smoke away from her face and is tossing something away from her like she ain’t want me to see it. “Is you smokin’, Momma?” and I know Momma says smoking is bad and she ain’t smoked in a long time and I ain’t know what’s the bad about smoking but she done said it so many times that it must be bad and I’m concerned that she’s doing something bad. “Not no more” she says and sighs and it’s dark black outside so you can't even see the fence, only a square of light on the grass coming from the kitchen.

“I don’t know, Gabe. I don’t know what all we’re going to do. Your Daddy done lied to us and ain’t got no job after all and we’s pretty soon not going to have lights on and that means no more TV too” and I say “I can get a job. How you get one?” and she looks at me and says “never mind, I ain’t shouldn’t aughta told you that. We is fine and you all just go back in there and watch TV with your brother. Ain’t nothing bad going to happen. I was just foolin’” and I ain’t so sure but Momma wants to be alone and maybe to smoke some more and I’m troubled but I ain’t know what I’m supposed to do, so I stand there for a while and am quiet and I hear Jacob call from inside “you’re gonna miss it! The black tar is up on the ship!”

I forget everything out here and run inside and grab up the hotdog from the silverware drawer and get back in to watch that T.V. and munch on my cold dog and everything is fine just like Momma says.