Jacob and I fell asleep on the couch I guess since Momma is waking us up and the TV is on a show that sells things to people if you call them fast enough. She says quietly “OK, time for bed you two.” and helps us up and we stumble to our beds with our clothes still on and we fall right asleep.
The next day Momma is on the couch when me and Jacob get up and is still asleep which ain’t usual since she’s usually the first one up and I never seen her sleep on the couch before since that’s Daddy’s spot when they get to arguing at night. The door to Momma and Daddy’s room is open and I take a quick peek inside and Daddy ain’t in there what I can see but the bathroom door in there is closed and I can see a light coming from underneath it so maybe Daddy is in there. Jacob and I go to the kitchen and Jacob is taller and less sloppy so he’s going to pour us some cereal since you’re supposed to eat in the morning, but before he does, Daddy comes out and his hair is wet and combed and he has his shirt tucked into his pants and his eyes is red but he seems in good spirits. “Hey there! Sorry I had to run off so fast yesterday! I had a very important errand to run and it couldn’t wait no longer! What you all get up to after I done saw you?”
We say not much and we were at the park and Daddy asks if I went down the slide and I proudly say I did and he says “I knew it! You’re a fearless one you are and that ol’ slide is mighty easy once you finally make it to the top, ain’t it!” and I nod and leave out the part about how terrible it was and Daddy goes on “and what about you, Jacob? You get up to anything yesterday? Anything... fiery?” and Jacob also says proudly that he ain’t touched no matches and ain’t never going to light nothing on fire ever again and Daddy says “that’s good! Real good! I believe you!” and we’s just all in the kitchen, chattin’ and Momma shuffles around the corner and stands looking for a bit at Daddy, then she pours a bowl of cereal for herself and walks out and slams the door of the bedroom for I guess she wanted to eat in her and Daddy’s room. Daddy looks at both of us and gives a big shrug “wonder what got her all riled? Oh well. What you all want to do today? I got time off work already and we can go out and do something spectacular if we want. Got the whole day!” And me and Jacob is both nodding and Daddy ain’t take us off to do things too much on account of how much he was working he says. “Hot dog! Put that cereal back then! I’m startin’ by taking both of you out for a pancake feast!”
Jacob and I both spring up and is hopping all around since Daddy is going to take us to the Whistle Stop Café where they have a little train under glass what runs all around in a circle forever and you can set your plate right on the glass and eat above the small world with the train running through it and the blue waters in that land are the bluest I ever seen and I can watch it for hours. “Get y’alls shoes on and let’s blow this dump!” And while we is putting on our shoes Jacob asks if Momma is coming with us and Daddy says “I don’t know, let’s ask her!” and he yells through the closed bedroom door “hey! We all is going to the Whistle Stop to get us some pancakes!” and we all listen but there’s no answer so Daddy shrugs and says “I guess she ain’t coming with. Let’s go!”
We head out but I’m looking back at the closed bedroom door and it would be nice to have us all together at the whistle stop café but I guess she had enough of us yesterday. We all pile into the truck and Daddy gets her started up and he says, “oh, one thing before we go to the whistle stop and eat up all the pancakes. I gotta meet up with someone real quick and it ain’t going to take none too long. So, we get to driving and we is in the middle of the town now and it ain’t take too long since our town is little from end to end and Daddy stops in front of a shop what has pictures of houses on it. He hops out and says “you all wait right here; I’ll be back in a jiff!” and slams the door and heads into the shop.
Jacob and I is sitting there and we start talking about what we all want from the whistle stop and we both agree that we want pancakes but I say I want bacon to go with them and Jacob says he wants fruit for he likes strawberries on top of his pancakes. Daddy comes out then and is smiling like anything and he gets inside the truck and has some papers in his hand and he waves them in our faces. “Here’s our ticket! Here it is right here boys!” and I say “what’s that, Daddy?” and he says they’s papers what will make us all happy and he ain’t have to get no job and Momma ain’t have to worry about nothin’ and Jacob and me is both going to become strong men with these here papers he has and he said it’s all due to his best friend in the whole world, Mitch the Bitch and life sure can be fortuitous when it wants to be. Daddy gives a big sigh of contentment and he says “now let’s get on over to that café and gobble their pancakes, that sound like a plan?” and Jacob and me both say “yep!” at the same time.
After we done ate, Daddy drives us straight home and I thought we was going to do more than going to breakfast but I ain’t going to say nothin’ for Daddy is in a good mood and has something on his mind, I can tell. He parks the truck and hops out and leaves the door open he’s so excited to be back, and he runs into the house holding those papers on high and I have no idea what they is and I say to Jacob “what all you think them papers is?” and Jacob says he don’t know but he can read a little and he seen a sign on the shop that Daddy went in to what said REAL ESTATE and he ain’t know what that is and I ain’t never heard of that either so I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
We get inside and Daddy is knocking on the bedroom door what is still closed and Momma ain’t coming out and Daddy is calling “But I got somethin’ for ya! Just come on out and see what it is!” and we hear Momma say from the other side “if it ain’t a real job then I ain’t coming out and I ain’t in the mood to see your face just now, Ross” and he says “Robyn! You just get on out here now for I’m your husband and I’m the one in charge and I get to decide who all gets to look at faces and whatnot. I’m the provider in this family like I done told you and I done some providin’ today, so you just get on out here and see what I’m providin’!”
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Momma throws the door open and says “you can't talk to me that way! Especially in front of the boys! You ain’t own me and I done talked to my Momma on the phone yesterday and she said you’re no good and never was and that I can take Gabe and Jacob on over there and me and them can live with her as long as we want, and she’s got a bigger bed than we do and she got that tire swing in the back for the boys and she said she can get us over there as soon as today! I done talked to you last night when you finally got home and you was drunk and stupid and I ain’t even know why I married you. You ain’t even had a job back then and you still ain’t got one!” Jacob and me is still standing there and not knowing what to do and Daddy turns to us and says “you all go on outside and play now” and Momma says “no! They ain’t going outside to play, they need to know what all you been up to and how you been ‘providin’’ for them by buying up beer and drinking it with Mitch the Bitch and pretending like you got a job when you ain’t! Ain’t that so?!”
Daddy is taken aback and stands there quiet for some time and Momma ain’t say nothing more and we is all standing there so long in the quiet that I forget what it is that we’re all supposed to be doing and I get nervous like I’m supposed to be doing something but Daddy finally talks, quiet and low and thoughtful. “I’m sorry I done lied to you” and gestures around.
“All of you. You’re right and all seen me clear as anything yesterday. I was at the Bitch’s house and we was drinkin’ beers but only on account of how I needed to talk to him some about something I’ve been thinking on for a good long time. I ain’t should not have lied to get over there but if I told you where I was going, you wouldn’ta let me go since I know you ain’t like him too good”
Momma scoffs “that’s an understatement”
Daddy continues “but Ol’ Mitch, he got this grandpa what lived in the woods for about a million years and he used to go visit him when he was little only his grandpa done something to him so that he weren’t allowed to go up there no more but he ain’t said what all it was. That there very same grandpa got killed last week, falling down a hill on account of how slippery the grass was or some such, and he had a will which paid remembrance to Mitch which included his house and property and a pretty goodly chunk of change on top of that since that old man ain’t bought nothing in his whole life except maybe toilet paper from time to time or some canned salmon. Doesn’t matter. Either way, Mitch come upon that good dusty money and he says that that house and property still gives him nightmares and he ain’t want nothing to do with it nor nothing to do with the thought of it, and since we is best pals and since he’s got stacks of cash now, he done sold it to me for one dollar.” Momma is rolling her eyes and says,
“oh sure! Sure thing! You got us a house and you only paid a dollar for it! Sounds pretty good! Paid someone named Mitch the Bitch a dollar for a house! Bet that’s some good house and boy I can't wait to see how great it is!” Momma shakes her head and says “you just get on out now and leave the boys. I’m calling Momma when you leave and we is leaving you for forever. I’m tired of your fat lies.” And she goes back in the bedroom and slams the door. Daddy looks back at us helpless “but I done got us a house.” and we look every way but at Daddy and this here is something we would like to keep out of. Daddy calls through the door “but I done got us a house!” but Momma is done replying and Daddy runs his hand through his hair and hangs his head. “I done wrong by that woman. I done wrong.” and he stands there with his shoulders slumped. He takes the papers what are still clutched in his hand and slides them under the bedroom door and walks out of the house, turning to us before leaving.
“You all boys deserve better than this here and I sure am sorry about the way I am.”
and Jacob and me stand there as he closes the door quietly and drives away in his truck. Jacob and I ain’t sure what to do since Momma is in the bedroom and Daddy is gone, so we decide together to break the TV rule and we turn it on without permission and it’s some kind of show with cars racing all around and we ain’t sure if we like it or not, but it zones us out good enough. After a while, we hear rustling coming from Momma and Daddy’s room and Momma comes out and is holding them papers Daddy slipped under the door. “Where’s your Daddy?” she says and Jacob says “he done left a little while ago” and looks back at the TV and Momma stands there watching the show with us for a little bit before she says “I’m going to Charlene’s to use the phone, you all just keep doing what you’re doing. Jacob, you know what to do” and by that Momma still means no playing with matches and Jacob sighs.
Momma leaves and I say “this mean we is leaving and not living here no more?” and Jacob says that looks to be the size of it and I say “you think we aught to dig up that mouse so we can bring it with us and bury it again so we can visit its gravesite more often?” and Jacob says with authority that the mouse was now in its final resting place and he done cursed the ground so anything ever digs it up will have their eyes fall out and will dangle there for all eternity. I ain’t heard Jacob curse the grave when we filled it in, but that’s good enough for me as I ain’t want nothing digging it up and taking it away and maybe we can still visit it from time to time if Momma will take us.
Momma is back sooner than last time and she sits on the couch next to us and looks around curiously. “What y’all get up to with Daddy today?” And we tell her that we done went to the Whistle Stop Café and ate about every pancake in the place and they’ll probably have to close down the business on account of us, as least according to Daddy and she says “that it? Nothin' else?” and I disremember but Jacob does and says “we done stopped at a little shop with pictures of houses on it what said REAL ESTATE but I ain’t know what that is” and Momma says under her breath “so he ain’t lie for once.” and we all sit on the couch and watch TV and Momma is quiet and I say “is we going to live somewhere else now with Gramma?” and Momma says “no. Not no more.” and I say that’s good because she makes me drink something called buttermilk and I’m the most polite but it makes me gag. And Momma laughs at that but I ain’t sure what’s so funny and she says Gramma makes her drink it too and to her it tastes like thick rotten milk and I nod for that’s what it tastes like.