“Hmm?”
“When’s Mama comin’ home?”
Adrien flinched and then shrugged off the reaction as smoothly as possible.“I… I dunno, I’m sorry.Uh… ‘One day, a fisherman who lived nearby happened upon a bizarre-looking fish in his daily catch and—”
“Jelly, when’s Daddy gonna wake up?”
Adrien tried his hardest not to snap the book closed and throw it straight across the room in frustration.Instead, he wrapped an arm around his sister and took a breath to steady himself.
“Remember that we talked about this?”he asked.“Dad died.It doesn’t mean he’s asleep like Mom said, it means his body didn’t work anymore and now he’s… he’s gone.”
“But where did hego?”Jessica asked, expression screwed up in discomfiture.
“Well, he went to heaven to be with Granny Kaede and Grandpa John,” Adrien told her.
“And Dippy-Dog, too?”Jessica asked, eyes wide with concern over the lost pet.
“Yeah, and Dippy-Dog, too,” Adrien lied through his teeth.In reality, their mom had given the dog to their neighbors before they’d had to move out to the one-bedroom apartment in the Fillmore.She told Jessica he’d been hit by a car.
Jessica was content with the answer and nodded at the book in his hands.“Keep readin’, okay?”
Adrien complied and continued with the story.It was a lot longer than he’d recalled it being.He kept glancing down at Jessica to check if she had fallen asleep.
About the time Adrien got to the part where the girl was married, Jessica had nodded off against his shoulder.Careful not to wake her, he laid her down on the bed, covering her with the blanket before clambering back to his feet.
He stepped out into the living room, shocked to see his mother sitting on the couch with a cigarette in hand, staring out the window across the room, dark eyes unfocused and unseeing.She was a slight, pale woman with straw-colored hair and forward-rounded shoulders.Her gaze flicked to him for a moment before she sighed in frustration.
“It’s late, you need to stay in bed,” she told him.
“I still have homework to do,” he responded, looking down at his socks.
“Don’t take that attitude with me!”his mother snapped, pulling a long drag off of her cigarette.“I have to work all goddamn day and the last thing I want to do is come home to you and your sass.”
“I’m sorry,” Adrien told her.He felt bad.He should have made more time to do his homework.He didn’t want her to have to worry.
His mother sighed, stubbing her cigarette out on the ashtray beside the couch.
“Ugh, it’s fine,” she huffed.“Come here.”
Adrien hesitated, still staring down at his toes.He didn’t know if it was a good “come here” or a bad “come here”.Sometimes he’d end up getting hit.
“The hell’re you looking so nervous for, I said come here!”she demanded, pointing at the couch cushion beside her.“You keep acting like that and the neighbors are going to think I beat you.Do you want that?Do you want that for your mother?!”
Adrien shook his head and rushed over to climb onto the couch beside her.To his relief she put an arm around him, squeezing his shoulder.
“I had a long damn day,” she groaned.“We hired a new girl and now the manager’s trying to cut my hours.”
“That must be frustrating,” he told her.“I’m sorry you have to deal with that.”
“What should I do, Adrien?”she asked, holding a loose fist up to her forehead.She stared into the kitchen at the bills on the fridge.“What should I do?I’m at the end of my rope.”
Adrien wanted to say:How should I know?I’m ten.
Instead he told her: “Maybe during the weekends I could babysit some other kids in the building?I’m already looking after Jessica and David then.It wouldn’t be a problem.”
His mother smiled at him.There were new lines on her forehead, and creases on her colored lips.
“How did I luck out with a kid that’s so responsible, hmm?”she asked, squeezing him to her side.She smelled like beer.“You’re a lifesaver, Adrien.”
