1
SARAH
There's no amount of thunder, lightning, and onslaught of pelting rain that can drown out the sounds of Dade Andrews bellowing his frustrations.
Who is Dade Andrews?
I admit that I don't have the answer to that question. However, my mother, the woman he's currently screwing in more ways than one, probably has a better idea of how to answer that.
My 25-year-old car, which shakes too much when idling, starts its signature death rattle because I'm not ready to get out.
I hear them through the raindrops dotting the roof of myAlways Reliablehatchback. I can hear them over Mother Nature's thunderclaps that shake the very driveway I'm sitting in.
"Dammit, Eileen," Dade's voice booms from behind the front door. "I done told you too many times that I hate my steaks well done. I need a beer with my beef and a bitch at my balls."
Really? Yuck.
Ma sure knows how to pick ‘em.
"If you ain't gonna do what I ask, then why even bother?" Dade shouts.
Ma, not to be deemed as mousy or demure, returns her words with just as much ferocity and volume.
"I bothered because I'm tired of you sleeping around like I don't ever put a full meal in your belly. You think that just because you're the hottest thing smoking around here, you can treat me like mud. Well, I ain't nothin to scrape off no boot. Fuck you, Dade."
The silence before the first blow lands is always the strongest.
Dade hates when Ma stands up for herself, but I love it.
Normally, they go a few rounds before I get home from work, but tonight is different. I can hear it in Ma's voice. She's talking back …
"Gah DAMMIT, Eileen. You done blacked my good eye."
I chuckle because not only is she talking back, she's fighting back, too.
But I know this won't last long. It only takes a matter of seconds for Dade to get really upset and start swinging at Ma. I plan to stop it before that starts.
It's a 20-second run from my car to the front door. When I burst into the house, drenched from the rain, I stare at them as I shake the excess water off me.
"Is dinner ready? I could eat a whole cow." I try to keep my voice bright and energetic, hoping to distract them from their fight.
"Don't be stupid, Sarah. You know good and well that ain't no food cooked in here. The only shit edible is your mother's pussy since she turned my steak into a damn brick."
"Gross, Dade," I reply.
"And I ain't turned it into no brick," Ma huffs as she folds her arms across her chest. "The only reason you can't eat it is because you wasted so much time arguing with the TV about a stupid tackle down that it got cold. I told you that reheating it would make it tough."
"That's because you don't listen."
I cut them both off. "How about we don't do this for the third time this week? I got a coupon from work that gets us a whole bucket of fried chicken, two family sides, and a gallon of sweet tea."
"Now, that's a deal," Dade smiles and turns to my mother.
She rolls her eyes and sighs, holding out her hand for me to give her the keys to my car.
I tell her, "Just tell them Sarah sent you."
Ma doesn't respond as she huffs and takes the keys with a subtle glance in my direction.
