Rolling My Eyes

Sissy was wearing her blue hat and mittens and her red rubber boots. She was going to the store with Momma and Tommy. "I want some gum." Tommy said to his mother. And Sissy wanted gum, too. The park was on the way to the store. When they were close, Momma said they could play there for a little bit. Sissy went up and down the slide and laughed. Tommy sat in a swing and kicked dirt. Momma smoked a cigarette, in the shade. Jackie was driving down the road and Sissy saw the red car first. Jackie pulled over and said, "Let's go for ice cream." The kids climbed into the back seat and Jackie put the top down. She turned to Sissy and said, "I like your red boots." "Yeah, Jackie," answered Sissy. At the ice cream parlor, Jackie held her up and read to her the kinds of cone she could have. "Chocolate..Vanilla..Tiger Stripe..Bubble Gum..P--" And Sissy remembered she wanted gum, too. Momma said okay, they would go over to Jackie's hous...

By eight o'clock Edward Julian Watson had slept off his plane ride and he had watched The Facts of Life . When 227 started, Edward Julian Watson decided he did not want to sit at home for the night. No, not at all , he thought. He drove his blue Datsun over to Maple Street and called on Becki. The negro woman, who owned the house, opened the door and said, "No visitors allowed upstairs after nine pee emm." She went upstairs herself to inform Becki of her visitor, raising her green skirts and leaving the door closed on Edward Julian Watson. "It is going to be hot tomorrow." Edward Julian Watson made small talk with Becki. But he was thinking of other things. Like about the lunch he was having with his mother the next day. And how much he did not want to go. And Becki was sitting on the porch next to him just sighing. "Edward...I tell you all the time I avoid weather reports, so I can wake-up each day surprised. Why do you insist on telling me t...

Everyday, at Dave and Barbara's house, Tommy woke-up to the sound of the alarm clock going off at 6:15. It was way earlier in the morning than Momma had ever made him get-up. Tommy would wonder why the birds seemed so happy, when all he wanted to do was bury his head back under the covers. Which he often did. And then Tommy would get up to go pee and then play with the trains or pick his nose or do any other variety of little boy things--even sometimes doing his homework from the day before, just to prolong going down the stairs. Everyday, after Tommy had wasted as much time as he possibly could, he would put on the school clothes, left out the night before by Barbara. And everyday when Tommy came downstairs, Barbara would tell him to take a bath. In her high, clipped voice and while casting a disapproving stare down at him, she would say, "Go take a bath, Tommy." And Tommy hated baths. In general, Tommy just hated bathrooms. Everyday trudging out of the kitchen anyway...