She's Three

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 house, so everyone ate their ice cream in the car.
"Andrea is already at home and John and Zack and their Daddy should be home in about an hour," Jackie told Tommy and Sissy.
Sissy was licking her arm; melt running off the cone. "Yeah, Jackie," she nodded. "This is good ice cream."
"I don't like mine," Tommy mumbled and dumped his treat out onto the road.

Andrea set up the sprinkler, after her brothers came home. Momma and Jackie sat under the tree, with Crystal Light and vodka between them.
Tommy would not go in the water.
And Momma had told Sissy to take off her mittens and boots, before she could.
"No, Momma" defied Sissy each time it was mentioned. She would not go in the water without them.
Instead she lay motionless, on the ground, with her baby legs burning in the full sun.
Tommy went for a spin on John's bike. He rode around and around and around the block. When he came back, Tommy was sweaty. And Sissy was still laying in the sun.
"It is hot, Sissy. Let's go in the water."
"Yeah, Tommy."
And no one said a word about her hats and boots this time.

Afterwards, Tommy was itchy and the mosquitoes were biting Sissy.
She was screaming and hitting herself. "Bad bugs. Bad bugs."
"Let's have hot dogs," Jackie said, then yelled at the house, "Jason...Come start a fire."
His voice yelled back from inside the house. "I love fire."
"Let's take off your mittens," Jackie said to Sissy. "The bugs like your mittens."
"Yeah, Jackie," Sissy agreed. But her wrinkled fingers scared her and she started to scream again. "Look the bugs do. Bad bugs."
Then the fire was lit and the children dried.
And Sissy liked the fire. It made her skin feel warm. She took off all her clothes.
Zack started to sing, "Oh, Canadaaaaa..."
And Sissy finished for him, "The land of the freeeee..."

Giving Shit

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 this news all the time?"
And although he did not care for the tone in Becki's voice, he asked her anyway," Would you like to come to lunch with Mother and I again tomorrow?"
"Alright," Becki said, "but can we go get coffee now?"
Edward Julian Watson was suddenly tired again. He looked up to the night sky. He thought the clouds surrounding the half moon looked like a witch and her one eye.
He sighed. "Alright."

"You remember Becki, Mother." Edward Julian Watson let Becki slide into the booth first.
Becki rolled her eyes at Ms. Watson. "Lillian, I have brought you a book. I think you will like it."
And Becki did an almost-fantastic job of keeping Edward Julian Watson's mother occupied. That is, until they were waiting for the bill. His mother suddenly turned on him. "Edward, you were joking about selling the television business, I would assume?"
"No, Mother. I am not joking."
"This is just another ridiculous idea-"
"Mother, you have no say in the matter-"
"I have plenty of say. My money is what got you started in the television business. And a lot of it."
"I do not recall you signing anything." Edward Julian Watson was almost sneering at his mother.
"Just your life insurance policies, do not forget those, Edward." Lillian replied.

Enter

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, Tommy could count always count on the order to brush his teeth too, before reaching the stairs.
And Tommy hated to brush his teeth.
And he hated Barbara, too.
She was always making him clean something.

One day, when Tommy came down the stairs, Barbara did not say, "Go take a bath, Tommy." Instead she said, "Come here, Tommy." Then Barbara order Tommy over her knee and she pulled down the elastic band to the waist of his jogging pants and the three slaps left Tommy ass an angry red. He felt it.
"Bitch," he said.
Barbara pulled Tommy to his feet, she gripped his arms, She said, "Do not ever come down my stairs, without a bath again."

Tommy had a bath and went to school that day. At morning recess, Tommy found some moist clay in the sand, near the back edge of school property. The was grey and he thought he could work it well. Tommy built the beginnings of a city. A house. A variety store. A bank and a bar. At least this is what he told himself, after he had built the four identical lumps. He decided he needed some sticks. He did and then the bell rang.
At lunch hour, Tommy decided to gather a few more things, before returning to build his city. He gathered fancy stones and gum wrappers(for windows). He picked-up straws and other loose bits. He asked Bobby McGill if he could borrow one of his dinky cars. He found a Coke bottle and decided it was a tower.
He gathered the stuff for most of the hour.
Miranda followed him to his city, for final recess. "Where yah going?" When Tommy told her to go away, she said to him, "No. I want to know where you are going."
Miranda ended up adding leafy weeds(for trees)to the city.
"Want to meet after to school and build some more?" she asked, when the bell rang again.
"I can't," he told her.
"I'll let you put the Coke bottle in me," she offered.
To which Tommy replied, "I can't. They'll call the cops, if I am not there on time."
"Who will call the cops?"
"The Parents." He nodded his head at her.

Tommy noticed what a mess he was, during his walk home from school. As the day wore on, the sun had baked him into a chalky mess.
And it felt gross between his fingers.
Tommy decided he had better sneak in the back door and up the back stairs.
And after he did, Tommy had himself a bath. He was horror-stricken by the mess he left behind in the tub.
And Tommy turned in surprise and more fear, when the bathroom door opened. He covered himself desperately and Barbara dropped half the stack of towels she was carrying. "Oh, Tommy. Fuck. I am sorry. Oh my God, what a mess."

Two days later, when Tommy came down the stairs, Barbara said, "You're going to see the doctor today."
Barbara did not speak to him, during the car ride there.
And Barbara only wanted to talk to the doctor, while they were at the office.
"It will hurt, Barbara." Dr. Stewart did not like what Barbara had asked, after the nurse had taken Tommy to be weighed and for a lollipop. "He will remember this for the rest of his life."
"Listen, Paul," she began, "I really would not be asking for this to be done,
unless I thought it were imperative to do so. Tommy came to us just...Filthy. You should have seen his toenails! And the problem here is that bathing does not simply solve the problem. Dirt just naturally clings to this child."
"Dirt clings to every child, Barbara," the good doctor tried to reason. "You're not really being serious about this."
"Paul, we have known each other for twenty years now. You should know when I am being serious. This child is constantly...Filthy. There really is no other word to describe him. I am his foster mom. There is no way I just should go in there and scrub him all down. Who knows what he could say to CPS."
"Exactly. Child Protective Services. They are not going to want to pay for this."
"Paul...We both know it is better for him. Cleaner for him." She sighed.
Dr. Paul Stewart sighed, too. "Fine. He has an infection. Let me write you a prescription. I'll get a day set and call you tomorrow."

When Barbara and Tommy were taking the car ride home, Barbara began. "Tommy. I know sometimes it is hard to talk about stuff."
"What kind of stuff?" Tommy replied; politely.
"You know...Penis stuff."
Embarrassed, Tommy did not reply again.
So Barbara went on. "The doctor says you have an infection. We have to go to the pharmacy now, to buy you medicine. He says you have an infection is in your penis. A bad infection. And now you have to have an operation."
"What?" Tommy yelled.
"Don't yell at me, Tommy, it is not my fault you didn't tell me that your penis was hurting."
And then, since she mentioned it, Tommy did notice a tingling, at the end of it. And over the night it got worse.