Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 

“Sadie, wake up already,” my baby brother said, pushing my arm. He was shaking me pretty hard for a four year old, and I jolted awake immediately. Once my eyes opened, he took a step back. I looked over at him, standing at the side of my bed acting as though he wasn’t just pushing me awake.

“Turn on the light,” I said groggily, pointing at the switch on the bedroom wall.

“Doesn’t work,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. That’s right, I thought. I had forgotten. Our power got shut off yesterday, and the lights weren’t working.

“What time is it?” I asked myself sitting up in bed.

“I don’t know,” Zander whispered. “I can’t tell time.” His head drooped down and he was looking at the floor. He seemed embarrassed, but he had no reason to be. He was still a few months shy of five years old.

“Pretty soon you’ll learn how to,” I said brushing the strands of dark hair out of his face. He looked up at me smiling, and I smiled back.

I looked over at the alarm clock next to me and it read 5:57. Zander couldn’t have waited another three minutes before waking me up, I thought to myself shutting off the alarm, and standing up. I cracked my neck once to each side and stretched my arms up over my head. I was sore, but I wasn’t sure from what exactly. Possibly the walk home from school.

“I’m hungry,” Zander said grabbing my hand. “Can I have cheerios for breakfast?” he asked in the sweetest little voice.

“Let’s go see if we have any,” I said leading him into the kitchen. It was right outside the door of our bedroom. We lived in a small apartment. Just three rooms really. The bedroom, the bathroom, and the main room which consisted of the kitchen and living room. There was a wall separating the kitchen and the living room, and an archway connecting them.

I looked over at the living room on my way to the kitchen expecting to see my dad passed out on the couch, but he wasn’t there. The living room consisted of nothing more than a lumpy, old couch and a small cable television. We couldn’t really afford much else at the moment.

The kitchen wasn’t any more exciting. Just the standard appliances. A fridge, counters, and a sink. There was a toaster on one of the counters that my father had bought a few weeks ago. Although it was practically useless because we rarely had anything to put in the toaster. No bagels, no waffles. We could have made toast, and we did occasionally, but daddy liked to use the bread for his sandwiches, so we tried our best to keep our hands off of it.

Slowly, I opened up one of the cabinets, and luckily there was still a box of cheerios of there. It felt light in my hand as we were getting to the last of it.

“Guess what!” I exclaimed, looking at Zander. His eyes got big and his smile grew.

“What?” he asked excited.

“We have cheerios,” I said, laughing pulling the box out from behind my back. He screamed out of excitement and went running around the room towards one of the wooden chairs at the table. There he sat, waiting patiently for his breakfast to be served.

I poured some cheerios into a bowl, finishing off the last of the box. No breakfast for me today, I thought. I pulled the carton of milk out of the fridge and poured only a little into the bowl. We couldn’t afford to waste much of it, considering Zander probably wouldn’t even drink it after he finished his cereal. I pulled a spoon out of the drawer and set both the spoon and the bowl down in front of him.

“Here you go, your majesty,” I said, bowing towards him.

“Thank you princess,” he responded cheerfully, blowing me a kiss. That was something we always did to one another. I’d call him majesty and bow, and he’d call me princess and blow a kiss. It was like our secret handshake of sorts. No one knew about it except us. Not even daddy. I walked back into the kitchen, opening the curtains to let in some sunlight. It didn’t help much though as the sun was still coming up over the horizon. It was dark around the room, but there wasn’t much I could do until the electricity bill was paid. Who knows when that would be?

I sat at the table watching Zander devour his cheerios. He would race them around with his spoon in little circles. It started giving me a headache, but I liked seeing him happy, so I didn’t say anything.

Instead, I just got up and walked into the bathroom. I turned on the water of the shower and immediately stripped off my clothes. Without another thought, I hopped right in. The water was cold, but I didn’t want to waste any while I waited for it to heat up. There was just a bit of shampoo left in the bottle, but no conditioner. I rinsed my hair quickly and scrubbed my body with the bar of soap before shutting off the water. It couldn’t have been more than five minutes before I was dapping myself dry with the towel. I could hear Zander just outside the door, talking to his stuffed animals as he ate his cheerios.

“What do you think Brixie?” he asked, directed at his gray wolf.

“I think they’re a little stale too,” he said impersonating the wolf.

I wrapped the towel around my body and walked into the bedroom. “Hurry up and get dressed,” I yelled from the bedroom. “We don’t want to be late.” I could hear Zander slurping down the remaining milk in the bowl. At least it wasn’t going to waste, I thought while I dressed in a simple white blouse and my brown skirt. It was one of only three skirts I owned, and I wanted to look nice for school, although it was hard to when I had to wear these ugly white sneakers. I had just gotten the pair a few weeks ago for the start of school. Daddy gave me twenty dollars to buy the pair. I really didn’t want them, but they were the only ones at the store that I could afford and the only ones suitable for walking to school in.

Zander came into the room a moment later and began picking out something to wear. He landed on a pair of khaki shorts and a blue tee shirt with a train imprinted on the front. At least he matched, I thought brushing through the knots in my hair. It was a tangled mess after the shower and still wet, but I didn’t have a blow dryer anymore, so I had to deal with it. “Go get your backpack,” I directed him after he had finished getting dressed.

“I can’t find it,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.

“You didn’t even look for it,” I said, smiling towards him.

“Will you help me find it?” he asked sweetly. I rolled my eyes and nodded. No matter how frustrating this kid could be, I had a soft spot in my heart for him. I walked into the living room and there it was sitting right in the middle of the floor, all of its contents scattered on the floor.

“It’s right here, buddy,” I laughed. “How hard was that?”

“I don’t know,” he said shrugging his shoulders again. I laughed.

“Go brush your teeth,” I said, bending down to pick them up. There was a coloring book and a package of crayons, although I think the red crayon was missing, a few toy trains, and a smaller bag filled with Benadryl in case his allergies started acting up. I scooped up all of the items and placed them into the backpack neatly before zipping it up. One of the straps was in the early stages of ripping, and I hoped it would last for a couple weeks yet. We really couldn’t afford a new one right now.

“All done,” I heard him say as he ran back into the room. His mouth still had a little bit of toothpaste on it, but I wiped it clean with my hand.

“Start putting your shoes on,” I directed as I walked into the bathroom to brush my own teeth. The toothpaste was cold against my teeth and it hurt something fierce to brush one of my molars. I couldn’t even remember the last time I had been to a dentist. It was just too expensive ever since my dad got laid off from his job, and we lost the health insurance. We saved most of our money for Zander’s appointments. He needed them more than anyone else in the family.

It was probably two years ago or so when my dad got laid off, and he still hadn’t found a job. I began to wonder if he ever was going to find something again, not that he made the conscious effort to go looking for one. He was more preoccupied with his alcohol than finding a job. I wish he would realize it’s hurting me and Zander, but there was no talking sense into him. Not after what happened with our mother.

Right now, daddy just did odd jobs whenever he got the chance. Although, they didn’t come as often as he had hoped. I think that’s where he must be now. That or out drinking again.

I spit the toothpaste out of my mouth and rinsed with a handful of water from the sink. I patted my mouth dry with the hand towel sitting on the counter, and looked at myself in the mirror. Dark circles appeared under my brown eyes from sleep deprivation. I had stayed up late with Zander last night because it was storming out, and he couldn’t sleep. We waited for daddy to come home, but he never did. He did that sometimes. Always told us not to wait up for him, but we usually did. I would always try to get Zander in bed, but he refused until daddy came home. That, or he’d pass out in my lap. Last night was one of those nights.

“Have you got your shoes on?” I called from the bathroom shaking those thoughts from my head. I could hear Zander struggling. I walked over to him and stared at his feet. They were on all right, only his left shoe was on his right foot and vice versa.

“I did it,” he said proud of himself. I smiled at him.

“You did a very good job,” I said, “but you’ve got them on the wrong feet.”

“No, they’re right,” he insisted, but I shook my head. I helped him take the shoes off and put them correctly on his feet. I tied them for him in two little bunny ear knots and patted him on the head.

“There,” I claimed, standing back up.

“Thanks princess,” he said blowing a kiss in my direction. I smiled.

“Anything for you, your majesty,” I replied, giving him a curtsy this time.

“That’s not right,” he screamed laughing at me.

“How come?” I asked, a smile forming across my lips.

“You’re supposed to bow,” he said as though it was obvious.

“But I’m a girl,” I explained. “Girls are supposed to curtsy, and boys are supposed to bow.”

“No way!”

“Yes way!”

“No,” he screamed in an unpleasant tone. His whole demeanor had changed in the blink of an eye.

“Why not?” I asked, confused.

“Because I’m the kind, and I get to make the rules,” he said in a demanding tone. I sighed. He was starting to get upset and I really didn’t want to deal with this right now.

“That you are,” I responded, letting it go. That satisfied him for the moment.

“Are we ready?” he asked up at me. I looked at the clock on the wall and it read 6:31.

“I think we’re ready,” I said, helping Zander put the straps of his backpack on his back. I picked up my own bag by the door, checked to make sure all of my books were in there, and then strapped it on my own back.

“Let’s go,” he yelled, pulling my hand.

Reviews

[Rebecca]

is this in Heidi's pov? because it doesnt fit as will's pov, and this is the strongest chapter of the whole story. I loved the poetic description of an older sibling being there for a younger sibling. This sounds like a first chapter. consider putting it before the other chapters. Its good prose, but leaves me confused.

[Mifa]

In my opinion, this line "...and looked at myself in the mirror. Dark circles appeared under my brown eyes from sleep deprivation." provides the kind of little opening that would've allowed for a little more physical description of the character through their own eyes.

[Sarah]

I suppose I could add more, but I really like the reader to picture these people themselves. I like to leave it up to their imagination to wonder what each one looks like.

[Mifa]

I see, but I really don't think that's the kinda things you leave to the writers imagination. You've created a world with your story with people innit. It's up to you to show us what these folks look like and let us followed them on their journey through your story.

[Christopher Miller]

What a poignant picture of poverty. This made me pretty sad, I saw a lot of evidence of things like this in the hospital. I knew right away whose point view this was, the transition was well-done. I was curious about the clock, why is it still working if there's no electricity? I know they often have a battery backup, she should express some relief that the battery lasted, or that they even felt like they could afford one. You also specified that they had a cable tv, but if they're that poor I'd think the cable bill would be first to go. That they have a cheap VCR or DVD player and just a few movies, or that they only get what stations will come in one the tuner, would seem to fit better.
I like the exchanges between the siblings, they felt very natural. His getting stuck and insistent on the idea that she should bow is totally something my five year old would do.
I enjoyed reading about Sadie much more than Will, and the contrast was well done. They do seem like 2 different voices. I am curious as to what motivated her to tattle on Will. I would think she'd want to be invisible at school. But I can also imagine her feeling the need to lash out at someone because of her situation, and he would be a likely target since she could perceive that he has an easy life and needs to cheat anyway.
I have to wonder if this is taking place that same morning or not... I'm imagining it is, since there was no reference to the incident the two of them had. I'm still waiting for him to chew her out.
I am sure you plan to address 'what happened with their mother' who appears to be absent now. I'm hoping you also talk about how and when they ended up in that apartment. Surely they didn't start there. How long have they been there? What did they have to leave behind? I'm assuming most of her stuff. What did she keep and why? Was there no noise from the neighbors? I lived in many crappy apartments, I can assure you that is always, always a part of it.

[Sarah]

I meant the clock to be a simple wall clock that is battery powered so it wouldn't need electricity. I'll be sure to make that clearer. As far at the apartment situation, I was referencing the apartment of a family I babysit for. It's very similar, just three rooms. The mom and the son share the same room, so I figured I could use that as a reference to what Sadie's apartment looked like.

I'm glad the voices appear different. That was what I was going for, and I'll be sure to address your questions in the coming chapters. Thank you for the review. As always, your comments are appreciated!