Word Count: 381
Chuck comes home on a Friday with a sorrowful face, a belly of beer, and a layoff slip clutched in his hand. Lena feels that awful turmoil as her own belly moves with new life. She’s been through this before. Too many times. They were down to five children. This would make six. Would she have to get rid of the baby? Better to let go of one of the others, maybe Toby who was now in his terrible twos.
The tension fills the small house like an overblown balloon. After the first week of Chuck being home, the kids play in their bedrooms, hang around in the yard after school. They stay out of his way which only encompasses the living room where he sits all day watching TV. Lena even feeds the kids dinner after Chuck has eaten his meal. This is not family time, this is survival and Chuck, well he is a low-voiced quiet man and with the drinking, he is more prone to mumble when he bothers talking at all. Not even Lena cares to know what he says.
She worries, tries to stretch food as far as she can, but the weight of the dire financial scene they face once again has her more nervous than ever before. She starts looking more seriously at each of their children, knowing as only a mother can know their good points and bad. Sarah, the oldest, helps her take care of the little ones. Jess, two years younger, is funny. Makes her laugh. The twins shouldn’t be separated. No, the twins she couldn’t let go.
So it comes down to Toby. Blonde as an angel. Worse than any of the others had been at this age. Devilish. Stubborn. And she thinks, a liar, a thief. Sneaking food out of the pantry; she knows it is him. She loves him regardless, but, well.
Only the twins ask about Toby. The others all understand. She explains to the twins that they just couldn’t afford any longer to feed him. That he’s living in a nice home in a place far away. She knows she only did what she had to, but still, no mother should see her child die. She crosses herself, looks up at the ceiling, and sighs.
