“Absolutely.”
“Slumming, is that it?”
“What do you think?” I fired back at him, my eyes just as hot and fixed on him as his were on mine. He softened and shrugged.
“I don’t think much anymore,” he said.
“So don’t. Just relax. I’ll be right back,” I said.
I rushed out and followed the directions he had given. I thought about calling home, but then thought that if I did, my father would just insist I come right home. I was in trouble as it was, I concluded. Why worry now about how much more I’d be in by not calling and not returning?
Instead, I went to the supermarket and bought the chicken, some easy-to-make frozen vegetables, bread, and a big chocolate cake I was sure Shawn and Patty Girl would like. When I drove back and pulled into Del’s driveway, I knew something was very wrong. The front door was still wide open, and I could hear the kids crying.
Slowly and now nervously, I carried the groceries to the house and hesitated at the door.
“Del?” I called.
“Get outta here,” I heard. “Just go, Teal.” His voice was full of hysteria.
I stood there, shuddering, my feet nailed to the concrete step.
“What’s wrong?” I cried.
I heard a terrible groan. Maybe I should have turned and run. Maybe my whole life would have been different if I had, but I didn’t. I entered the house and looking down the hallway into the kitchen, I saw a woman’s feet and legs on the floor. I hurried down and looked at Del trying to lift his mother, who had obviously passed out.
Shawn and Patty Girl were in the corner, cowering and crying.
“What happened?” I gasped.
“She came home dead drunk and then passed out. She’s done it before.”
“I’ll help you,” I said, and put the bags of groceries on the kitchen table.
His mother was about five feet eight and stout so she was heavy to lift, especially as a dead weight. Her straggly brown hair was over her face. The blouse she wore was stained and missing buttons. Her breasts sagged beneath the flimsy material. We lifted her and together, practically dragging her, brought her to her bedroom, which, although larger than the bedroom Shawn and Patty Girl had, was almost as disheveled and dirty.
After we lowered her to her bed, she moaned. Her eyelids fluttered, her arm jerked up, and then she blew out her lips and went unconscious again.
“Shouldn’t we get her to the hospital?”
“What for? They’d either laugh us out of there or commit her, which might not be a bad idea. Only then, they’d come and take the kids,” he said. “She’ll sleep it off and in the morning she won’t remember any of it, believe me,” he said with disgust. “C’mon.”
We left the bedroom. I looked back. She did seem dead to the world. He closed the door and turned his attention to Shawn and Patty Girl.
“Stop crying!” he ordered. “She’s just sleeping, just like you two have to be doing.”
Shawn had his arm around Patty Girl, who clutched herself.
“Oh, Del, they’re so scared.”
“Tell me about it,” he said.
I went to them and helped calm them down. Then he and I put them to bed.
“I’ve got a beautiful chocolate cake for you two,” I told them. “Tomorrow, you can eat it, okay?”
Shawn nodded.
“And Cissy, too,” Patty Girl said.