The next day when I took Berk to school, I was more careful.

I made sure to take extra precautions like varying our routine and taking different routes. I even drew a map of the school and potential exits in case we were compromised:

I didn’t see Bart but I knew he was watching and I hoped he was helping. Not waiting to turn us in.

~

My goals at school were these:

Take care of Berkeley.

Smile.

Keep everything normal.

Draw no attention to myself.

Not get caught.

~

My goals at home were these:

Make Mom eat.

Figure out why Mom is working late and not putting Berk in day care.

Make Mom talk more. (She had gotten back to being quieter except to tell Berk she wouldn’t sing at the circus.)

Do the laundry.

Change the air filters on the swamp cooler.

Clean the bathroom, especially the floor.

Enter more contests.

~

I made all my school goals on Monday but the home goals were harder.

I changed the filters.

I did the laundry.

I sort of cleaned the bathroom but it was gross.

I entered more contests, even ones that weren’t so good like I could win a complete set of Louis L’Amour books, which I don’t even know who that is.

I did all that but the Mom goals were harder.

She got home late again and didn’t talk even though I waited up and when I got her cereal and Diet Coke in the morning, she only took the Coke.

Same thing on Tuesday.

Then, on Wednesday night, she got in a huge huge screaming fight with Tandi on our front patio.

Tandi was yelling at her about work. Something about not doing a good job on a house. One she was covering for Tandi.

And Mom said something quiet.

She had been watching Wheel of Fortune and me and Berk were playing Operation but without batteries because they ran out, when Tandi came over and told her to come talk to her outside.

At first the conversation was quiet. But then it got loud.

Tandi yelled again. “I got you this job and I’m not going to lose it because of you.”

Mom: “I’m sorry, Tandi, okay? I’ve had a lot going on.”

Tandi: “Oh come on, LeAnn. You’ve had a year to get your crap together.”

Then Tandi went on and on about things that had been happening. Houses. Clients. Money. She said something about me and Berk. I held my breath.

Did she know?

Did she know?

But then she didn’t say anything about school or day care so maybe she didn’t. And was Mom going to lose her job?

I looked at Berk and she looked at me. Both of us frozen. I took her hand.

Finally, when it all ended and Tandi said, “You need to get it together, LeAnn. And soon.”

Mom said: “Get off my property.”

And then Tandi laughed like this was the most hilarious thing in the whole world.

Mom came inside.

I waited. Maybe she’d come sit down and tell us everything.

But she walked back to her room and slammed the door.

And Berk took the guy’s liver out.