Mom is furious
calls her lawyer and
flees with the kids to Lewis’s
small apartment
outside Pittsburgh.
It’s summer break,
and she wants me to come, but
Sequinette practice is starting
and I’m excited about
needing a smaller skirt
and being a senior
but mostly about the smaller skirt.
I don’t mind staying.
Dad’s always been a happy drunk
and he’s kind of drunk all the time now.
Says, “Holy cow,” I look great.
Is so proud of me for losing so much weight.
Introduces me to a pretty young brunette
with makeup spackled thickly over her acne
who drapes herself around his neck like
he belongs to her.
Dad can’t get over
how wonderfully thin I am,
doesn’t give me shit about
skipping meals
or my Kellogg’s Special K dinners.
We stay up late,
hang out on the couch
watching Carson, SNL, and Cosby.
Zero percent of Lewis’s rules,
in fact, we mock the chore chart together.
Although when it’s time to wake up to
scout for a job,
I begin to suspect
the coolest people to hang out with
maybe don’t make the best dads.