Truth

I wandered out into the kitchen, where Ellie was chopping up carrots and Dad was putting his secret sauce on the ribs for the barbeque. Dad heard me come in, and he glanced over at me. He had really brown eyes and curly brown hair.

"Hey, kiddo," he said, "could you do me a favor and take the snack tray out for everyone?"

Ellie turned around smiling, holding the platter, her blonde hair framing her freckled face. She put the platter in my arms. She fed me a carrot with some ranch on it. As she did, I saw Dad's hand move to her butt, and she jumped a little bit, and she gave him the same look that Mom gave him when he made jokes about Santa. That was okay though, because I already knew Santa wasn't real. I wasn't supposed to, because it was a secret, but I knew plenty of secrets. Everyone just thought I didn't know them because I just was a little kid.

I took the platter outside to the backyard, which was big, with trees, a shed, a pool and a lawn, and Dad had even said we might get a dog because we had such a large backyard. A few of the neighbors were in the pool, but they came out when they saw me with the snack tray.

Last year, our neighbors had all been my friends, but now that we moved, all our neighbors were strangers again. I knew their names, and where they lived, and I had been to most of their houses at some point, but there was still something missing to them that didn't really make them friends yet. It felt weird to be around them.

When I heard tires in the driveway, I ran around to the front yard in excitement. One of Dad's friends was there, smoking a cigarette, watching our new car pull up. I stood there and watched with him.

"You better not be poisoning my baby with those things," Mom said, as she got out of the car. Mom was tall and pretty, with long dark hair and strong, blue eyes.

"Not at all, Kate," said Dad's friend, but he snuffed out the cigarette and dropped it into his beer can, because when Mom told you to do something, you did it.

"You showed up just in time though, Thomas is about to put the ribs on."

"Glad to hear it," said Mom, "my husband knows his way around a grill."

In the kitchen, Mom kissed Dad, and Ellie smiled as she got a beer for Mom. I knew Dad wouldn't pinch Ellie's butt again, wouldn't even look at it.

"How was work?" asked Dad, opening Mom's beer for her.

"I gotta say," Mom said tiredly, drinking her beer, "It was not great. I got off early though, what with it being my birthday and all."

Ellie laughed, and leaned against the island, saying, "I don't know how you do it Katelyn, I could never put up with half the things you tell me about that hole. Whatever happened to that girl that used to skip class to go skinny dipping in the lake?"

"Wait what?" laughed Dad, "How come I never heard about this?"

"Oh, it was good times, Tom," said Ellie, "Kate here used to be quite the party queen back in high school."

"Well I knew she could hold her liquor," said Dad, "We met at a party back at Uni, she was in a drinking contest."

"Trust me Ellie," said Mom with a smile, "if you ever have kids, you'll know."

"Kids? I can barely get a date," said Ellie, and they all laughed at that.

I stared at Mom, at her dark black hair and her pale skin, and her blue eyes. There was a power in those eyes that made people notice her, that made them do what she said. She wore business clothes now, not like when we lived in a trailer, but I remember she had always dressed nice.