The Struggle Of Our Lives

Chapter 12: road trip

Time for some tea.

I blew into the bucket, trying to cool down the drink before we had any. Soon, the twins came back from the river, washed cups in hand.

I thanked them and took the cups from them. I turned back to the bucket and used the ladle to fill up the blue cup with tea, leaving out the berries and leafs from the bottom, then handed it off to Charlotte.

She took the cup from me and blew on it some before sipping it. Then I repeated the process with Teddy's red cup, then with my green cup.

We congregated back inside and sat around in a circle, sipping our tea.

"What do you guys want for breakfast?" I asked. "I already have dinner planned."

"Can I have cereal?" Charlotte asked. I nodded and looked to Teddy to see what he thought.

"I'm not hungry. What's for dinner?" He replied.

"Beer battered chicken." I began. "We haven't had it in a while. It'll be our first real meal together." I had previously referred to our chicken and ramen as a real meal, but It still wasn't something Trinity would make for us.

Plus I wouldn't consider it to be the healthiest option for us. Not that beer was any better.

"I need to make a quick run to the store though. Who wants to come with?" I asked.

"I'm tired." Char replied.

"I'll go!" Teddy said.

Now now, I knew you shouldn't leave young kids alone, but Charlotte has always been a tough cookie. Plus, we lived out in the woods, nobody's gonna knock on the door.

"If you get hungry, we have some snacks in my suitcase, ok?" I emphasized.

She nodded, slurping up the rest of the tea, then promptly yawning.

I gathered up some snacks, some leftover cash and picked Teddy up on my hip, and prepared to walk back to the city.

I pulled out my phone and looked up what else I'd need for the chicken. I made a mental note to get some eggs, oil, and more beer. I knew I'd only need about half of a bottle, which I already had, but I wanted to save some for myself.

I had never had beer before, and wanted to try some. I also looked up if I should change the recipe for Char, considering her POTS, but figured she'd be fine.

After a while, Tedd decided to get down, and only walked for about a quarter of a mile before wanting upsies again.

Eventually, we got back to the dollar store. I opened the door with my left hand, holding Teddy on my right hip with my other hand.

I walked to the fridges and picked up a small box of eggs, and found a small bottle of cooking oil. I walked back to the alcohol section and picked up a slightly larger bottle and stuck in back in my waist band, using my shirt to cover it.

Teddy noticed this, but didn't say anything about it. Because he was on my hip, he covered any bulge the cashier would've seen.

Then it was time to check out.