The Struggle Of Our Lives

Chapter 12, continued.

Then it was time to check out.

I handed the woman the rest of the money I had, which ended up being 5 dollars in singles.

She packed my things into a bag and sent me on my way. We thanked her and began our walk home.

We were about halfway down the road before Teddy asked me something. "Hey sissy?" Tedd asked. "Yeah?"

He tapped the cold bottle through my shirt. "Why you buy Mommy's drink?" He asked.

I scowled to myself, wishing the twins didn't call  alcohol by that name. "It's for dinner." I replied.

"So why you didn't give it to the lady?" He continued. "Well Teddy, that's cause the lady thinks that beer's only for grownup's."

He didn't say anything after that, I supposed he got his answer.

We continued our walk home, and got back at around 4:30 p.m.

I set Teddy down and he ran down the hill and inside the house to tell Charlotte he was home.

I slid down the hill, bag in hand, using my forearm to keep the beer in place. Then, I placed everything next to the dwindling fire, alongside the chicken and beer from my last grocery run.

Now I have to figure out how I'm getting more money, I thought to myself.

I abandoned camp again to drag the mostly empty bucket down to the river. I dumped the contents out next to another large bush, making a compost area, then washed out the bucket in the river, the cold water assaulting my fingertips as I did so.

I wiped my hands off on my dirty jeans, and checked my phone for the date. The day was the 18th of May. It was hard to believe the twins birthday was 8 days ago.

It was even harder to believe I'd be turning 11 in two months. I felt a sense of pride, knowing we were all still happy and healthy, even though at times I had no idea what I was doing.

I had an idea. After dinner, once the kids were asleep, I made a plan to go to the abandoned garage to see how dilapidated it was.

If it wasn't too destroyed, maybe I could convert it into a bigger, warmer house, maybe for winter.

I walked the bucket back to camp, with a spit of water left at the bottom so I could clean the chicken. I got back to camp and ripped the plastic off of the chicken container I had bought.

I pulled out the chicken, and washed one piece at a time in the water. Once all the blood was off, I tossed the bucket full of bloody water off into the woods, and set aside the container.

I poured some oil into the bucket , making the bottom covered in oil, then put it on the fire. I then added two eggs, and twisted off the top of one of the bottles of beer. I poured about half the bottle into the bucket and used the ladle to stir it together.

Once the mixture was boiling slightly, I dumped the chicken into it, and used the ladle to cover the chickens in juices.

After about 15 minutes of this, I called out to the kiddos to come get their food. I took the bucket off the fire and used a fork to take out the chicken.

I took out the 4 plates from the grocery bag and put all the chicken on one plate to make a platter. Then, once Teddy and Lotte came out of the house, I took the other three plates and filled them with our dinner.

"Blow on it!" I reminded, laughing at Teddy who's mouth was full of chicken, tilting his head from side to side to avoid being burnt. Amazingly, the chicken came out better than I expected, and to celebrate, I drank the other half of the beer I had bought.

It tasted bitter, almost, but it wasn't bad tasting and I decided to save the other bottle for tomorrow. Once we ate our delicious dinner, I tucked the twins into bed, told them a story and slid the bronze slate over the doorway.

I pulled out my phone and turned on my flashlight. I walked towards the old abandoned garage and past the berry bushes. Once I got to the building, I used my flashlight to look over the outside of the structure.

There didn't seem to be any holes or cracks on the sides, so I walked around the side of the garage to the door. I jiggled the doorknob and found it to be locked.

Damnit.

I looked around the side of the garage and noticed an open window. I smiled to myself before walking through the flora to inspect the window. It looked to be open enough for me to crawl in, and so I tossed my phone inside, miraculously landing face down so I could still see.

I swung a leg inside the window, and moved my torso inside, then swung my left leg inside as well.

I pushed the window closed, and locked it. I bent down to grab my phone and used it to look around further. There was only one window, and one door, both of which I had seen, and of course the sliding door for a car. I looked around for a light-switch to see if It was automatic. I did, and flicked the ON side upward.

I heard a loud screech for a second, which made me jump in surprise.

No way.

The door was opening!

I didn't expect the mechanism to still work, and I watched amazed as the door slide into it's upright position.

I used my flashlight to look around me once again, and found that there was but one hole in the ceiling, but was mostly covered up by a pipe. My eyes followed the pipe downward and saw a coal furnace.

No way, I thought again.