Shameless

84|We Become What We... Frank!

Carla woke up to Carl's alarm clock. "Jesus, I can hear that from here." Carla whispered to herself as she got off her bed.

Carla changed into a white tank top and camouflaged pants and walked downstairs. "Discipline. Commitment. In bed. Lights out are 2100." Carl told Liam.

"Up at 0530." Carla added to his sentence. "In the field at 0630. The warrior way." Carl said as he put Bacon on a plate.  "Is that grits?" Fiona asked. "And eggs,flapjacks,sausage and biscuits,and breakfast meats." Carl said as he put food on the plate.

"Whoa." Fiona said. "Gotta stay strong to man the gates. Preserve America for all those fat-ass coastal elites taking our liberty for granted." Carl said as he sat down. "What gates?" Liam asked.

"The gates that protect us from tyranny and oppression." Carla said as she poured coffee into a cup. "How are you gonna eat all that?" Liam asked. "I gotta stay combat ready for the fall. I'm a cadet Corporal now." Carl said.

"And so am I." Carla said, taking a sip of her coffee. "Corporals deal with hell week. Oh, I can't wait to torture those little seventh grade fuckers." Carl said as him and Carla did their handshake. "Espresso?" Carl asked, pointing at the Espresso Machine.

"You buy thst with some of your Monica meth money?" Fiona asked. "Yeah." Carl said. "Then no." Fiona said. "You sell my meth yet?" Ian asked, walking downstairs. "Moved Debbie's yesterday. Next Lip's. Then yours." Carl told him.

"Jesus." Fiona said. "Hey,I can't move it all at once--could attract cartel attention." Carl said. "Mm-hmm." Ian hummed. "What happened to ramrod-ready America patriot Corporal Carl and Carla?" Fiona asked.

"The most America thing is the pursuit of free enterprise,Fiona." Carla said as she leaned on the counter. "Where's my meth?" Liam asked. "You don't get any. And your brothers and sister shouldn't have taken any either." Fiona said, pointing at the twins and Ian.

"Okay,well,I guess you won't want to be luxurating in my AquaRest Bubble Master later today,then." Carl told her. "Your what?" Fiona asked. "Carl bought a hot tub with his Monica money." Ian explained.

"Sixteen jets and a waterfall." Carla said. "Gets delivered this morning." Carl said as Carla stole some of his food. "Do I have to go to all those birthday parties tomorrow?" Liam asked.

"How many'd you get invited to?" Fiona asked. "Four." Liam said. "Oh,they gonna have goodies bags like parties last weekend? Those Avengers DVD sets were pretty cool." Ian said as he made a Espresso.

"Mm,and the GameStop gift cards." Carl said. "Oh yeah." Carla nodded. "Oh,hey,go get dressed,Liam,okay? It's almost time for school." Fiona said. Liam got up and walked upstairs as Carla sat in the seat that he just sat in while Carl's bugle ring tone starting playing.

"Gotta raise the colors. Come on, Carla." Carl said as they stood up. "We have colors?" Ian asked as the twins walked outside.

~~

Carla was ironing clothes when Frank walked inside. "Namaste,namaste,namaste." Frank said. "Where the hell have you been?" Carla asked. "In mourning and meditation after the death of your mother. Acceptance,resurrection , enlightenment." Frank said.

"And..." Frank grabbed a cup that Carl had just washed. "We have to deny the existence of a permanent entity that remains constan behind the changing corpral or incorpral components of a living being. All things are in a constant state of Flux. All is changing. And no permanent state exists by itself." Frank said.

"Your mother---Holy Buddha rest her soul---stole my Chakra when I was 20 years old,and she kept it until her death,and now she's gone. And I'm free." Frank said with a smile on his face while Carla looked at him confused.