The Invisible World

Chapter 22: Rio

I entered my room and realized there wasn't a good place to eat a bowl of stew in here. There was the desk, but...actually there wasn't any reason not to eat there. It's a table, and it's been clutter free ever since we got all those records off of it.

I sat down, stabbed a potato, and began to blow on it. As I bit it off the fork, I heard a knock at the door. "Not now," I said. "I'm eating."

I heard Dad's voice on the other side. "It's me, Katie. I just want to talk."

I sighed. "What about?"

"About what just happened."

"Did Mom put you up to it?"

"Maybe..."

"Well, maybe once you'd actually like to apologize, you can come back."

"But I would like to apologize."

"Okay, but make it quick. I don't want my stew to get cold."

Dad opened the door. "Look, I'm sorry I brought up the husband topic again. You and your mom are both right. You have more on your plate to deal with right now." He looked at the bowl of stew in front of me. "Or in your bowl, as the case may be."

I turned to face him. "Are you here to make jokes, or are you here to talk?"

"Okay, okay. As I was saying, if you really aren't interested in this Jack fellow, I'll let it slide. I'm just confused about one thing you said."

"What is it?" I scooped up a couple ham cubes with my fork.

"You said he was interested in someone else, 'not that the book focuses on it.' What book?"

"The book we're in right now," I said.

Dad stood there silently for a second. "What?"

"Yeah, Mom reacted the same way," I mused. "We're living in a book. Like, nothing in this town is real. It's a work of fiction and one that's close to ending, too. That means everything is going to cease to exist, including you and me, which is another reason I shouldn't bother finding a hustand."

"Let's just drop the husband thing for a second." Dad knelt down next to me. "What can we do to help you get back on your feet again?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure if it's worth doing anything," I answered. "The last time I asked Jenny about it, she said we're two thirds of the way of the book, but we're probably far past that. I lost my job and my apartment for being a no-show, and if I were to find new ones, they'd just vanish with the rest of the town before long. I think I'd just rather stay with you and ride out the apocalypse."

Dad gasped. "You want to be a freeloader?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Do you not want to help your own daughter?"

"You will not speak to me that way, young lady."

"I'm being serious. I thought family was everything," I said. "Isn't that what we're told by every other family in this town? And then we have to say 'Yes, we believe that, too, so could you please quit treating us like savages who need to be civilized and let us practice our own religion?'"

Dad crossed his arms. "It wouldn't be right. I'm trying to instill a strong work ethic in you, Katie Tatulli. In this country, if you don't work, you don't eat."

"Sure, that mentality might have worked when America was a bunch of settlers trying to survive in the wilderness," I said, "but this is 1982. We have a roof over our heads and a stove in the kitchen, and last time I checked, Mom is the cook of the family. She is not going to let her daughter starve."