The Surly Bonds

Chapter 3

Richard sits on the couch with Phoebe. They hold their off-white ceramic plates, shoveling deconstructed lasagna into their mouths. Their eyes are glued to the TV as food leaps off their plate with the help of the dull, silver forks clutched in their hands. Annie lies on the brown carpet facing forward with a plate resting beneath her chin. She gently stabs the lasagna noodles, trying to separate the concentration of white cheese from the top of the yellow noodles and red sauce.

Richard rises from his seat, holding the plate with one hand. He exits the living room, and Phoebe sets her plate on the couch and reaches over to retrieve the remote. Within an instant, Richard returns to the living room, holding the math workbook. Phoebe springs back, leaving the remote untouched. Richard stands above Annie, blocking her view of the TV. He lowers the math workbook in front of her face. Annie smiles as she grabs the workbook, and places it next to her plate of partially eaten lasagna. "You want to be an astronaut, right?" Richard asks.

"Yeah," Annie replies.

"If you don't start getting this stuff down, you're never going to become one."

"Fine."

Annie sighs heavily and stands up from the floor, swooping up the math workbook as she languidly walks to the kitchen. Richard follows behind Annie, and they sit at the kitchen table once again. Annie aggressively pulls out her chair and sits, pouting and frowning. Richard hands Annie a pencil, which she intentionally taps against the tabletop. "Do you remember where we left off?" Richard asks.

"Not really," Annie vacantly replies.

"We were going over multiples of three, remember?"

"I don't remember that."

"We went over this a few hours ago. What's three plus three?"

"Six."

"That's the same as three times two."

"Oh, right."

"Just keep adding three and you'll get all the multiples of three. Three, six, nine, twelve, fifteen, and so on until infinity."

"Yeah."

"Write down all the numbers that follow fifteen. Keep adding three."

Annie writes 15 and pauses. She writes down the numbers 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 36. "Not that bad, right?" Richard reassures Annie.

"No," Annie says, chuckling slightly.

"Above those numbers you wrote, label them starting at one, all the way to twelve. Next, try it with all four. Same thing, keep adding four, starting at four. What do you think the next number will be?"

"Eight."

"Very good."

The phone rings. Annie slightly jumps at the jarring sound. Richard stands and picks up the phone, answering, "Hello?"

Back at the Palmdale office, Mary wipes a smudge from a framed photo of her family as she greets, "Hi, honey."

"Do you know what time it is?"

"I know."

"Were you ever going to come home? Or even call?"

"My car broke down."

"It broke down? Don't say I didn't tell you so... so I hope you have a sleeping bag in your new office."

"The car is at a garage, but it won't be ready until tomorrow. I need you to pick me up."

"In Palmdale? And what should I do with the girls? I can't leave them alone."

"You can bring them."

"Yes, a two-hour car ride with them is exactly what I need right now."