All I Ask

01

I got home from school at about 3:36 today, my favorite time of day. It's simple, basic math. 3+3=6. Easy.

"Harper's home!" Chara yelled as I walked through the door and took off my shoes. Danny looked up from his alphabet coloring sheet and ran over to give me a hug. I picked him up and swung him around, as if he was weightless. He smiled wide and giggled loudly until I put him down. His feet touched the ground, he ran back to the dining table and continued on with his work.

After having small talk with Chara and Danny, I walked upstairs and went into me, Chara's and Danny's room. Jack, his girlfriend Leah and their daughter Emilie slept in the living room, and my parents slept in the master bedroom. It wasn't really a master bedroom, more like a 1700's servant bedroom with no ceiling light, just a lamp sitting on the bedside table.

I walked to the small wooden desk next to my bed, and set my backpack down on the chair. I then took off my jacket and placed it in the closet, and removed a sweatshirt from a hanger. I slid it on and removed the hood. I then walked to the dresser that Chara and Danny share, but we all kept our socks in the same drawer. I opened the drawer and pulled out a pair of ankle socks and sat down on the bed and slid them on.

I grabbed my backpack and walked back to the dining room to start on homework.

When I got back downstairs, I noticed everyone was wearing their warmest clothes, and their breath clouded in front of them. The heater was shut off. The gas bill was due today.

Shit.

I ran back upstairs to see if mom or dad was home yet. It was supposed to be below freezing tonight, and the kid's winter blankets were in the wash today. I had to scavenge $30 dollars from my paycheck and another $30 from mom and dad. If I was lucky, Jack would come home from work soon enough to cover an extra $15 dollars for groceries.

"Mom! Dad! Are you guys home yet?" I yelled up the stairs.

No reply.

"Dammit!" I yelled after stubbing my toe on Chara's walking berry toy named Brianna that runs around screaming "I love you berry much!" and "You're my berry best friend!". She got it last year for Christmas as her only present, as a family of 6 living in a housing project in Chicago isn't the easiest to buy presents for. I recommended that we go get help from the Salvation Army Family Store, but my parents feel that the Salvation Army is for uneducated parents who have been to jail more than once. Jack and I gave up 80% of our paychecks to get presents for Danny, Chara and Emilie last year. The other 20% goes towards bills or food. I get my cash from the $20 a week I make from working at Starbucks. I hate my job and my co-workers (other than Taryn) but the pay is really all my family has left.

I ran over to Mom and Dad's bedroom and checked to see if anyone was in there. There was my mother, laying in bed asleep. I ran up to her and shook her awake, she sat up and stared at me.

"Harper? What's wrong" she said, confusedly

"The gas bill is due. Jack is on his way home with Leah, so if I can get $30 from you, I'll give him the cash and he can drop it off at the gas company on his way to work." I said firmly.

She sighed. 

"Fine. There's five $10 bills in the cupboard. Go and get it and bring it to me"

I walked downstairs and went to kitchen, where dishes filled the sink.

"Crap," I thought. "I have to do dishes tonight."

I went over to the cupboard and opened it. Lo and behold, the money was sitting on top of a stack of moldy tortillas.

"Ew" I said

I grabbed the money an walked back up to Mom's room.

I handed her the cash and she began to flip through it. She counted silently and finally removed three of the bills from the stack. She was about to hand it to me when she paused for a moment and took the remaining two and added it to the stack.

"Take the $50. Tell Jack to use the extra $20 for groceries."

I gave her a hug and walked down the hall and back downstairs. I sat down at the kitchen table where Danny stared down his coloring sheet as if giving it the death stare would magically fill in the blanks and unzipped my backpack. I pulled out my AP Calculus textbook and notebook and began to fill out problems. Chara stared at me from across the table, as if the solving of problems with numbers AND letters was some sort of wizardry that a third grader will never understand.

Just then, I heard Jack's car pull up in the driveway.