CODED

chapter two

Chapter two

     Abigail quickly wiped the butter knife in her hand clean with a fresh paper towel to get the mayonnaise off it, and then cut a banana with it, all the while trying to give food and water to the cat.  “Riley!”  She shouted for the five year old boy hastily, pouring the cat chow into the cat’s bowl as she threw the banana peel into the trashcan.  She gave the sandwich she had just made an expert karate chop, only succeeding in smooshing the bananas and mayonnaise out the side.  “RILEY!”  She called again, this time her tone less kind and more annoyed. 

     “What?!”  Riley’s boyish voice, thick with sleep, answered her from the living room, where he was probably watching tv. 

     “The school bus will be here in five minutes!”  Quickly wiping up the mess she had made with a dry towel, Abbigail gathered all her hair together in the back and tied an elastic around it, then tightening the ponytail.  “Come on and get your breakfast!”

     Riley ran into the kitchen, sliding on the tile floor with just his socks on his feet.  “I don’t want toast again,” he groaned, sticking his tongue out as Abigail pushed a plate with half burned toast and frozen butter towards him. 

     Abigail sighed as she stuffed three sandwiches in three different paper bags labeled with the initial of Abby, Riley, and M for their mother.  “I didn’t have time to make anything else.  My alarm clock went off late today.”  She glanced at the distasteful scowl on Riley’s face and shoved the paper bag in front of him.  “Your lunch, Mr. Blackburn.”

     “Thanks,” he muttered, grabbing the bag from her hands and stuffing the piece of toast in his mouth.  He grabbed a glass of orange juice that was sitting on the counter and drained it of its liquid contents, washing down his dry breakfast with it.  “Have you seen my backpack?”

     Abigail raised her eyebrows and shook her head, concentrating on trying not to burn her mother’s piece of toast.  “No.  Have you lost it again?”  She turned an almost accusing eye towards him as the toast popped out of the toaster.  Riley jumped at the sudden surprise motion, but Abigail remained motionless, as if it was just a new song playing on the radio.  “Riley?”

     “I didn’t lose it,” he said, bringing his empty glass over to the filled sink of dirty dishes.  “I just can’t find it.”

     “Oh,” Abigail nodded her head in understanding.  “Okay.  Well maybe you should go and find it before the school bus gets here.”

     Riley nodded in assent and dashed upstairs to his room as quickly as his legs would let him.

     Placing the unburned piece of toast on a scratched, old looking plate, Abigail gingerly spread a chunk of soft butter onto it, not saving any for her piece.  She also poured a glass of orange juice in a foggy, chipped glass and placed that, along with the toast, on a platter to take up to her mother, who was probably still sleeping.  Abigail knew that the past year had been hard on her while their father was away - fighting for their freedom in a different country -, so she had done her best to do all she could for her mother that made her burdens less heavy.  Abigail thought that she would appreciate it, or at least acknowledge it, but her mother didn’t.  It seemed as if all their mother ever did was sleep, go to work (and that seemed to happen less and less often every week), eat, and sleep again. 

     I wish you were here, Daddy, Abigail sighed, walking slowly towards her parent’s room down the hallway.  You would know how to get her back to normal.  As she reached her mother’s room, Abby hesitated to open the door.  She might either get yelled at for disturbing her, or be called an angel for thinking of her “poor, helpless mother”.  It varied these days since...