Long Days

Chapter 7

Peter stood in the middle of their apartment, watching two strangers remove their couch. At first it was weird having random people come into their home and take things away, but Peter quickly grew used to it. First the TV and DVD player. Then the television stand and two bookshelves. Some of the books themselves. The small square dinner table and it's accompanying chairs. And today, the couch. Originally May had been sentimental about selling the couch since she had picked it out with Ben when they first moved into the apartment, but the possibility of a couple extra hundred dollars in their pocket was too enticing to resist for very long.

When May lost her job, the pair had sat down over Thanksgiving break to figure out a plan of action. Plan A would have been used if May had found a job within one week, but that didn't happen. Now, over two weeks later, they were following Plan B: while May continued to search for a new job, they would sell non-essential items. It wasn't a big deal; like Peter had previously thought, they didn't use their television anyway.

Unfortunately, things weren't selling fast enough and May was losing hours at the department store to temporary holiday workers, so some other precautions had to be implemented. For one, both smart phones had been sold for two basic flip-phones. Initially, Peter insisted that he didn't need a cell phone at all, but May didn't want him traveling around the city without one. They also cancelled their internet contract, leaving Peter to do his homework by means of the café's free wifi. This also wasn't a big deal to Peter: he barely did his homework in the first place.

Through all the cut-backs, Peter remained calm. Living a minimalistic life never killed anyone, right? He tried to take the depressing situation in stride, thinking of how appreciative he would be when they finally had cable and internet in their house again. It was just another life lesson in gratitude, right? So what if his friends were getting new laptops for Christmas? He didn't need those things to be happy. He didn't need a couch to have a home.

For a while, Peter convinced himself that the situation was normal and that everything was fine. However, a few days after the couch was sold, a new implementation forced Peter to face the reality of the situation.

"Peter? Are you in there?" May called, rapping her knuckles on his bedroom door.

From his bed, Peter looked at the clock. Eleven at night. "Uh, yeah, of course. Come in, what's up?"

Once she walked in, May sat down next to him. "How's homework going?" she asked, trying to make polite conversation before jumping right into her reason for being there.

Peter shrugged. "Oh, um, it's fine," he lied. He never did homework outside of his mornings with Castine. If he didn't finish the homework in the morning, then it didn't get done. His grades had picked up a little from those morning sessions, but they plummeted again after Thanksgiving. Peter thought he might be failing U.S. History, but he couldn't even care enough to check his current grade. Not wanting May to know all this, he asked, "What's going on? Did someone buy the coffee table?"

May gave a half-hearted laugh. "No, we didn't sell the table. But, I did come in to talk about money."

"I figured," Peter commented, grimacing.

"I'm sorry, Peter." She sighed. "It's about our December bills."

Peter looked up at Aunt May. This conversation was going to be worse than he thought.

May continued, "We'll have to put all the money from the couch towards rent which leaves the water, electricity, and gas bills."

"And food," Peter added.

"Yes, and food," May agreed. "In fact, we'll need extra food this month because you'll be home from school in a little over a week. You'll need breakfast and lunch here for two weeks. On top of that, we really need to get you new shoes because it's expected to snow this week." She looked at his shredded sneakers on the floor.