Picking Cherries

Beginning

 ”There must be some kind of mistake? Normally the money goes straight from my bank account to yours? That's how I always pay my bills”

I know it's wrong for me to eavesdrop on my dad, but it's kinda hard not to hear him, when his voice is so god damn loud. And when he got a letter this morning, his behavior suddenly changed. He yelled at me when I asked for him to pass the butter, so obviously I knew something wasn't right. And now I think I know.

”No. No, check again. I'm sure it's a mistake”

He sounds so frustrated, and it's really annoying not to be able to hear the other person on the line. If only we had a second phone. As I sit here on the other side of the kitchen door where my dad is, I hear him smash something. It sounded as if he threw a plate or two at the ground, plus the phone. But I didn't move a muscle. I'm used to this, there's always something getting ruined in this home. If it isn't plates, it's chairs, and if it isn't chairs, it's walls. For not talking about hearts.

”EMILY!”

Oh God. I walked into the kitchen. My dad is standing there with a tomato red furious face, and I have no idea what to say nor think.

”Yeah?”

”Please get a beer for your old dad, yeah?”

Is that it? I thought he was gonna take his anger out on me or something.

”Yeah, sure...”

”Make sure it's cold love”

”Yeah yeah, alright”

I gave him a small smile, and turned on my heel. When he says 'cold beer', he means the ones in the windowsill. They aren't really that cold, but I guess for an ex-alcoholic it's fine. I grabed a beer, and walked back to the kitchen to hand it to my dad.

”Here”

”Thank you darling”

I kinda hate when he calls me that, I don't know why, I just do.

”So... Is everything alright?”

He gave me a confused look, and I reffered to the smashed plates by pointing at 'em.

”Oh, that. Don't worry about that sweetheart”

”It's funny... You always say that, but we always end up getting kicked out.”

”We're not going anywhere this time, I promise. They're not taking this house away, don't you worry”

Gosh I wanna hit him. We've been living 10 different places, which means ten different cities for the last five years. My mom died when I was 2. My dad started turning to alcohol out of grief when I was 5, so my grandparents looked after me most of the time. He stopped drinking 2 years ago, or... He stopped drinking heavily 2 years ago. It's only a small amount now. But I started living with my dad again when i turned 12, because my grandma and grandpa died, and that's where the whole moving thing started. My dad was trying so hard to live a normal and healthy life again, that he forgot to pay the bills, which lead to getting kicked out and having to search for a new place. At the moment, we live in Bristol, but only God knows for how much longer. We've been here for about 5 months I think. I hate it here to be honest, it's a shit hole.

”If you say so. I'm late for school, do you have some money for food? I'm all out”

”Sure, just take some from my wallet. It's in the tv room”