Heart To Heal

VII.

Chapter Seven.

"Zee, I'm hungry. Can we get McDonald's?" Harmony asked as they walked hand in hand. Zealand had just picked her up from school, and they were headed home.

"You got McDonald's money?" He retorted, looking down at her.

"No." She mumbled, swinging her ponytails back and forth.

Zealand felt bad. He couldn't even get his sister something simple as fast food, which happened to be cheap. The dollar menu was always their go to, but at the moment, simply sparing a couple of dollars was too much.

He sighed. "Look, I'll see if I can get you a happy meal this weekend, okay?"

Harmony's face instantly lit up. "Okay!"

He would try to collect the loose change that might've been floating around his room or around the house in general, and take it to the Coin Star to trade in for dollars.

"Pops said he's cooking today." Zealand said, making her furrow her eyebrows. Eddie wasn't much of a cooker, and usually left all the cooking up to Zealand. He only did it every now and then.

"That's...interesting." Harmony said, making her big brother chuckle.

As they crossed the street, Zealand could feel his phone vibrating in his pocket. He pulled it out, seeing that it was his father. He slid his finger over the screen, then held it up to his ear. "Hello?"

"Zealand, I need you to stop at the store and get a few things."

"What do you need me to get?"

"Some shredded cheese, five packs of Kool-Aid, sugar, garlic powder, pancake mix, cereal, milk, two yellow onions, and bananas. Oh, and you and Harmony can pick one snack each."

"Okay Pops, I'm headed in the direction of the store as we speak."

"You got the food stamp card?" He asked.

"Yes sir."

"Alright, don't buy nothing other than what I said. You know they cut us down to only $120 a month."

"Yeah, unfortunately.." Zealand sighed, shaking his head. "But, I won't. I'm only getting the stuff you told me to get."

"Okay, see you when you get home."

"Alright.." Zealand trailed off, before hanging up. His father wasn't acting like his usual self. He seemed more..chill. Eddie had his days where he wasn't acting like a total dick, but those days were rare.

As they walked towards the neighborhood mini market, Zealand caught glimpse of a homeless guy sitting by the door. He held a bottle of beer in his hand, and a cigarette in the other.

"Excuse me young brother, can you-"

He shook his head, "I can't help you man." Zee said, pulling Harmony closer to him. They entered the store, seeing that there wasn't many people inside.

He grabbed a red shopping basket, and headed down a random aisle. It just so happened to be the aisle with the seasoning, so he grabbed a bottle of garlic powder like his father had instructed.

As Zealand and Harmony gathered everything that Eddie said to get, Harmony proceeded to tell him about her day and what she had learned at school. She expressed to him that they were learning a new way to do division, and it was a bit difficult. Zealand knew that feeling all too well. He sucked at math.

"Alright pops said we can each get one snack, so what snack do you want?" He asked her, resting his foot on the metal rack that was under the basket for holding boxes of sodas. Harmony placed her finger on her chin, tilting her head up as she took a second to think.