Rush Home Road by Lori Lansens

to have a bath every night, even when she wasn’t very dirty. Mostly Claude and Collette got along fine, until Collette got mad one night because he wouldn’t ever sleep over.
    â€œI don’t get it, Claude,” Collette said after she thought Sharla’d fallen asleep between them on the sofa. “You can fuck me in my bed, but you can’t sleep in my bed?”
    â€œDon’t you think you’ve had enough?” Claude gestured at the beer in her hand and the empty bottles on the table. He didn’t imbibe and didn’t approve.
    Collette took a long swig. “I’m sick of this. When we moving out to River Road?”
    â€œAfter we get married.”
    â€œWhen we getting married?”
    â€œAfter you meet my Mum.”
    â€œWhen am I meeting your Mum?”
    â€œWhen you stop saying the ‘f’ word.”
    â€œDoes your Mum say you can’t sleep here? That it?”
    Claude didn’t answer.
    â€œYou’re twenty-fucking-four years old! Fuck your mother!”
    â€œShut up about my Mum, Collette. It’s not just my Mum. What about Father Charlie at the school?”
    â€œWho gives a shit what Father Charlie thinks?”
    â€œYou knew when we started I got religion and that’s important to me. I give a shit. God gives a shit. And keep your voice down. Your daughter’s sleeping right there.”
    Collette laughed and pointed at him with her beer bottle. “ You know what God thinks?”
    Claude rose, pulling on his skunky cowboy boots, saying, “I’m going now.” He bent to kiss her but she pulled away. “I’ll swing by tomorrow.”
    Collette shook the beer bottle at him, not laughing this time. “What does God think about me sucking your cock, Claude?”
    Claude’s face turned red then white then red again. He snatched his vinegary coat from the kitchen chair and he was gone. He never swung by the next night or anyother night. Collette was sorry about missing out on the River Road but she told Krystal she’d have likely choked him in his sleep anyway and didn’t she just save herself a peck of grief.
    Sharla knew she wasn’t getting the words right as she reached up with her voice, remembering the way Claude sounded and how she wished he were her Daddy and singing along with her. “Be just good and right and you’ll see tonight. Have a happy safety day.”
    It wasn’t the singing that woke Addy Shadd. She couldn’t hear the child in the other room, didn’t know she was singing, or that she’d eaten all the coconut cookies Addy kept for when her sweet tooth acted up. What woke Addy Shadd was a dream she wasn’t anxious to get back to. Still, she wasn’t ready to get out of bed just yet and didn’t know how she was going to tell this child she had to go back to her mother.
    When the bedroom door opened, Sharla stuffed her pepper-shaker doll into her pocket and sat still on the sofa bed. She watched Addy Shadd grow from small to large as she moved forward down the hall. Sharla wanted to say many things but she learned it was best not to say too much in the morning because there was usually a hand nearby to smack you and sometimes you had a smart mouth when you never even knew. She smiled at Addy Shadd though, and couldn’t help it.
    Addy Shadd had pulled her hair back in pins like she always wore it in daytime. Her head looked smooth andher ears stuck out like they ought to have faces of their own. She was wearing a starchy yellow plaid housedress and short baby blue socks with nurse-looking white shoes. She was silent as she neared the sofa bed and Sharla flinched, wondering if she could smell the cookies. Addy Shadd sat on the sofa bed and reached out gently to touch the goose egg on her head. “Mmm-hmm. Guess you’re gonna live.”
    Sharla let her touch and didn’t care it hurt.
    â€œSuppose we should have iced it.”
    Sharla just