gangster mothers.
âDad, guess what?â
âChicken butt?â
âWell, yeah. Sort of.â
âWhat?â
âI got a job! I start tomorrow!â
âWhere?â
âCruisy Chicken!â
âDo you get free chicken?â
âI donât know.â
âWell, you should work that into your contract.â
âOkayâ¦â
âSo, thatâs good. This is your first job, right?â
âYeah.â
âWell, donât make it your last.â And then he turned back to his mountain of mutilated beer cans.
I was too tired to ask what the hell he was doing with the cans. I went upstairs and studied my lines for the play. I wished that my sisters had been there to read for the other parts. The three of us could have acted out all the characters. That would have been a riot.
âTAMAR! PHONE!â My mom was home from yoga.
I went to the parentsâ room and picked it up. âGot it. Hello?â
Mom listened in for a minute and then hung up.
âHey, Tamar, itâs Roy.â
âOh, hey. Whatâs going on?â
âMy cousin and his girlfriend are coming in tomorrow from Lethbridge.â
âOkayâ¦â
âYeah. So anyway, weâre going glow bowling.â
I said nothing. I saw the horrible note again in my mind.
âYou know that one on the Deerfoot?â
âUmâ¦â
âWell, would you like to come with us?â
âBowling?â
âGlow bowling, yeah.â
âUhâ¦â
âMy cousin will drive.â
âAh, what the hell,â I said. âSure, Iâll come.â
âCool. Weâll pick you up around eight.â
I hung up and went downstairs. Mom was making broccoli salad, and Dad was getting a beer from the fridge.
âIs it okay if I go to the Glow Bowl tomorrow night?â
âWith who?â she said.
âWhatâs that?â he said.
âRoy and his cousins. Glow-in-the-dark bowling.â
âIs Roy your boyfriend?â Mom asked.
âNo! Ew!â
âIâm just asking. Itâs okay if he is.â
âWeâre not. Heâs not. Heâs just a friend who happens to be a boy, okay?â
âOkay.â
âSo, can I?â
âI donât see why not. David?â
âWhoâs driving?â
âRoyâs cousin.â
âHow old is he?â
âI donât know. Twenty!â
My dad grunted.
âAs long as you make sure to call us when you get there and let us know youâre okay, and call before you leave and let us know when youâll be home,â Mom said.
âAnd be home before ten!â Dad said. He hobbled back to the living room, waving a crutch for emphasis.
âFine,â I sighed.
This is what I will have to deal with for the rest of my life: paranoid parents, crazy early curfews, no driving with anyone under twenty years old and constant interrogation. All because my stupid sisters had to go and die. Frigging idiots.
Donât think that. Donât think that . God. I took a deep breath and held it in. Then, right before my lungs exploded, I slowly, slowly let it out. I went into the living room and gingerly readjusted Dadâs leg so that I could sit on the couch with him while he watched the news and cut up cans.
âDad, what are you doing?â
âDr. Zwicky said I needed a project.â
âSo youâre cutting up beer cans?â
âYeah.â
âThatâsâ¦interesting.â
âIt keeps my mind off the pain.â
âIn more than one wayâ¦â
He chuckled. It was a rare sound from him lately.
âTwo birds with one can, eh?â I said, kicking a can over to his side of the couch.
âShh!â
âWhat?â
âWhatâs that noise?â
âWhat noise?â
âShh, listen.â
âI donât hear anything.â
He clicked the TV off.
A humming sound was coming from