Sarah looked back at the twins. At fourteen years old, they were small but good looking, just like their little brother. Jeremiah sat in the front seat beside her quietly, the ten year old not ready to face his brothers.
"don't look at me like that!" she snapped at Cody, taking a drag from her cigarette, her ratty blonde hair pulled back in a messy ponytail. The boy looked sadly at the floor of the van, and then at his twin.
"it ain't that bad" Jeremiah assured them. He looked more like a little girl, his hair long, wearing a pare of jeans that were clearly made for a girl, flowers embroidered down the sides. He pulled out a cigarette from the glove compartment for himself, then one for each of his brothers. He lit them, stuck one in his mouth, and passed the other two back.
"We don't smoke" Zack muttered bitterly
"Well now you do!" Sarah announced, taking her eyes off the road "I'm your momma now. I had to hunt you two down, but I knew you was out there somewhere. That foster momma of yours is gone, ain't a thing you can do about it, so you'd better get used to it!" she took the cigarette out of her mouth and tapped it with her finger, letting the ashes fall to the floor of the van.
Hesitantly Cody reached up and took the cigarette, then looked at it for a second, unsure of what to do. Mimicking Jeremiah he put it in his mouth and breathed in, not expecting the thick, sooty smoke that came out the other end. He coughed violently, the cigarette falling from his mouth to his jeans, sending up a tiny explosion of soot.
"What the hell's the matter with you?" she yelled. He brushed off the soot and cigarette butt from his jeans onto the floor. Her hand flew from the front of the van and smacked him up the side of the head hard enough to make a noise.
"have some dang respect!" she screeched.
Jeremiah turned back, offering an apologetic glance before putting Zack's cigarette out on the knee of his jeans and placing it back in the box. Sarah ruffled Jeremiah's hair, the rage slowly bleeding from her eyes.
"You'll get used to it" she smiled "Jeremiah always wanted some new brothers. And I could use a few more little sisters."
Zack's head shot up "what?"
Her smile grew "Well if I'm gonna be taking care of you, I'm gonna need a little help. And you get more help if you got three little sisters. Plus, you like being a girl, don't you Jeremiah?"
The little boy nodded and smiled.
"you two are real pretty" she smiled "just like your momma"
"You're not my mom" Zack snapped "And just because our real mom died doesn't mean that some random stranger can just step in!"
"You two is the ones that got away" she breathed in her cigarette again "That new momma of yours adopted you. But she's dead now, and your daddy don't matter. But trust me honey, the two of you spent nine months on the inside, and if you think it was a walk in the park to get you out, you're stupid. So show some damn gratitude, I just rescued you from the next three years in foster care. C'mon, we're gonna have fun. Jeremiah's been having fun, right?"
The little boy looked up and smiled, reaching under the seat for a bear. He opened the top with his teeth and started to chug it down.
"Hay!" Sarah yelled, shoving him with her free hand "Share it, that's the last one, and your new brothers haven't had any"
He took one last gulp and passed the bottle back. Cody took it and took a swig, gagging on the stale taste, then handed it to Zack.
"We don't-" he stammered
"what" Sarah laughed "don't drink? Now you do. Those old rules, you don't gotta live with them now. Just show some respect, 'yes ma'am' and 'no ma'am', alright?"
"yes Ma'am" Cody whispered. Zack looked at his brother with sheer terror.
"Open the car door!" he ordered "we'll walk back to the Tipton, I'm sure sombody'll take care of us, we'll call my dad! Thanks for the help, but no thanks!"
"boy when we get home you're gonna wish you hadn't said that. Now we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Looks like Cody chose the easy way, but when Jeremiah was little he chose the hard way. Only took a few good beatings to straighten him out, but he was only five. Probably gonna take a few more for you, but you'll learn"
"you'll learn" Jeremiah nodded "Sarah taught me how to be good. And if she hurts you, it's just because she loves you. But don't be bad, or you'll die in hell, that's what my grandpa said!"
"see, he's a good boy. And I'll make you good too." She pulled into a trailer park and drove down to the end of one of the roads and pulled into the driveway.
A man walked out in a wife-beater and something that resembled jeans, but were covered in sharpie marker.
"Hay baby" he smiled "how are my two favorite girls doing?"
"Good daddy" Jeremiah said, batting his eyes in an almost provocative way and holding his mother's hand. His voice was high and girly. Zack nudged cody.
"is he gay or something?"
Cody shrugged.
"C'mon you two!" Sarah called to them. Hesitantly, they stepped out of the car.
"Jackson, these are my little boys. Zack and Cody, although god knows I didn't give them those fruity names"
"Pretty" he said with a grin "just like their momma. And they already got such nice hair" he walked over to Cody, running his hand through the boy's shoulder length hair.
"hay Jackson" she smiled "the other one's gonna be a real problem. Plain out disrespectful"
Zack looked down at the malnourished lawn
"Is that true?" Jackson asked him. He nodded timidly, and the man's face turned to stone.
"Jeremiah, go show Cody his new room, Me and Zack are gonna have to have a little talk"