My name is Analiese Pfeiffer and I'm a demigod. Of course, I didn't know that until about the time I was eleven. Maybe my mom knew who my dad really was, but she never said anything. No. She loved my father. I guess that's why she had six children with him. He didn't stick around long much. My mom said after she found out she was pregnant with me, she didn't see him again until I was nearly six years old. Nine months later my little brother Jake was born. I remember seeing him twice between Jake's birth and Tyler's. Later, we'd have three more brothers, Alexander, Benjamin, and Jacob.
By the time I was eleven, I didn't even know my father's last name. I knew his face. Or at least I thought I did. My mom just called him Fred. I always thought it was weird. He didn't look like a Fred. He looked young. Curly blond locks like me and my brothers all had and bright blue eyes.
We could have been one of those families they have in the picture frames when you buy them, you know if my dad was around constantly. And we didn't live in a trailer park.
I think it was around the time that Tyler was born that I really started hating my dad. He never did a thing for my ma or me and my brothers. Things just started happening that were just so bad. And did my dad ever show up to help?
Of course not.
When my mom was pregnant with Tyler, she had to take off work. You know, she couldn't very well waitress when she nine months pregnant. But after he was born, they wouldn't take her back. Her boss yelled at her and said an unmarried twenty seven year old had no business with three kids.
I forgot to mention that my mom got pregnant with me when she was sixteen. It wouldn't have been so bad, but her parents kicked her out, at least expecting my dad to help her. He didn't. She had to drop out of school and tried to support me, though the government had to help out.
I didn't blame my mom though. She was sweet and had a big heart. And boy could she sing. Her voice could sooth and angry tiger.
After she lost her job though, she stopped singing mostly. Things got rough for a long time. After she lost her job we had to move into a smaller trailer. It only had one bedroom. Ty's crib was shoved in the corner and me, Jake, and my mom all slept on the bed.
I remember the exact day that things shattered. It was a normal day, or at least something that had become normal. My mom was lying in her bed and I was trying to get Jake ready for school. Tyler was crying because he was hungry. He was about four months old then. Mom still hadn't found another job.
"Jake, c'mon, you gotta get ready for kindergarten!" I yelled, my thick Alabama drawl coming out. Of course though, it didn't sound anything but normal, because that's where we lived. Alabama.
"I don't wanna go!" he said stubbornly. His curls covering his eyes as he shook his head furiously.
"You're going!" I yelled at him. "Now stop being so stupid and get ready. We can't be late!" I guess that finally got him to move. He sure was stubborn for a five year old. He did go to the pile of clothes though and get dressed. Tyler was still crying. I guess it was going to be one of those days for mom. I hurried and brushed my hair. It wasn't so curly like Jake's, but it was wavy and hard to deal with. I gave up and hurried over to Tyler and scooped him up. It didn't look like ma had changed him at all this morning. He was cranky and got why. But it didn't make changing him any easier. I got a bottle for him and set him in his carrier. Ma wasn't going to watch him today. Maybe Ms. Gready would.
She was an old lady. Retired. Sweet as could be. She said she moved to the trailer park after her husband died because her house was too big, but she didn't want to be in some old folks home. I made a diaper bag and some bottles, and then made sure Jake had his stuff too. I grabbed my book bag and Ty in his carrier. With my free hand I took Jake's hand and we left.
I didn't say anything to Ma. She wouldn't notice. Not today anyway. We walked three trailers down and I banged on the door. Ms. Gready opened it and smiled, kindly.
"Ms. Gready, my mom's sick today. Could you watch Tyler while me and Jake go to school?" I asked, hesitantly. For a lady that was supposed to be retired, she looked youngish, I guess. There was still color in her face and her hair wasn't grey. It was like a curly, faded, brown. She still looked pretty, like she could have been a model when she was young.
She nodded. "Of course dear," she said with another smile. "You know I just love having him here."
"Thank you ma'am," I said softly as I handed over my little brother. "I just fed and changed him. He should be good on the feeding for a while. There's some bottles too. But in case there wasn't enough to last, I put the formula in there too. And I think he's getting' kinda a cold. Put some of that pee-de-a-light stuff in there too…" I think that's what it was called.
I knew that look in Ms. Gready's eyes. It's the same look Mr. Phil gives me at the grocery store. Or Bubba at the recycling center. The look that says they think that they should call child services, it had happened before, but they didn't want me and my brothers split up. And it's not like my ma beat us or anything. She just…she just got sad and missed my dad.
"You two just wait one second," she said as she took Tyler inside. She came back with two brown bags. Breakfast to go. She'd done it before. I was grateful. I hadn't been able to eat and Jake didn't get much either.
"Thank you, Ms. Gready," Jake said, finally piping up.
"Now, you two run along. Don't wanna miss the bus," she said. I nodded and took Jake's hand. The bus stop wasn't far. We got there with enough time to eat the contents of the bag. A granola bar, apple, yogurt, and a pop tart each.
I sat Jake in the front of the bus when it came and then moved to the back. We had assigned seats, mostly by grades. Since I was in fifth, I sat in the back of the bus with the one friend I had, River. It was a weird name, but he was kind of a weird kid. He had pushy dark hair that was more of a mess than Jacob's curls. And he had really dark eyes. Even in the summer he wore pants. And he had a weird laugh.
"Hey, River," I said as I sat down next to him, moving my ragged book bag to my lap. Most of the stuff I own is crap I rummaged out of goodwill or the lost and found. My sneakers were old and word. They pinched my toes sort of, but I didn't complain. Jake needed shoes too, so he got them first. I had a little bit of can money saved up. I might be able to find some at the thrift store. Get a couple sizes bigger. They might last longer.
"You okay, Ana?" he asked as he looked me over. "You look tired."
"Ma's in one of her moods. Tyler's getting' sick. Had to leave him with Ms. Gready down the way," I said as I stifled a yawn.
"So I'm guessing you didn't have time to do the homework," he commented. Crap. I had forgotten that we had homework. It was some stupid reading. I groaned. I just couldn't get a break today. I didn't feel like talking much after that. I was just hoping I wouldn't be kept out of music time.
Our school couldn't afford a full time teacher, or even a part time one. So music time was once a week, for forty five minutes with the regular teacher, using the old music room. Most of the stuff still worked pretty good, but it was old. I guess I got the music thing from my mom. It was the only thing that I was good at.
It didn't matter if I was ADHD and dyslexic. I could sing. I didn't like singing much though in front of our teacher. She was a mean old bat. She only let us do music time because she had to. I trudged of the bus when it stopped in front of the school and made sure Jake got to his class okay. His teacher, Ms. Brinkle, was a nice young lady. She let Jake stay late so I could usually serve out my detentions. I got a lot of them.
I got a lot of those. But they weren't usually my fault. Well, I guess it was my fault that I couldn't do my homework. That's what I usually got them for. Sometimes I got them for fighting. But it was good for Jake. He got to do some extra tutoring. He had dyslexia and ADHD too. I figured Tyler would have it too.
River and I wandered down the color coded hall to our classroom. However, it wasn't our usually teacher sitting at her desk. It was a man in a wheelchair. Man, did he have a wild beard. It was like Bubba's down at the recycling center. Except his wasn't really gross looking. He had a nice suit, but his legs were covered by a blanket. Of course everyone was muttering to themselves and their friends about it. There were about thirty five of us in the class. The school couldn't afford more teachers.
"Good morning class," he said as he looked around. "I am Mr. Brunner and will be taking over for Mrs. Daniels for a few weeks." For some reason his eyes landed on me. It made me uncomfortable, but I just shifted in my seat. It made me uncomfortable. I decided just to stare at my desk. River seemed to like the guy. I'd never had a guy teacher before. Bubba always guys who did that were queers and there something peculiar about them.
I had spaced out again, wondering why it wasn't okay for men to be teachers, but then River elbowed me and I focused back on Mr. Bruner. He was asking for homework. Crap. When he got to me, he looked down at the roll. "Do you have your homework, Analiese?" he asked.
"No," I muttered. "Didn't do it."
"Analiese, I'd like to speak with you during recess, okay?" he said. I looked up and nodded. He didn't sound angry. Or even surprised. Maybe the other teachers told him what a horrible student I was. I wasn't surprised.
"Of course," I muttered. I was angry already. This guy was judging me already. What a jerk.