CHAPTER TEN
Arthur looked up from his math homework to seen Benji crawling into his room. Kate and DW still shared a room, but he had his own, at least most of the time. Currently Benji was avoiding a well-deserved bath, as he'd dove into their dad's flour right after dinner.
"Arthur, do you have the baby?" his mom called. Arthur picked up Benji and carried him to his mother. "Oh, thank you. Do you mind closing the door on the way out? I thought I did that to begin with…"
"He can reach the doors like these. I already told you that," Arthur murmured, turning to continue his homework.
"Arthur, can you tell me why DW got the detention already? The teachers got a report from the bus, but—"
"No food policy, remember?" Arthur interrupted. His mother sighed, taking off the rest of Benji's clothes and carefully lifting him into the water. "She was late getting off this morning too. I guess the driver was fed up, but it's not like she was very nice to begin with."
"Just thought I'd ask, Arthur. Go back to whatever's more important. I'll be fine," she sighed, her weary eyes looking around for the baby shampoo.
"Why'd you and dad have another kid if you could barely handle us?" Arthur asked coldly. She looked shocked, but she remained silent. "It wasn't fair to us. It just wasn't fair," Arthur whispered, opening the door to leave.
"We didn't expect it, Arthur. I thought I was too old," she said softly. Arthur shook his head, not accepting her answer. Even he knew how that worked now, and he knew she wasn't showing symptoms until Benji came along. "Well I'm not telling you anything else. It's none of your business, none of anyone's business."
"Whatever, Mom, believe what you want," Arthur said sternly, leaving the room.
"You come back here!" she called to him. Arthur reopened the door and stood there with an angry glare. "It isn't any of your business! No matter how old you are, you're still a child while you're in this house, and I will always be your parent! You'll show me respect or you'll live somewhere else, and Thora doesn't want any of you disrespectful brats! When's the last time you called her, Arthur? She's not going to live forever!"
Arthur said nothing as Benji began to wait. He hated yelling, so his cries ricocheted around the room like bullets. Arthur dodged them; he moved back to his room, locking his door behind him and attempting to complete his homework. His concentration was gone though. He took to reading the comic he'd checked out, a repeat that he'd already read. He got lost in the panels anyway wondering where his life went so wrong.
A/N: Poor Arthur. While Arthur probably should've held his tongue, his thoughts are out there now. We'll see if anything else goes on with him later. Next, we'll visit Binky and his family. Binky is about to get another prod in the wrong direction from his old friends. Will his morals hold or will his parents' tyranny finally work…in the wrong ways?