Kitty Foremen looked up toward the sliding glass door as she heard it open. She had been standing before the stove stirring some stew in a large pot when Steven Hyde entered the house. She watched in confusion as he walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out a beer.
"Hi, Steven," Kitty greeted. "I thought you and the others where going to the movies."
"Yeah, well, something came up for one of us, Mrs. Foremen," Hyde told her as he popped open the beer.
"Oh," she sounded concerned. "What happened?"
"You know Eppie Taylor, right?" Hyde began.
"The new, cute, little one who called me 'ma'am'?" Kitty waved her hands around a little as she was describing the girl.
"Yeah," Hyde nodded.
"Oh, I like her," Kitty commented. "You two would be cute together."
"Anyways," Hyde shook his head. "Her stepfather called her this afternoon. She has to go home for Christmas vacation."
"Well, what's so horrible about that?" she asked. "I'm sure her family's dieing to see her. She hasn't been home all year. Why, she's been here all year."
"The bad part is," Hyde took a deep breath, a little worried about telling Mrs. Foremen about this. "Home isn't so great for her."
"Well why not?" Kitty didn't seem to be getting this at first.
"Her stepfather isn't really a good guy," Hyde said, hoping not to have to put this any more bluntly.
"Oh, no," she placed her hands on her hips. Now she was even more concerned. "Well, you know she'll welcome here if she has no where else to go, Steven."
"That's not the problem, Mrs. Foremen," Hyde explained. "Ep. was going to stay with Donna, but her family has said that if she doesn't come home for break, their not going to pay for college, forcing her to go home. For good. The point is, I offered to take her home."
"Oh how thoughtful, Steven," Kitty said. "But your going to miss all the food and presents and, ew… ew… you'll miss the tree decorating."
"Man, I didn't even think about that," Hyde acted as though he cared. "Aw well, I promised."
"All right, you can go, but don't do anything to hurt her reputation," Kitty told him. "She's a good girl."
"Yes, Mrs. Foremen," Hyde smiled a little to himself. He would have gone even without Kitty's permission, but the was she was stating this made him laugh.