At 8 pm the Conner family decided to go home. They were informed that there was no way that they would be allowed to see their dad again tonight so they didn't see the point in staying.
"We left grandma alone with Jerry. That's reason enough to leave right now." Becky said to Darlene.
"You're right. No kid deserves that. Not even one of our brothers." Darlene admitted, her gaze directed at D.J. "Come on Deej. I'll take you home…"
D.J. stood up. "No I'm staying here tonight. I don't want to leave dad alone."
Darlene smiled at her brother, "Really?"
"Yeah, really." D.J. said tough guy like.
Darlene glared at her brother but took out her a wallet and handed him a twenty dollar bill.
"Here's dinner money. See if you can sneak dad a Snickers from the vending machine."
"Thanks, Darlene. Bye Becky, Bye Mark." D.J. said waving as they left.
Jackie came over to her nephew. "Call me before you fall asleep. Bye D.J."
"Bye Aunt Jackie." With that everyone left D.J. alone in the waiting room.
D.J. just stood there a minute just watching people go about their business then walked to his dad's room and peeked in the window. His dad was awake and watching FRIENDS on the TV in the corner of the room.
D.J. made his way to the hospital cafeteria and bought himself a sandwich and Coke.
When he finished his meal, he made his way to a vending machine with Snickers and fed it a dollar. The chocolate candy dropped and the machine spit out a quarter. D.J. pocketed both and went back to the waiting room. American Gladiators was showing on the little TV. in the waiting room so he laid down on the couch and dozed off.
Darlene, Becky, Mark, and Jackie arrived at 714 Delaware Street to find their mom/grandma tearing off the comforter from their Mom and Dad's bed and Jerry asleep in his play pen near the front door.
"Uh mom? What are you doing?" Jackie asked as her crazy mother stood under the archway separating the kitchen from the living room.
"I'm cleaning this house. When Dan gets home from the hospital, I think it will be easier for him to cope with out Roseanne if he doesn't feel the house needs to be cleaned…"
"Wow grandma that makes perfect sense." Darlene responded at 100 percent sarcasm.
"No, it'll be better if you leave the house alone so Dan can still feel attached to Roseanne. When he gets back he should decide if it's better for the house to be different. It's all psychological." Jackie said, holding out her hands defensively.
Becky listened in quietly then pulled her aunt and sister into the bathroom and locked the door, as Beverly just watched and sighed.
"Jackie I don't want her to find out about dad. She already thinks dad has no business raising her grandkids and if she found out he's under observation for having a nervous breakdown, there is no way she'll leave dad alone." Becky spoke her piece and all three women agreed and walked back to the living room.
"I suppose you're little bull session was fun, after all I wasn't a part of it." Bev said crossing her arms with the comforter draped over them.
Jackie became very angry with her mom. "Mother, your daughter was in a car accident caused by a drunk driver and she DIED! Why are you acting like that doesn't bother you? Any normal person would be crying, but you just clean her house!"
"It does bother me Jackie, but I am the grandmother and it is my job to be the strong one, if I cry now it will be hard for everyone to move past this. And besides it was probably Dan who caused the accident after all the man goes through a six pack of beer like it's the buffet at Ponderosa!"
This set Darlene and Becky off. "Excuse me, Grandma? I seem to recall my mom telling me on a phone call that she and Jackie had to bail you out of jail for DUI!" Darlene screamed.
"I heard that too, you're problem with dad is that you compare him to grandpa and he's not like that. Get out!" Becky shouted opening the door.
"What?" Bev was in shock over her granddaughter's command.
"Get out, mom. If you're here you'll be the constant reminder that the wrong mother died today!" Jackie said holding her hand out with her nieces.
"I am so glad this family cares about my feelings!" Beverly yelled, walking out the door and storming down the porch steps.
The three girls slammed the door and looked at each other in a moment of clarity.
"I can't believe we threw out grandma." Becky said.
"I can't believe mom seemed like she didn't even care that your mom was killed in a car accident." Jackie said.
"I can't believe we didn't wake up Jerry." Darlene said, looking down at her brother and seeing her Dad's face.
"Well that is the important part." Jackie said heading to the refrigerator to drown her sorrows.
"That was cool. She was way out of line saying your dad was drunk." Mark said to Becky before going to the bathroom.
The sisters looked at each other. "You think grandma was right? Dad could've been drinking before the accident?" Darlene asked.
"No. Dad doesn't drink and drive. He only drinks when he knows he's not going anywhere. You know that."
Darlene knew it but didn't believe it. Lately she had become secretly concerned that her dad was an alcoholic, after all every time she had seen him he had a beer in his hand, and he did get up to get a fresh beer a lot. Like more than a normal nonalcoholic. As far back as she could remember he drank, and it seemed like he drank more and more every year.
Darlene never thought of it as a problem until she stayed for the weekend a few months ago and witnessed her dad getting his first beer for the day at 10 in the morning and his last one at 10 at night. Darlene took these thoughts and buried them in order to convince herself it wasn't her dads fault her mom died.
The sleeping arrangements were that Becky and Mark would sleep in D.J's bed (he got a full size one when he moved from his old room to Darlene and Becky's old room so Jerry could take his), Darlene would sleep in her old room in the basement and Jackie would take the couch. They all took these arrangements even after putting the comforter back on Dan and Roseanne's bed.
