"Bonfire time!" Des yelled out. A group of kids had gathered with various things to burn, books, toys, a broken chair, pallets and a mannequin we had found in an alley way. We propped her up in the middle and doused everything with fuel. Carl and I stood back and Des threw in a lit match. Some off the other kids didn't get out of the way quick enough and got singed by the fireball. We toasted marshmallows and made s'mores, a couple of beers were passed around, and a few cigs were shared too. A few of the local homeless people joined us, we headed home soon after that. We needed to get back before Fiona and Steve got back from their night out.
"Breakfast!" Fiona yelled up the stairs. I walked down the stairs "you're coming with me" Debbie said and chucked my jacket at me. I didn't try to grab it and it fell to the floor. "No, I'm not" I said. "it's important, for Fiona" she insisted. I looked into the kitchen then picked up my jacket. "This better not be boring" I told her. We headed over to V and Kevs first. Ethel was scrubbing the rug. "Kev, Veronica!" Debbie called out. "Didn't you just clean that yesterday?" Debbie asked Ethel. "Child protective services is bringing my baby, Jonah, for a visit. Everything has to be just so" Ethel said as she kept scrubbing. '"You're so lucky you have a baby" Debbie said "what?" I said to her and helped myself to the leftover Chinese on the coffee table. "How old are you?" Ethel asked Debbie "11 and a half" Debbie replied. "One more year and you'll be old enough to start trying" Ethel said. "That means sex Debbie" I said "I know that Lucy" Debbie said "I don't think you'll have your period by then though, Fiona was 13 when she got hers" I told her. "How do you know that? You were just a baby" "A friend got hers the other day, Fiona helped her and told us" "A 7 year old got her period?" "No, she's 10. How old is Jonah?' I asked Ethel "8 months" Ethel said. "And you're thirteen?" I asked. "Yes, I was blessed with my boy when I just turned 13" she said. "Does it hurt?" Debbie asked. "Sexual relations or childbirth?" Ethel asked "both" Debbie said "yes" Ethel said. "Sex isn't meant to hurt, heaps of women like it" I said "it's better not to enjoy it, the pain allows us to be closer to god" Ethel said. "I think I would rather just enjoy it" I said. "You are a weird child" Ethel said to me.
"The library? I told you this better not be boring. This is very disappointing Debbie" I said. "Go get some snacks from the shop or something" she told me and headed inside. That took a whole 5 minutes, I went into the library to get out of the cold. Debbie was at the desk. "Ready to go?" I yelled at her. "No, computers" she yelled back. The guy at the desk said something to her then walked over to the computers with her. "Who is he?" I asked her as I followed them "Simon" Debbie said. They sat in front of a computer. "I need to look up someone" Debbie said "name?" Simon asked. "Steve. Wilson? Wilton?" "You kind of need to know a name before you can look it up" Simon said. Debbie looked at me, I shrugged. "Should have taken his licence" I said. "Try Wilton, in lake forest" Debbie said. "Lake forest?" I asked, what was Steve doing in a fancy neighbourhood. "V and I went there yesterday" Debbie said. "I thought he just stole cars, not be actually rich" I said. "what?" Debbie asked but was distracted by Simon. "There are zero in Illinois, but there are 15 of them nationwide" Simon said. "Heaps of people aren't in the phone book though, we aren't" I said. "Can you do it backwards? If I give you an address can you work from there?" Debbie asked Simon. "Probably not, what's the address?" Simon asked "1055 north ave" Debbie answered. Simon visited heaps of different sites and we found some pictures of the house but not names. "Just go there and ask" I told Debbie.
Debbie knocked on the door, an old fancy lady answered. "Are you screwing my sisters boyfriend?" Debbie asked her. "If you're selling cookies, that's a hell of an opening line" the lady said. Debbie walked inside, I followed. "Do come in" the lady said after Debbie went in "thank you" I said and started looking for anything small and valuable to take. "Can I get you something? Milk? Soda? A joint? It's medicinal" the lady said. "I'll take one of those" I said and put out my hand. "No, thank you, Candace" Debbie said. The lady just lit the joint. I walked around the room and managed to grab a couple of things, Candace was clearly high and probably a few other things, she wouldn't notice anything. "How do you know Steve?" Debbie asked her. "Who is Steve?" Candace asked. "He's my sisters boyfriend" Debbie said. "How nice" "so he's not pushing it into you?" I laughed "what was that Debs, Jesus" Candace coughed. "Hey, Mom, me and Chip are gonna swing by the hospital to see dad" Steve said. I whirled around and stared at him, he hadn't noticed me or Debbie yet. "Aww, thank you, Jimmy. You take such good care of your mumma bear" Candace said and kissed him on the lips and even made mwah noises. "Oh! This is oh.." Candace stuttered. "Debbie, Debbie Gallagher" Debbie said "and the pretty one?" Candace asked "Lucy" I said and walked over. "Nice to meet you, Jimmy" Debbie said. "Jimmy is my youngest, top of his class at Michigan in med school" Candace said. I stood beside Debbie, Jimmy/Steve didn't take his eyes of us and slowly sat down too. Candace kept talking, Debbie and I just stared at Jimmy/Steve. Debbie suddenly got up and left, I flipped Jimmy/steve off and followed her.
Debbie and I went and sat down on the frozen lake side. "Shit" I whispered. Debbie didn't say anything. "You know, not sure I can prove it, but I think it's colder on the north side" Jimmy/steve said. "Does that mean if I push you in the lake you will freeze quicker? Jimmy" I said. "Let me give you guys a ride home" he said. "I'm not supposed to take rides from strangers and it's clear you are a stranger" Debbie said "are you going to tell Fiona?" He asked. "Exactly what am I supposed to tell her? That your name isn't Steve? That you have a family in Chicago she's never met? Or that your mom kisses you on the lips? Which is really gross by the way" Debbie said "I like, lying dickhead that needs to piss off now" I said. "Life gets really complicated when you're an adult. I mean, you can't possibly understand these things right now" Jimmy/steve said, "I understand that you lied to my sister. Why?" Debbie said. "Because I was raised by a pack of wolves, just like you were. Only my wolves went to Harvard. They have red wolves at Lincoln Park Zoo" Jimmy/Steve said. "wow, you really don't get it at all do you? I'm out, before I beat your arse" I said. Jimmy/steve laughed. "Wait, you can't get home by yourself" he said as I started to walk off. "Yeah, I can, I do it all the time. Jimmy!" I yelled back at him.
The train ride home was quite profitable, I stopped at the kash and grab and stocked up on all the important stuff then went and found some friends to hang out with. We ended up starting a small fire to keep warm, Cue arrived with some firecrackers which kept us entertained for a bit. Then we made Molotov cocktails and threw them around a vacant block. The snow eventually got to heavy and we all had to go home.
"You sold out Debbie" I told her after she told me what Jimmy/Steve showed her. "I'm not done yet" she said. "whatever" I mumbled and rolled over. "He bought her a house Lucy" "she doesn't even know his real name, who lies about that? Creepy weirdos, that's who. Fiona needs to know" "and how do you plan on telling her? She will be devastated. I'll make him tell her" "what by asking for a rolling pin and sifter? You could have at least gone for an iPad and phone"
"Let's go scare those people up there!" Lee said and rushed forward, we all rode after him. Pete put the bat on his shoulder. "What the fuck are you kids doing?!" Lip yelled out. "Oh shit" I said and ground to a halt, everyone else quickly turned and rode away. "Really Lucy? You're rushing people now?" Fiona said. "No, we just riding around, playin" I said. "Moms back" Debbie said. "What?" I said. "We're going to shelias" Carl said. They all kept walking, I watched them for a bit but ended up following.
We could hear yelling as we approached the house. "…and leave Monica for her apologies" Shelia said. She was sitting on a chair, Kev was on the couch. "Apologies? For walking out on this piece of shit?" Monica said, I recognised her voice straight away. It made me feel uncomfortable. "No, for walking out on them" Shelia said and pointed at us, we all stood just in front of the doorway. Monica's mouth hung open "oh my god" she said. Kev left. We took off our shoes then sat down. I sat on the armchair with Fiona, I didn't want to sit anywhere near Monica. Carl and Debbie shared the couch with her. Shelia handed Lip a beer while Liam babbled as he played with a toy in his stroller. "You're all so big" Monica said. Debbie pulled her legs up to her chest. "I missed you so much" Monica said. "Why didn't you take us with you?" Debbie asked. "Because… I knew you would be fine with Fiona" I felt Fi take a big breath, I grabbed her arm. "I don't want to do this" I whispered to her. Lip got up and went outside.
Frank and Monica started arguing again, they paced around the lounge room while we just sat in silence. "I can't believe you sucked me back in here for money!" Monica yelled "I did no such thing" Frank yelled. "But since you're back in town why don't you sign this one little thing" "oh fuck you Frank" Monica yelled and sat down again. Lip and Ian walked in. "You brought her back here?" Lip asked. Monica turned around "oh Ian" Monica said, Ian stayed in the corner. "Wait. You knew where she was the whole time?" Lip said. "This little reunion was bound to happen sooner or later, anyway" said this random lady and walked into the middle of the lounge-room "we were thinking about coming around and talking to you" she said to Frank. "Who is that?" I asked Fi. She shrugged. "No, no. Not now" Monica said standing up again. "Yes now, yes now" the women said. "Who are you?" I asked the women "Bob, I'm with your mother" the lady said to me. "What?!" I said. "Moni and I wanna take Liam to live with us" Bob said. "What?!" Fiona yelled and jumped up, she nearly pushed me of the armrest. "Over my dead body" Frank yelled. "How about moni sign whatever the hell it is you need, we get Liam" Bob said. "Done" Frank said. "No fucking way! You can't have liam" Fiona yelled. I moved onto the chair and wrapped my arms around my legs. "Why the hell not? He's not even franks" Monica said. Fiona started to pace. "Fact is Liam is black, all you white folks scooping up black babies like fashion accessories have a rude awakening coming" Bob ranted. Fi put her hand on my shoulder "no. There will be a backlash if people don't stop underestimating the cultural importance of a black parent raising a black baby" Bob continued. Ian walked out from the corner, Debbie started crying. "Liam needs me and he's coming with us" Bob said. "No, out of the fucking question, Bob" lip yelled. "Roberta and I wanna start a family of our own" Monica said. "How about you finish this one first?" Fiona said. "They're taking Liam?" Debbie sobbed. "Yes!"'Bob yelled "no!" Fiona, Lip and me yelled. "Nobody's taking anyone anywhere" lip said. "You don't get to abandon your kids and then show up one day to take your pick of the litter" Fiona said and went over to Monica. "Oh, now that's not fair. Your mothers made mistakes, but she's here now. That's got to count for something" Frank said "shut up, Frank!" Fiona yelled. "This isn't about you. This is about you. This is about what you didn't do. It's about what I did. And you know what? I did a fucking great job. Debbie is class president, she's on the debate team going to nationals. And lip, he's top of his class, he set the curve. Ian was promoted in rotc and he tested out of English. Lucy is a music prodigy, she's got a full scholarship to music school. And Carl made something blow up for his science fair. And you know what? They did it all, no thanks to you, because you weren't here. Lucy was only 2 weeks old when you left, we have seen you three times since then. You haven't even seen Liam since he was born" Fiona yelled. "And I appreciate that, Fiona, but I'm here now and Liam belongs with me" Monica said crying. "He doesn't even know who you are!" Fi yelled. "I'm his mother!" Monica yelled. "You were my mother too!" Fi screamed and started crying. Monica cried too. "Maybe I'll never be able to make things right with you but there's still time with Liam" Monica sat on the coffee table in front of the couch, "And Debbie, Carl and Lucy, I am so sorry if I hurt you. Please. I love you so much. Please let me be your mommy again. Please" Monica begged. Debbie and Carl hugged her. She looked at me "Lucy?" She asked and held out a hand. I shook my head. Ian was crying, Lip looked ready to punch someone. Fiona shook her head and grabbed her coat then came back into the room. "You know what? You're right. You are their mother. And you're here now, so I'm done. I'm done with the school and the bills and the clinics. Im done" fi looked at Ian and Lip then grabbed her keys from her pocket. "They're all yours now, Mom. Good luck" Fiona said as she put the keys on the table and walked out. I started to sob. Debbie and Carl pushed away from Monica and cried too. "This is bullshit, with all the crap you have put us through this really takes the cake" Lip said and stormed out. Ian and I followed him. "I'm going to go find something to smash" I told them and left. "Be home before midnight" Lip yelled out, I flipped him off. "Great parenting" Ian joked.
Debbie and Carl were playing battleship, I snuck out and listened to Monica and Bob talk in the bathroom. "So how long you plan on us staying here playing house?" Bob asked. "Did you see those kids faces? Did you see the way they looked at me?" Monica said "I'm not supporting six kids. We get the DNA results and it will prove Liam's not franks" Bob said. Monica shushed her. "That way if the shit head changes his mind, he can't take Liam" Bob said. I snuck into the boys room. "Bobs a fucking arsehole" I whispered to Lip. "I know" lip said. "We are going to make a great family baby, I'm gonna take care of you and Liam like Frank never could" Bob said. Ian sat up in his bed, lip sat up too and lit a cigarette. I went and sat on Ian's bed. "Don't worry Luce, she will be gone soon. Monica never sticks around" Ian said and hugged me. "It always hurts so much when she comes back" I said. "Yeah, it really does" Lip said. Carl came into the room "Fiona said go to bed Lucy" he said and he climbed into his bed. I sighed and got up.
"Night Lucy, I love you" fi said through the baby monitor as I walked into the room. "Same" I said and smirked "argh!" Debbie said. "That's so annoying" she complained "same" I said to her. "Shut up Lucy" she moaned and threw a pillow at me. I threw the pillow back at her. "Ouch, Lucy!" Debbie said. "Enough! You'll wake Liam" Fi said. "He is in with Monica" I said "Bobs an arsehole" I added "yeah" agreed Debbie. "Goodnight girls, go to sleep" Fi said.