your work and paid more attention to Dad, maybe he wouldn’t have hopped into bed with Carla.”
She recoiled, wondering how the two of them were ever going to get back on neutral ground, much less be a loving family again.
“That hurt,” she said. “You have no right to say that. You don’t know the whole story, and anyway, it’s none of your business. I’m the adult, remember, and you’re the child. What goes—went—on between your father and me is our business.” She was striking out, and her voice had a strident tone, but she didn’t care. Thomas turned away again, and this time she let him go.
In the bathroom, she stripped off her clothes and let them fall in a pile on the floor. The cat came out of the box, where she had evidently been sleeping, and kneaded the pile. Then she looked up at PJ and meowed plaintively.
“I know, little one, it hasn’t been a fun day for you either.” She dumped a package of Tender Vittles on the floor and refilled the cup of water she had left for the cat earlier in the day. She ran the shower as hot as she could stand it and stood with her face turned up to the water, letting the smells and the stress run down the drain.
It had been a busy afternoon. She had gotten a tour of the computer facility, found that her equipment was still in its original boxes in a corner of the room, and carried them back to her office. No one had volunteered to help, and she couldn’t find a rolling cart, so she had to make several trips. Then it had taken a while to unpack everything, stacking the manuals under her desk where she wouldn’t have to see them again and could use them to prop her feet up. It seemed odd to her that the Department had laid its hands on a Silicon Graphics workstation costing tens of thousands of dollars but there wasn’t a single spare multiple plug outlet with a surge protector to be found in the building. She shrugged and went out to buy one at Radio Shack. While she was there, she picked up some diskettes, another thing she had found was in short supply. She didn’t want to make a fuss about these out-of-pocket expenses on her first day, but her pockets weren’t very deep. If she couldn’t get supplies in a timely manner, she would have to make an issue of it with Howard. She could use a computer desk in her office, too, although she might have to suspend it from the ceiling to fit it in. The monitor took up a good part of her desk, and the keyboard was too high to be comfortable. It shouldn’t be at desk height. The brains of the computer sat on the floor next to the desk in a tower cabinet. She hadn’t unpacked the laser printer yet, and didn’t have any idea where she was going to put it. By the time she got the workstation booted up, it was after five o’clock. She had rushed out, only to get stuck in traffic again.
After staying under the hot shower until the bathroom was satisfying steamy, she toweled dry and dressed quickly. She said good-bye to her sulking son and promised to bring him a take-out meal. She made it to the real estate woman’s office in a remarkable fifty minutes after walking through the door of her motel room.
An hour and a half later she was on her way back to the room. She spotted a pizza place that was right next to a grocery store. She ordered a pizza to go, then picked up a few things in the grocery store while waiting for the pizza to be prepared. It had been time well spent with the real estate agent. The woman had told her that just that morning a house had come up for rent that was something special. The home was located on Magnolia Avenue in South St. Louis, close to PJ’s work so that she would not have to commute like she did today. There was easy access via Hampton Avenue to I-44 or Highway 40, or she could make her way into downtown by staying off the traffic-clogged highways and sticking to the city streets.
The first thing she had noticed when she stepped inside the door was that the home didn’t stink of
She recoiled, wondering how the two of them were ever going to get back on neutral ground, much less be a loving family again.
“That hurt,” she said. “You have no right to say that. You don’t know the whole story, and anyway, it’s none of your business. I’m the adult, remember, and you’re the child. What goes—went—on between your father and me is our business.” She was striking out, and her voice had a strident tone, but she didn’t care. Thomas turned away again, and this time she let him go.
In the bathroom, she stripped off her clothes and let them fall in a pile on the floor. The cat came out of the box, where she had evidently been sleeping, and kneaded the pile. Then she looked up at PJ and meowed plaintively.
“I know, little one, it hasn’t been a fun day for you either.” She dumped a package of Tender Vittles on the floor and refilled the cup of water she had left for the cat earlier in the day. She ran the shower as hot as she could stand it and stood with her face turned up to the water, letting the smells and the stress run down the drain.
It had been a busy afternoon. She had gotten a tour of the computer facility, found that her equipment was still in its original boxes in a corner of the room, and carried them back to her office. No one had volunteered to help, and she couldn’t find a rolling cart, so she had to make several trips. Then it had taken a while to unpack everything, stacking the manuals under her desk where she wouldn’t have to see them again and could use them to prop her feet up. It seemed odd to her that the Department had laid its hands on a Silicon Graphics workstation costing tens of thousands of dollars but there wasn’t a single spare multiple plug outlet with a surge protector to be found in the building. She shrugged and went out to buy one at Radio Shack. While she was there, she picked up some diskettes, another thing she had found was in short supply. She didn’t want to make a fuss about these out-of-pocket expenses on her first day, but her pockets weren’t very deep. If she couldn’t get supplies in a timely manner, she would have to make an issue of it with Howard. She could use a computer desk in her office, too, although she might have to suspend it from the ceiling to fit it in. The monitor took up a good part of her desk, and the keyboard was too high to be comfortable. It shouldn’t be at desk height. The brains of the computer sat on the floor next to the desk in a tower cabinet. She hadn’t unpacked the laser printer yet, and didn’t have any idea where she was going to put it. By the time she got the workstation booted up, it was after five o’clock. She had rushed out, only to get stuck in traffic again.
After staying under the hot shower until the bathroom was satisfying steamy, she toweled dry and dressed quickly. She said good-bye to her sulking son and promised to bring him a take-out meal. She made it to the real estate woman’s office in a remarkable fifty minutes after walking through the door of her motel room.
An hour and a half later she was on her way back to the room. She spotted a pizza place that was right next to a grocery store. She ordered a pizza to go, then picked up a few things in the grocery store while waiting for the pizza to be prepared. It had been time well spent with the real estate agent. The woman had told her that just that morning a house had come up for rent that was something special. The home was located on Magnolia Avenue in South St. Louis, close to PJ’s work so that she would not have to commute like she did today. There was easy access via Hampton Avenue to I-44 or Highway 40, or she could make her way into downtown by staying off the traffic-clogged highways and sticking to the city streets.
The first thing she had noticed when she stepped inside the door was that the home didn’t stink of
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