Outbreak: Brave New World by Robert Van Dusen

tightly and the two of them turned their attention back to the yellowed paperback collection of Peanuts comics he had found hiding in the corner of the bookshelf next to the back bedroom. Paulie could only read a few words but the boy recognized the picture of Snoopy on the cover and insisted that Frannie read it to him. His sister was doodling in a spiral notebook in the middle of the floor with a couple pencils and some crayons while Amy snoozed uneasily on the couch, her place marked in her book with her thumb. Carl was napping in the back bedroom.
    Laura sat at the kitchen table playing cards with her husband and Mr. and Mrs. Frays. She frowned over her hand at her son and Rodriguez across the room. “Paulie, would you come here?” Laura called as she discarded an ace and took a trick. The boy squirmed on Frannie’s lap but did not budge. “Paul. Did you hear me?”
    “Moooom!” the boy whined “Frannie’s reading to me.” He squirmed again on Francesca’s lap, making the woman’s face tighten up a little. The wound on her thigh was more or less healed but it still smarted when the boy put his weight on her leg in just the right way. It sounded to her like he was starting to get a little tired. She buried her nose in the boy’s hair and breathed in his scent then squeezed him again.
    “You mind your mom, little man.” Rodriguez warned as she lifted the child off her lap and set him on the floor. She smiled as she patted the boy on the bottom and gently nudged him in the direction of his mother. “It’s almost lunchtime. Be good and I’ll read to you some more before naptime, alright?”
    The boy grinned up at her then turned and joined his mother at the table. Frannie arched an eyebrow at Adam who only shrugged slightly while Paulie climbed into his mother’s lap. Laura scowled at her and flicked another card out of her hand and onto the table. Rodriguez shook her head and turned her attention back to the comic book then she folded the footrest to the recliner and stood up. “What’s the deal, Laura?” she asked angrily as started towards the table. Frannie stopped and leaned against the railing that separated the dining room from the living room. “You’ve been eyeballin’ me and Frays since we got here. I don’t like it.”
    “Nothing’s wrong.” Laura said sharply. Paulie looked uneasily from his mother to Frannie and back again. The boy did not know what exactly was going on but he did not like it. Laura rolled her eyes and exhaled sharply. “I don’t know what your problem is.”
    Frannie clenched her jaw, incensed and struggling to keep back the urge to cross the room and slap the taste out of the bitch’s mouth. “My problem? My problem?! ” Rodriguez sputtered once she had enough self control to form words. “ My fu-“
    George loudly cleared his throat then frowned and leaned back from the table a little. “Come on, now.” he said quietly, smiling a little to try and ease the tension. “Everybody just calm down.” Amy got up and took a few steps towards the dining room as Becca stood up and hid behind the woman’s leg. Frays glanced from Rodriguez to Mrs. Lacey, trying to figure out what the heck was going on as she picked something out of the corner of her eye.
    Paulie looked puzzled and confused by what was going on. “Mommy, be nice!” he said sternly as he turned on his mother’s lap. The boy put his hands on his hips in a perfect impression of George. “Frannie’s nice and comfy and pretty and she doesn’t have a mommy or daddy or anybody! Be nice!”
    Paulie looked around confused for a moment. The grownups looked at Frannie with strange expressions. Mrs. Frays looked like she might cry and he started to wonder if he had said something wrong. Amy was by Frannie’s side. Frannie stood there next to the recliner looking at the floor leaning against the post separating the living and dining rooms as if she might fall over. Amy put a hand on her friend’s shoulder