to the fridge. Today Vaclav will do her homework, totally and completely. Today they will work on the act. She will not feel guilty, and she will not feel mean. She will feel finished with her homework, and she will feel friends with Marina and Kristina and with Vaclav, because they will work on the act. Vaclav is working on the homework, and he is not talking at all, not to offer snacks to Lena or to say hello. But this is okay. Today Lena wants to have a snack.
Lena opens the fridge, takes out a string cheese, and sits down at the kitchen table next to Vaclav and eats the string cheese one string at a time while Vaclav murmurs quickly over her math homework.
Vaclav does not hide from Lena how quickly he does the work that yesterday took her many hours. Lena feels bad that she doesn’t understand math, but Lena is used to this kind of feeling bad, and watching how quickly he does what she cannot do feels good because it makes her feel sure of things without any questions, without any doubt.
LENA HAS A SNACK
…
L ena sits at the kitchen table until she finishes the whole string cheese, and then she throws away the wrapper, and then she takes down a big glass and fills it with milk from the fridge and drinks it all the way down and then puts it in the sink, and then she takes a loaf of Wonder bread from the bread box, and she takes out three slices, and she starts to eat one of the slices right away by making little bite-sized pieces with her fingers and looks into the refrigerator for something to make a sandwich with and then gives up and then puts mustard all over the two pieces of bread and then puts them together and then sits next to Vaclav at the kitchen table and then eats a mustard sandwich while Vaclav is doing her homework, and when she is done eating the mustard sandwich she gets up and goes to the refrigerator and takes out the peanut butter and takes a spoon from the silverware drawer and digs into the peanut butter and takes a big spoonful and then sits down at the kitchen table next to Vaclav and licks at it and then eats it and then goes back to the peanut butter jar and takes another big scoop and this time eats it standing up and eats another standing up and another until almost all the peanut butter is gone, and then she hears the sound of Rasia opening the front door, and then she quickly puts the lid back on the jar of peanut butter but does not even screw it down all the way and pushes it back farther in the fridge and then sits down next to Vaclav and pretends to be very interested in what he is doing and even nods.
RASIA IS NOT TRICKED
…
R asia saw Lena scurry away from the refrigerator. Sometimes being a mother is like when you turn on the lights and all the roaches go running for cover, and if you are looking carefully at the floor, expecting to see all the scurrying, then you will see it, but if you are thinking about what snack to have or looking at the ceiling fan and thinking about how long it has been since you’ve dusted it, then you will not see the scurrying. When Rasia comes inside she always looks immediately toward the kitchen, and as with bugs, even if you did not see what the bugs were doing before the scurrying, you can see where they were and where they scurried to and what they scurried away from, and then you have some clues or ideas about what is going on.
Rasia also saw Lena pretend to be interested in the work that Vaclav was doing, so she walks right up to the kitchen table and sees that Vaclav is working on a worksheet that has Lena’s name on the top of the page. Then Rasia opens the refrigerator and sees the peanut butter with the lid askew, and she looks inside and sees all the little spoon scoops, not the knife swirls you make when you put peanut butter on a sandwich.
Today Rasia is on high alert because of the strange behavior of the last few nights. She rehashes this strange behavior in her mind like a detective. First was Lena vomiting. Then was coming
Lena opens the fridge, takes out a string cheese, and sits down at the kitchen table next to Vaclav and eats the string cheese one string at a time while Vaclav murmurs quickly over her math homework.
Vaclav does not hide from Lena how quickly he does the work that yesterday took her many hours. Lena feels bad that she doesn’t understand math, but Lena is used to this kind of feeling bad, and watching how quickly he does what she cannot do feels good because it makes her feel sure of things without any questions, without any doubt.
LENA HAS A SNACK
…
L ena sits at the kitchen table until she finishes the whole string cheese, and then she throws away the wrapper, and then she takes down a big glass and fills it with milk from the fridge and drinks it all the way down and then puts it in the sink, and then she takes a loaf of Wonder bread from the bread box, and she takes out three slices, and she starts to eat one of the slices right away by making little bite-sized pieces with her fingers and looks into the refrigerator for something to make a sandwich with and then gives up and then puts mustard all over the two pieces of bread and then puts them together and then sits next to Vaclav at the kitchen table and then eats a mustard sandwich while Vaclav is doing her homework, and when she is done eating the mustard sandwich she gets up and goes to the refrigerator and takes out the peanut butter and takes a spoon from the silverware drawer and digs into the peanut butter and takes a big spoonful and then sits down at the kitchen table next to Vaclav and licks at it and then eats it and then goes back to the peanut butter jar and takes another big scoop and this time eats it standing up and eats another standing up and another until almost all the peanut butter is gone, and then she hears the sound of Rasia opening the front door, and then she quickly puts the lid back on the jar of peanut butter but does not even screw it down all the way and pushes it back farther in the fridge and then sits down next to Vaclav and pretends to be very interested in what he is doing and even nods.
RASIA IS NOT TRICKED
…
R asia saw Lena scurry away from the refrigerator. Sometimes being a mother is like when you turn on the lights and all the roaches go running for cover, and if you are looking carefully at the floor, expecting to see all the scurrying, then you will see it, but if you are thinking about what snack to have or looking at the ceiling fan and thinking about how long it has been since you’ve dusted it, then you will not see the scurrying. When Rasia comes inside she always looks immediately toward the kitchen, and as with bugs, even if you did not see what the bugs were doing before the scurrying, you can see where they were and where they scurried to and what they scurried away from, and then you have some clues or ideas about what is going on.
Rasia also saw Lena pretend to be interested in the work that Vaclav was doing, so she walks right up to the kitchen table and sees that Vaclav is working on a worksheet that has Lena’s name on the top of the page. Then Rasia opens the refrigerator and sees the peanut butter with the lid askew, and she looks inside and sees all the little spoon scoops, not the knife swirls you make when you put peanut butter on a sandwich.
Today Rasia is on high alert because of the strange behavior of the last few nights. She rehashes this strange behavior in her mind like a detective. First was Lena vomiting. Then was coming
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