Chapter 9: So Much To Be Thankful For

Ever since we were little, my sisters and I have started dinner, so that Mom could come home and find food mostly ready. Dinner tonight was tacos. So I got the meat cooking and grated the cheese, and Jamie chopped up lettuce and tomatoes and onions, and Julie set the table. Mom came in a bit after 5:00, and smiled when she saw that we had dinner mostly done.

“I know that I don’t say this often enough, but thanks, guys. It’s been a long day - even if I was only there for half of it.” She turned to the fridge. “I need a beer with dinner. You want one, Johnny?”

I said sure, and she got out two red beers and poured them into glasses. The girls got themselves ginger ales. Jamie reached over and grabbed my glass while Mom wasn’t looking, and gulped down a big mouthful of my beer. I glared at her but didn’t say anything. She blew me a kiss.

Once we had all the food on the table, we sat down, in the same places we had been sitting at every mealtime since my Dad moved out. Mom was on the side closest to the kitchen, and I sat opposite her. Jamie was on my left and Julie on my right. That seating arrangement dated back to the days when they goofed around too much - or fought too much - if they were seated beside each other, so they were placed at the two ends, as far away from each other as it was possible to be at our small table. Soon we were each creating our own culinary masterpiece, accompanied by sparkling conversation like, “Pass the cheese,” and “Can I have the tomatoes?” and “Is that the hot salsa or the medium?”

Once we were all munching away, Julie batted her eyes at me (a sure signal that she wanted something from me!) and said, “Johnny? Do you have tons of homework this weekend?”

“Not too much, Squirt. A bit. Why?”

“Well, I want to repaint my room. And Mom said I could, if I saved up enough money to buy the paint myself and found someone to do the painting with me. So, will you help me? We could start it tomorrow, maybe, and finish on Sunday or even Monday?”

I could have agreed right away. I mean, I knew I was going to say yes. And Julie likely knew that too. But there was a protocol to follow, and negotiations to be made. That was how the three of us did things.

“What’s in it for me?”

“I’ll do your dishwashing rotation for a month.”

She was being devious, but I saw through it right away.

“Good one. But I don’t live here anymore, remember? I don’t have a dishwashing rotation, except in the summer. So no deal. How about you do my laundry for me all weekend, including what I brought home from school?”

She grimaced. Julie hated laundry. But she knew it was a fair trade for what she wanted. “Deal.” We shook on it.

“Do you have enough money for the paint?” Mom asked.

“Almost.”

“Almost?” I wondered. “Who’s paying for the rest of it, then?”

Julie grinned at me. I guess I was. Then it was Jamie’s turn.

“Johnny, now that you have a girlfriend, do we have to stop having Big Brother Dates?”

Both girls looked at me, intently, waiting for my answer. Big Brother Dates were another family tradition. I don’t even remember when they started, except that they always involved pizza. Mom has never liked pizza, you see, and all three of us love it. So every once in a while, on a Friday or Saturday night, Mom would give me some money and suggest that I take the girls on a Big Brother Date. We would walk down to the pizza place on the main street, eat, share a pitcher of pop, and then, usually, we’d go and do something fun together. It was always just the three of us - a special sibling bonding time. Sometimes we’d go see a movie, sometimes we’d go bowling, sometimes we’d go for ice cream. In the summer, we’d go to the park and play Frisbee. In the winter, we’d go skating. I loved Big Brother Dates, at least as much as the girls did. And I wasn’t giving them up anytime soon.

“Of course we don’t have to stop having Big Brother Dates. Cheryl might not be happy if I went out on a date with someone else, but you guys are fine.”

“Then can we have one this weekend? If Julie doesn’t tire you out too much with the painting?”

“Sure. I’d like that, too. When are we having Thanksgiving dinner, Mom?”

“I was thinking we’d have it Monday. That way you can have lots of leftovers to take back with you on Tuesday.”

“OK, Jamie, Julie - Big Brother Date on Sunday?”

They both nodded. Jamie was beaming. So dinner was now a success. Both my sisters were happy. And that meant Mom was happy. And, as they say in the south, if Momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!

After we ate, the three of us cleaned up the dishes, and then Julie went upstairs to organize her room for painting while Jamie and I played a game of Scrabble. My mind wasn’t as clear as it usually was, and so she was able to beat me fairly easily. I used to be able to run circles around her on a Scrabble board. Nowadays, we were much more evenly matched.

I excused myself and headed upstairs around 9:00, saying that I was tired and wanted to get a good sleep so I was ready to work with Julie on her room tomorrow. (That was true, but I was also dying to see what was in the bag Cheryl had sent home with me.) I gave Mom and Jamie both a hug and a kiss goodnight, and then knocked on Julie’s door and went in to do the same to her. She had made good progress clearing the clutter from her room. I suggested that the first job in the morning would be to strip her bedding off, then move all the furniture into the middle of the room and cover it up with an old blanket so that we could get to all the walls easily. As we hugged goodnight, she told me how glad she was to have me home, and thanked me again for agreeing to help her with the redecorating. I told her I was looking forward to it. I also told her that I would leave my dirty laundry in a pile outside my door, and she said she’d get it started in the washer before she went to sleep.