IV - Family Dinner
1131 Words
I quickly gathered up the laundry from the girls’ room and my own and carried the basket downstairs to the washer. With the washer filled and started, I went into the kitchen and looked at the clock on the wall. It was getting close to the time the girls would be back from school. I pulled out some snacks for them once they got home and looked in the pantry to figure something out for dinner.
I decided on meatloaf. I pulled out all the ingredients and set them on the counter. I diced bell peppers and onions and sautéed them on the range until the onions were nice and caramelized. I let them cool while I swapped the laundry over to the dryer. I mixed everything together in a large bowl and soon had it in the loaf pan ready to go into the oven later. I put the pan in the fridge and then got five good sized potatoes and cubed them after washing, tossing out any chunks with dark spots. I set them on to boil while I made the sauce to drizzle over the meatloaf before it went into the oven.
I soon heard the school bus stop outside the house and the crunch of the gravel driveway under the girls’ feet as they walked up, its big diesel engine rumbling as it pulled away. They went directly to the dining room and started on their homework and I came in to see if they needed any help. Most likely, Jessie might, but Tammi? She was in the same grade as her sister even though they were three years apart. Tammi was incredibly gifted, entering high school so early, but she also had odd quirks that set her apart from her peers and made it very difficult to make friends.
Tamara looked up from her history textbook, “I’m good, Momma.”
“Same here.” Jessi was quickly jotting down in her notebook.
“Okay, then. Let me know if y’all need anything.”
I got the laundry out of the dryer and got it folded, setting it back in the rectangular white basket. I set the girls’ clothes on their bed and put my husband’s in his dresser. Mine, I hung up in the closet including what I had bought earlier that day with Becca. I almost tripped on the robotic vacuum as I came out of my bedroom and into the hall. My foot smacked it in mid stride, sending it careening into the baseboard of the wall. I’m glad those things are made of plastic instead of metal or that would’ve hurt…
At around a quarter to five, I returned to the kitchen and finished up making dinner, coating the meatloaf with the tomato concoction and mashing heavy cream into the potatoes with minced garlic and dill weed. I pulled out of the cabinet a packet of brown gravy and followed the directions on the back. Everything was ready by the time Derrick pulled into the driveway around six-thirty.
Derrick had gone to the living room and turned on the evening news while Jessi and Tammi, finished with their homework and set the table as I brought dinner in, setting it down on the colorful trivets. Derrick came in after the news was over and sat down at the head of the table, his back facing the bay window.
“So, girls, how was school?” I looked at my daughters meaningfully.
“There was a big fight at school,” Jessi said. “Harry and some of the other linemen got jumped by some gang-banger wanna-bes at lunch. A couple of the tables got demolished.”
“What!” I was shocked. I had wanted for our girls to go to the public school out here so they would have interaction with a wider spectrum of people, but this was ridiculous. “Did you see it happen too, Tammi?”
“Yeah, we were over in the far corner away from all of it. Farris had to pull Harry off of this one kid. Put him into a German suplex. That’s how one of the tables got busted.”
Derrick sat and ate his dinner in silence and wasn’t paying attention, like he couldn’t hear any of what the girls were saying. I wasn’t surprised. It’s been like this for some time now, this air of indifference towards us. He most often would come home, watch the news, eat, and often would dip right back out, all without ever saying a word. The only interaction we would get from him anymore would be in the mornings, if we were lucky. Unless he was drunk, like last night. I wonder if he was going back out tonight. He usually does on Fridays, which this was.
“The campus police managed to get them pulled apart,” Jessi added. “We didn’t see them again after that. Word is that the ones that started the fight got expelled and the football players got suspended.”
“I should hope so for fighting in school.” There was still no sign that he was even listening. What’s the point of having children if you’re not going to be a parent and listen to them? “Was anyone hurt?”
“Harry gave Farris a bloody nose. That was about it.” Tammi played with her potatoes, shoving them around the plate. “Nothing too serious.”
Jessi spoke up, “We have a field trip at the end of the year. Mr. Butcher gave us our permission slips today for it. It’s so we can go to Six Flags in Arlington the second to last Friday in May. He said that we need to have them turned in by the first.”
Derrick’s knife and fork rattled on the plate when he finished his meal. He stood up and without a word left the room, walking out the front door. We all watched through the large bay window as his truck pulled out of the driveway..
“Jessi, go ahead and leave it for me on the counter. I’ll have it ready for you tomorrow. I want you two to watch over each other tonight. Please, put up the leftovers and make sure the door is locked. If you need anything or if something happens, I want you to call me. I may not be back immediately.”
Jessi and Tammi’s eyes got big.
“Where are you going?” Jessi had asked me this, already knowing the answer.
“I’m going to follow your father.”
I left the table and grabbed my purse, Becca’s words from this morning ringing in my ears as I set out to see if it could be true.
- Writer
