Read Online Raising Hope by Katie Willard - Free Book Online Page B

hand and stood in front of the TV so the remote wouldn’t work. Her eyes glittered at me. “Who was the damn fool who ever thought daughters were a good idea? Tim and Bobby together don’t give me the hassles you do.”
    “Oh, right,” I snorted. “Tim getting arrested for pot and Bobby drinking all the time don’t bother you a bit.”
    Her face reddened, and she said, “That’s not what I’m talking about, you spiteful little witch, and you know it. No matter what the boys do, they don’t give me the attitude you do; they don’t look at me like they’re going to spit in my eye.” Ma’s curly hair stood out from her head, and I wondered idly if she’d stuck her finger in a socket when she got up.
    “Don’t you have anything to say for yourself?” she asked me.
    I sighed. “Not really. What do you want me to say?”
    “Look at your cereal bowl,” she said, pointing to the bowl and spoon on the rug next to the chair. “Why don’t you say something about that? Something like—Gee, Ma, I know you’re going out to clean other people’s houses all day. It’s the least I can do to
get off my lazy ass, pick up my own dishes, and put them in the dishwasher.
”
    “Everything always has to be on your time,” I yelled right back at her. “It’s your way or the highway.”
    “You’re damn right,” she said, her voice rising with every word she spoke. “It is my way when you’re living under my roof.” She got quiet then and walked up to me and stuck her finger in my face. “You listen here, missy . . .”
    “My name’s not ‘missy,’” I said, looking right into her crazy-lady eyes.
    She stepped back a little, like she was afraid she might hit me if she got too close. “I’m done with you hanging around here being lazy. Time for you to get to work.”
    Jesus H. Christ! I’d only been home four days. Four crummy days and she was saying I didn’t do anything except hang around. I threw up my hands and banged my head back on the chair. “What do you want me to do, Ma?” I hollered. I swear, that woman would drive anyone to booze. No wonder my father had left. “I put in applications everywhere. Is it my fault that no one’s hiring? God! You blame me if the sun doesn’t shine.”
    “Listen,” she said, “you and I both know you’re not going to get any of the jobs you applied for. You got through high school by the skin of your teeth, and no one with any common sense is going to hire you.”
    “Thanks, Ma,” I said. She didn’t even care that she was hurting me, didn’t even care that she was being so mean. “That’s a real nice way to talk about your own daughter.”
    “Facts are facts,” she replied. “The sooner you wake up and smell the coffee, the better off you’ll be.”
    I stood up then, still in my big T-shirt I’d worn to bed last night, and I folded my long, skinny arms across my chest. I stared right at her and asked, “What in hell is your point?”
    “My point is that you’re coming to work for me.” She twisted her mouth into a spiteful smile. She had laid down her trump card and was waiting for my move.
What do you say to that, missy?
I knew exactly what she was thinking.
    I just laughed, a short bark of a sound, and said, “I’m not cleaning up other people’s shit.”
    I got nervous right after I said it; I knew I’d stepped way over the line. “You listen here,” Ma hollered, coming up close to my face. “My cleaning houses has kept a roof over your head and food in your mouth. And seeing as you’ve got no better prospects, you’ll get off your sorry ass and help me.”
    “What if I don’t want to?” I wasn’t willing to give up yet. It wasn’t in me to back down from a fight so easily.
    “What if I don’t want to keep feeding you and housing you?” she shot back. “It’s grown-up time, time you start contributing. Besides, I could use the help.”
    The only sound I heard then was Ma breathing hard through her nose. She backed away