Eat, Mommy says. It’s morning. I’m at the kitchen table. Mommy just walked into the house a minute ago. She’s still wearing her jacket from the party last night and she looks tired. Did you sle ep over at a friend’s? I ask. She looks at me quick, serious. Eat. Daddo is asle ep upstairs. In their room now. I saw him facedown and still wearing his clothes on their bed on my way down to the kitchen. I put my own breakfast together. Mommy doesn’t know this yet. She’s at the fridge now. She takes out orange juice and then some aspirin from a bottle. She swallows the aspirin with the orange juice. Man, she says. Not every party has to turn into a séance. What’s a séance? Nothing. I just mean... when are people gonna learn it’s okay to have fun without bringing up dark stuff? Who did that? That ghost story. Remember? She looks at me like she hopes I remember. Yeah, I say. It wasn’t scary. Ha. Well, you’re a little scare expert these days. What do you mean? Nothing. Eat. I’m eating. Well, eat more. Eat till you’re round. I eat more. Where’s Daddo? she asks. Asle ep. Still? Y ep. He was up late, she says. So were you. Excuse me? So were you. Bela.
So was I. Kelvin didn’t put you to bed? He did but then I was up for a while. Mommy looks to the ceiling. Did Daddo tuck you in too? Yeah. He fixed the closet hinge too. And sl ept in my bed. What was wrong with the closet? He said it was loose. Mommy looks to the ceiling again. I left the chair in front of the closet this morning. Well, good. She drinks more juice. Bela? Yeah. Who is Other Mommy? The way she asks it, so sudden, it surprises me. Bela? Yeah. Please, tell me more about her. Why... Mommy comes and sits with me at the table. She smells like the party still. Because Marsha Dickman got really scared and friends have been texting me about it all morning. She actually stayed at her brother’s house. I’d like to know more about Other Mommy and I’d like to know right now. I don’t answer at first. Bela? Her face is weird. Weird? How? I don’t know. Well... you do though. Right? Yeah. Okay. So how? Um... Bela... Her eyes are sometimes on the side of her head and sometimes on the bottom of her face. What? Yeah.
Okay. Mommy breathes de ep. What else about her can you tell me? Is she small? No, she’s big. O? Bigger than me? Bigger than Daddo. I see. I think she has to duck when she walks around my bedroom. Jesus, Bela. It’s weird because the sun is bright. And I feel like we’re talking like people do at night. But she’s not always like that, I say. Not always big? Yeah. Okay. So sometimes she’s small? I don’t know. Yeah. What do you mean? I don’t know. Try? Sometimes she slides across my bedroom floor on her belly. This is all very creative. Creative? Mommy gets up and looks up and leans back against the counter and crosses her arms and says, Bela, has she ever talked to you? A door slams upstairs and feet are moving fast down the hall up there. Then down the stairs. Daddo hurries into the kitchen. Bela? he says. He sees me and I know he was scared I was alone down here. Daddo looks to Mommy. Hey. Hey. Did you just get in? I thought maybe you passed out in the den. I went to Marsha’s. To make sure she was okay. Well, she obviously had a little too much last night, Daddo says. I know I did. Yeah, Mommy says. We gotta stop that.
Yeah. We gotta dry out. They’re both looking right at me and they both go quiet and I eat. Mommy turns on the little radio in the kitchen and Daddo drinks some water. Are we still going to the zoo today? I ask. Mommy and Daddo forgot. O, shit, Mommy says. That’s right, Daddo says. They go quiet again. Then they laugh. They laugh hard. It’s not great when our kid remembers this stuff and we don’t, Daddo says. No, it’s not. They look at each other for a while. But when Mommy goes to hug Daddo he walks away to the sink and gets more water. I could sle ep the entire day, Daddo says. But I’m gonna go get ready for the zoo. Can we get a stuffed vulture? I ask them. They look surprised. A vulture? Mommy asks. Bela, of all the animals in the world, why would you want a vulture? There are vultures at the zoo. I heard vultures are great because they don’t kill. What they eat is already dead. I think they’re cool, I say. A vulture you shall receive, Daddo says. If they have one. He pats my head and I finish eating and I see Mommy is looking at the ceiling still and she has her arms crossed still and is holding her elbows. Like she’s cold. Then she looks at me like she hasn’t forgot the question she asked me. But she doesn’t ask it again. Even as Daddo walks out of the kitchen to get ready Mommy doesn’t ask again, Bela, has she ever talked to you?