I gotta use the bathroom, I tell Daddo.
Mommy is asle ep on the mattress they brought into the living room. I was, too, but then I woke up and saw Daddo
sitting up on the couch, staring up the hall.
What are you looking at? I ask him.
Nothing, he says.
I gotta use the bathroom, I say again.
Okay, Daddo says.
Will you take me?
Yeah. Of course. Just... give me one second.
But he doesn’t move. He just looks down the hall to where the dogs are sitting.
The dogs are looking up to the ceiling.
Daddo? I ask.
I don’t know, Daddo says. It’s pretty windy outside. Maybe the wind woke you.
No, I have to pee.
Well, okay. But the house has been creaking.
I don’t want him to say this. I don’t want to go to the bathroom anymore. I want to pee right where I am.
No, no, Daddo says. In a totally normal way. I mean it. And these dogs... they’re incredible. That’s all. I promise.
He watches them a little more and then says, Are you ready? I’ll take you.
We both get up and Daddo turns on another lamp and he looks back to make sure it didn’t wake Mommy. He
watches her a little and I don’t think he wants to leave her alone.
Okay, he says. Let’s hurry.
We go up the hall and into the bathroom and Daddo turns on the light and he lifts the top potty cover and he tells
me he’ll wait outside.
No, I tell him. Just wait here.
Okay.
I sit and it’s just a potty and Daddo faces the open door and he sticks his head out and looks both ways. Up and
down the hall, up and down the hall.
My pee sounds like a whisper.
It sounds like someone is whispering below me.
I slide to the side and look down and make sure and I’m done and I clean up and get up and Daddo is still looking
up and down the hall.
You good? he asks, without facing me.
I look in the mirror.
I look more like a big girl now. I really think I do.
Yeah.
Okay. Wash your hands. Hurry.
I wash my hands and the water sounds like a whisper, like someone is talking to me or about me in a whisper.
Then Daddo takes my hand and we go back down the hall to the living room.
Mommy is sitting up on the mattress.
Was that you guys? she asks.
What did you hear? Daddo asks.
Mommy thinks about it.
I heard you two laughing in the kitchen.
We look to the kitchen.
There’s the stove and the sink and the refrigerator and the rack where we put the dishes to dry.
We need to remember that houses make sounds, Daddo says. In a normal world, houses make sounds.
We gotta take shifts, Mommy says. I’ll go first.
Okay, Daddo says. But if you have to use the bathroom, wake me.
Okay.
Wanna put a movie on?
No.
No?
I don’t wanna stare at one place. When you stare at one place you create corners of the eyes.
I’m not sure what Mommy means, but Daddo nods like he does.
Let’s sle ep, Bela, Daddo says. So that Mommy can go to sle ep after us.
Okay.
We get back on the mattress, back under the sheet and blanket.
One of the dogs is standing at the entrance to the living room.
I think it’s Kamael.
Jesus, Mommy says. The dog scared the shit out of me.
Kamael looks to the kitchen for a second. Then he looks at us again.
Hi, I say.
But Kamael doesn’t wag his tail or smile.
He just turns around and goes back up the hall to the front door.
We hear him sit down again.
After a while, Daddo says, Maybe we’ll both stay up a minute.
Okay, Mommy says.
But you try to sle ep, Daddo says to me.
Okay.
Good night, Bela, Daddo says.
Good night.