Just One More

Just one more. Just one more cigarette and one more beer while I write. That's all. That's what will complete this evening for me. Garrett got sent home from school today, with lice. To most people that would be detrimental. To me, that was the least of my worries. Garrett needed to go home, and Olivia was the one who got the phone call. Olivia, my seventeen year old sister, got that phone call. What the hell? This is my biggest worry. I am Garrett's mom. I have a phone number, which I realize has changed over the past few months. However, I have given notice to the school several times that the change took place. Ben has a phone number also, he should be called second. I have a work phone number. However, Olivia got the call first. Fucking wrong. Not being able to get ahold of a kids mother is just plain wrong. Twelve kids in Miss Laura's class being sent home this week because of a lice outbreak? That is wrong. Garrett having lice and being treated twice in the past two weeks? That's wrong. Do you realize, that, at the laundrymat, it costs two dollars a wash and two dollars per dryer per every load of laundry you have to do? Add that up, would you? Add to that the time it takes to treat all the carpets and bedding and coats; plus do not forget the cost of Rid Carpet treatment and Anti-Lice shampoo, as well as "oh god, what do we do with our six down comforters, the only blankets we have to keep us warm tonight?" problem. I want to shave heads. Ben says no. Ben isn't feeling well. It's his day off. The kids won't behave, and Garrett is home from school. He is crying, he has lice. Nate is not behaving or listening. I serve seventy people in a matter of two hours today. Fat people that want bad asian food, and I am tired. However, I made a hundred and forty dollars today, enough to pay for the most current lice outbreak, and I did it in a matter of four hours. My feet ache. I go home to lice and a cranky love. Well, he isn't cranky so much. He just doesn't feel good. I can understand. The kids are driving us both crazy. Oh well, life goes on. I eventually get the kids into bed. I call Olivia. I want her to babysit, again. It would be the third time this week. I haven't paid her yet, but I will. It just takes me some time, is all, especially when I have lice to pay for. She says no, of course. Garrett has lice, why would she want to expose herself to that atrocity? Ben and I realize that spontinaety does not exist in our world. He misses it, but to me it is all I have ever known. What the fuck is doing what you want when you want, anyhow? It doesn't exist when there are three of you. Garrett is in the spare bedroom. Nate is in his bed. There are no sheets.... oh well. I can only do my best. I decide on a movie, An Affair Of Love, and it is good. Ben joins me for the second half of it. We have a beer together. Now, it is nearly eleven PM. I should be heading to bed. I need just one more, though. Just one more cigarette. Just one more beer. Just one more moment to write. I haven't had a moment today. I haven't had a moment of silence or peace, or solitude, and I have it now. I will take this moment and make it mine. Just one more, yep.