Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 70429 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70429 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
I looked at my work, a bit disgruntled. Big Bird was wearing some sort of basketball jersey, and I didn’t like that some of his feathers seemed bigger than the others. I hadn’t drawn them, but whoever did, drew them in a way that upset my sensibilities. I pushed that out of my mind, then took an almost pristine yellow crayon and started in on him… staying within the lines. It was looking good, but it wasn’t long before I had to get up again and go to the bathroom. Now, my stomach was rumblin’ on top of it. Mama hadn’t fixed me no breakfast. She always fixed me breakfast and made herself coffee. She must’ve been really tired.
“I’ll be right back, Mama.” I felt mighty strange leaving her all alone, but nature had called, and I had to answer. Off to the bathroom I went, hurrying along. The toilet didn’t flush that well, and Mama said you had to be real gentle with the lever, treat it like a lady. I pulled my little tan pants down with the elastic waist, and they fell to my ankles. I had to raise up on my tippy toes to get the aim just right, and I sighed as I relieved myself. I had been holding it so long. Once I was good and done, I gently wrapped my tiny fingers around the jimmy, looked into the toilet one last time, staring in disgust at the brown stains caked around the sides of the toilet bowl and my piss mixed with the sewer water, and flushed it all down. I debated on washing my hands. I hated washin’ my hands. After all, Mama wouldn’t know I hadn’t. She was asleep, but I decided I’d go ahead and do it, and make her proud.
I turned on the faucet, shoved my little hands under the warm stream that came out crooked, then grabbed the bar of mint green soap, getting suds all over my fingers and palms. As I rubbed my hands together, I looked at myself in the mirror. My dark brown hair, actually more of an off-black with natural highlights, was all over my head in a heaping mess. Mama said my hair was so thick and grew so fast, it could be mistaken for a bird nest. She’d laugh and say Sue was going to sleep in it one day. I ran my fingers through it, trying to pat it down. It needed to be brushed. My eyes were puffy and pink like Mama’s makeup sponges, and damn if those eyes of mine still didn’t hold tears in them. My cheeks looked like strawberries. Just as red as they wanted to be.
Drying my hands off onto my pants, I hightailed it into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator door, and grabbed the jug of milk. Mama told me not to pour the milk too fast because when I did, it always went everywhere but in the cup. She said we didn’t have money to be lettin’ the table and floor have a taste, too. I always found that funny… imagining the table and floor with little tongues, tryna get a little bit of spilled milk. I told her about it one time, and she said I was silly. I didn’t mean to be, but I ’spose it was funny all the same. I removed a red plastic cup from the dish rack, opened the cap on the milk, and poured. I concentrated so hard, it was any wonder I didn’t pass out right then and there.
Steady… steady… steady… I poured the milk up to the rim of the cup, stopping just in time. I was so proud of myself, having only lost a drop or two onto the table. I put the jug back into the refrigerator, then opened the pantry door and picked up a box of chicken flavored crackers. Mama had gotten them from the grocery store for me the week before. She knew I loved them, especially with cheese. The cheese was all gone. I had checked when I got the milk.
Minutes later, I was finishing up my drink and snack, and the rumbling in my stomach stopped. Satiated at last. But then, I heard Sue squawking. Mama kept the bird seed in a big, covered bucket in the kitchen. The bucket had been originally used for cow feed, but we never had no cows, so I don’t know how she got a hold to it. I rinsed out my milk cup, filled it with seed, and took it over to Sue, who was flapping about in her cage. Makin’ a fuss.
I guess Mama ain’t give you no breakfast either, huh? Don’t worry. She’ll be awake come lunchtime. She missed takin’ me to school, too. I don’t like school, but she said I have to go anyway, Sue.