Papa's Not Home

Clank! Number five. My sisters and I count each clank into the trash can, growing more uneasy with each one We usually don’t get very scared until number eight, that’s when he starts to fuss Papa asks me to bring him another He says that if I shake it again I’ll be in trouble That’s what we used to do; we thought it was funny watching the bubbles pour out when he opened it I guess that’s just one of the things we didn’t agree on I run inside, open the fridge, and grab a new can It feels cold and heavy; it’s filled with some dreadful poison that changes him The taste is bad, I remember, when Papa made me try it one day Lounging out back in the bright blue lawn chair that matches the color of his hat After handing it to him gently, as to not stir up the bubbles, I take my sister back with me into the red brick house I wish Papa would just go inside though; Then the neighbors wouldn’t hear him getting angry with the world They wouldn’t give me funny looks when they saw me playing in the front yard Mama told Renee to lie to her preschool teacher about the bruises; say they were an accident I guess a benefit of being a plumber’s wife is that you’re prone to accidents while on the job Home We hear loud screams and run to the living room to see what has happened I get there just in time to see Mommy fall to the ground with an earth-shattering thud She tells us to go outside and stay there, but Daddy yells at us to stay and watch It’s as if he’s got some dark vendetta against her, but I don’t know why We’re scared that we’ll get hit, too, if we don’t do as he says, so we stay Mama’s the same way though, she’s scared to leave him, too She thinks we’re too young and Daddy will take us back to Argentina with him Besides, all the money from the business belongs to him anyway So we are stuck, like gum to the bottom of a dirty shoe, just waiting to get scraped off Moving the family to Arizona will be a fresh start, Mommy says We’ll be closer to grandma and grandpa He may loosen his suffocating chains that have been suffocating us as long as I can remember Or at least that’s what we assume; we didn’t think it could get any worse But Daddy doesn’t like that Mama has a new job with new friends He starts secretly following her around, and showing up at her work to scare her One day he told us that he bought a gun for all of us; I’d never seem my mama cry so hard We each packed suitcases for ourselves and hid them in the garage; Mommy said they were in case we had to leave in a hurry But it’s no fun living in fear, being followed, or threatened So one day Mama brought home some papers for Papa I remember there was a lot of yelling and fighting after that, but after a while, it all quieted down Daddy doesn’t live with us anymore, but he’s closer than we had hoped I guess it’s just hard for him to let go of what he once loved, even though it doesn’t love him back much Lucky for him he can still see us often, since he moved in down the street from grandma