I opened my eyes, totally oblivious to the time or place. I looked around- those few moments when you first awaken were always awkward for me.
I was home and in bed again, but I could hear a heated conversation outside. What was it now? Had Archie finally thrown the last piece of straw on the figurative camel’s back?
I slid out of the old washcloth that had given me warmth and stepped lightly to the door, peeking around the corner to not be caught.
Shouting now. “YOU’RE NOT ARCHIE !” My mother had always had something against Archie, and she definitely didn’t take to kindly to the fact that Michaelo looked up to him like he used to look up to our father.
“No Michaelo,” she said calmer now, “I will get the cheese.”
I peeked further around the corner at the precise moment the coil released on the trap and whipped the metal bar down on my mother’s abdomen.
The cheese lay safe next to the wooden plank and my mother’s body.
After all she sacrificed… We still won’t be eating tonight.