‘That’s weird.’
‘When you’re right, you’re right.’ Mary put a box of cereal on the table. ‘I bought a new cereal for you. You’re going to like it.’
Beth sat down at the kitchen table and studied the label on the cereal box. ‘I can’t eat this. You’re trying to kill me.’
‘Don’t put any ideas in my head,’ her mother cautioned. ‘Would you please eat your breakfast?’
Tim, her ten-year-old, ran into the kitchen. He slid into a chair at the table and said, ‘I’ll have bacon and eggs.’
‘Whatever happened to good morning?’ Mary asked.
‘Good morning. I’ll have bacon and eggs.’
‘Please.’
‘Aw, come on, Mom. I’m going to be late for school.’
‘I’m glad you mentioned that. Mrs Reynolds called me. You’re failing maths. What do you say to that?’
‘It figures.’
‘Tim, is that supposed to be a joke?’
‘I personally don’t think it’s funny,’ Beth sniffed.
He made a face at his sister. ‘If you want funny, look in the mirror.’
‘That’s enough,’ Mary said. ‘Behave yourselves.’
Her headache was getting worse.
Tim asked, ‘Can I go to the skating rink after school, Mom?’
‘You’re already skating on thin ice. You’re to come right home and study. How do you think it looks for a college professor to have a son who’s failing maths?’
‘It looks okay. You don’t teach maths.’
They talk about the terrible twos, Mary thought grimly. What about the terrible nines, tens, elevens and twelves?
Beth said, ‘Did Tim tell you he got a “D” in spelling?’
He glared at his sister. ‘Haven’t you ever heard of Mark Twain?’
‘What does Mark Twain have to do with this?’ Mary asked.
‘Mark Twain said he has no respect for a man who can only spell a word one way.’
We can’t win, Mary thought. They’re smarter than we are.
She had packed a lunch for each of them, but she was concerned about Beth, who was on some kind of crazy new diet.
‘Please, Beth, eat all of your lunch today.’
‘If it has no artificial preservatives. I’m not going to let the greed of the food industry ruin my health.’
Whatever happened to the good old days of junk food? Mary wondered.
Tim plucked a loose paper from one of Beth’s notebooks. ‘Look at this!’ he yelled. ‘“Dear Beth, let’s sit together during study period. I thought of you all day yesterday and –”’
‘Give that back to me!’ Beth screamed. ‘That’s mine.’ She made a grab for Tim, and he jumped out of her reach.
He read the signature at the bottom of the note. ‘Hey! It’s signed Virgil. I thought you were in love with Arnold.’
Beth snatched the note away from him. ‘What would you know about love?’ Mary’s twelve-year-old daughter demanded. ‘You’re a child.’
The pounding in Mary’s head was becoming unbearable.
‘Kids – give me a break.’
She heard the horn of the school bus outside. Tim and Beth started towards the door.
‘Wait! You haven’t eaten your breakfasts,’ Mary said.
She followed them out into the hallway.
‘No time, Mother. Got to go.’
‘’Bye, Mom.’
‘It’s freezing outside. Put on your coats and scarves.’
‘I can’t. I lost my scarf,’ Tim said.
And they were gone. Mary felt drained. Motherhood is living in the eye of a hurricane.
She looked up as Edward came down the stairs, and she felt a glow. Even after all these years, Mary thought, he’s still the most attractive man I’ve ever known. It was his gentleness that had first caught Mary’s interest. His eyes were a soft grey, reflecting a warm intelligence, but they could turn into twin blazes when he became impassioned about something.
‘Morning, darling.’ He gave her a kiss. They walked into the kitchen.
‘Sweetheart – would you do me a favour?’
‘Sure, beautiful. Anything.’
‘I want to sell the children.’
‘Both of them?’
‘Both of them.’
‘When?’
‘Today.’
‘Who’d buy them?’
‘Strangers. They’ve reached the age where I can’t do anything right. Beth has become a health food freak, and your son is turning into a world-class dunce.’
Edward said thoughtfully, ‘Maybe they’re not our kids.’
‘I hope not. I’m making oatmeal for you.’
He looked at his watch. ‘Sorry, darling. No time. I’m due in surgery in half an hour. Hank Cates got tangled up in some machinery. He may lose a few fingers.’
‘Isn’t he too old to still be farming?’
‘Don’t let him hear you say that.’
Mary knew that Hank Cates had not paid her husband’s bills in three years. Like most of the farmers in the community, Hank Cates was suffering from the low farm prices and the Farm Credit Administration’s indifferent attitude towards the farmers. A lot of them were losing farms they had worked on all of their lives. Edward never pressed any of his patients for money, and many of them paid him with crops. The Ashleys had a cellar full of corn, potatoes and wheat. One farmer had offered to give Edward a cow in payment, but when Edward told Mary about it, she said, ‘For heaven’s sake, tell him the treatment is on the house.’
Mary looked at her husband now and thought again: How lucky I am.
‘Okay,’
