At Wheeler Homes Chapter 7

                                  Chapter 7

          Saturday morning came and Jessica was good as her word.  She popped up bright and early intending to get every bit of her work done.  Well, almost bright and early.  She got up about 8 o’clock.  James was already up and gone.  James was such a curious boy.  During the school week, James just dragged out of bed, but on Saturday, he was up early.  James said that he didn’t want to waste his day off.  James usually went to the playground where he met his friends.  He usually grabbed a banana or a couple slices of bread.  He didn’t wait for his mother to fix breakfast.  She might have work for him to do.  He didn’t want to take that chance, so he was out of the door before his mother could give him anything to do.  If his mother did have anything for James to do, Jessica had to be sent out to find him.  And James knew to avoid his sister just like he avoided his mother.

          Jessica did the quiet jobs first.  No reason to make racket and get her mother and step-father out of bed too early.  She didn’t want them to get up cranky; she wanted them to get up in a good mood.  Sweeping the floor was a good quiet job.  So was cleaning the bathroom.  Jessica usually went through the refrigerator and pitched  things that were too old.  There were always oranges or onions that had been in the bottom of the refrigerator for the whole week.  It was easy to see when they were bad.  Things like milk never spoiled in their house.  They usually ran out of the milk before it had a chance to spoil.  After looking through the cabinets and refrigerator, Jessica had a list of things that they needed for the upcoming week.  Jessica was good in the kitchen and her mother usually let her be in charge.

          Jessica was doing well keeping quiet until she dropped a pan she was putting away.  The pan made an awful noise as it hit the floor.  And sure enough, in a couple of minutes, Jessica’s mother came stumbling in to the kitchen.

          “What in the world is going on in here?” she demanded.

          Jessica replied, “Oh, I’m sorry.  I just dropped a pan on the floor.  I was trying so hard to be quiet and let you and daddy sleep.”

          “Well we were sleeping soundly until we were startled half to death by that noise! Jessica’s mother remarked.

          “I’m sorry,” Jessica offered.

          Her mother went on, “Oh that’s all right.  It was time for me to get up anyway.  By the way, where is James?  He’s usually the one to wake me up on Saturday.

          “I don’t have any idea.  He was up and out before I got up,” Jessica answered.

          Jessica’s mother said, “That boy gets out of the house early so that he won’t have to do any work. 

          Jessica heard the TV come on in the living room.  Her step-father must be up too.  “I wonder what kind of a mood he is in?” she thought.  It didn’t take her very long to wonder though.

          From the living room Howard called, “Hey!  What’s a man gotta do to get some coffee around here?”

          Jessica’s mother was already on it.  No one in Jessica’s family was in a good mood before their morning coffee.  Sometimes they were still in a bad mood after they got their morning coffee, but Jessica’s parents were always in a bad mood before their morning coffee.