“You got a dish or something?” Fox says, straightening. “I can, uh, feed her.”
“Um, I don’t know,” Wendy says, and again glances at me.
I shrug and set down the bags I am carrying. “Use whatever, I guess.”
It all feels so comfortable. Domestic. Even as literally nothing is normal or even stable about what we’re doing.
Two people aredead.A house is destroyed. And now we just put this kid to bed like it’s a slumber party?
Fox grabs a paper plate—used, I think, spotted with pizza grease—and rips open the top of the kibble. “How much is she supposed to get?” he says after scooping out a small mountain of brown pellets. Nana noses him and he drops it on the ground. “Okay, okay.”
Wendy giggles. “I mean, less than that, but…” She winces, then shrugs. “She’s probably hungry,” she adds in a lower voice. “And tired.”
“That makes two of us.” Pan does an exaggerated yawn and stretches his hands over his head. “Does anyone need anything from me? ‘Cause I’m done.”
Of course you are, I think.
“No,” Kit says.
“Nah,” says Fox, who’s crouched by the skinny dog and watching her wolf down her kibble. He glances up at Wendy. “Is she supposed to eat that fast?”
Again, Wendy giggles. “No. Nana, relax.” She gives the dog a pat on her bony spine.
Pan sticks his hands in his jeans pocket and saunters over to me. “So where are we putting her?” he says, in a lower voice so Wendy can’t hear.
“Back room?” I offer.
Pan frowns. “We don’t have a back room, we have a…” He spins a hand in the air. “Closet, I guess.” He looks at the lounge area on the loft floor. “She can’t sleep on the couch?”
“No,” I say, a little pointedly. “Privacy?”
“Oh, yeah. Okay.” Pan scratches the back of his head, uncomfortable. “I mean…you’ve got space in your room, right?”
I look at him.
“Okay, okay,” Pan says. “I mean,I’mnot sharing, but…hey, thing one and thing two!” he yells at Fox and Kit. “Can the two of you double up in your bunk beds, or…?”
“They’re not bunk beds,” Kit and Fox say in unison.
“Jesus Christ,” Pan mutters. “All right, well, I’ve done my best.” He does anI wash my handsgesture and dramatically bows backwards. “And I amout.”
It’s been a terrible fucking day for you?I think. What about the kid whose house burned down, whose dog almost died, and whose brothers…
I cut myself off, looking at Wendy petting the little knobbly spine of her dog, scratching behind its ears.
You did save her from having to see something really, really ugly.
Treasure’s words echo in my ear.
“Yeah, I’m kicking off too,” Kit says. “It’s been…” He blinks. “A day. Whatever. See you guys in the morning.”
Fox straightens up from his crouch, finally looking away from the dog. “No one wants to hang?”
It’s just me and Wendy now, so I’m not sure who he’s asking, exactly. “Not right now,” I say by way of apology. “Maybe later.”
Fox sighs. “Fine. Uh, good night, I guess.”
He nods at me, even darts a glance at Wendy, but she’s busy rummaging through her Valu-Mart bag, pulling out different random objects. Betting we got a male shopper, judged on the way it’s organized. But it’s all there. Treasure really kitted her out. Toothbrush, hairbrush, some leggings and shirts, a plastic pack of something that Wendy quickly tucks back in the bag, glancing around, which I realize must be underwear.
