Home Front

She glared at him.

“Move it. ” He strode down the hall to Lulu’s room. As usual, his youngest daughter slept spread-eagle on top of the blankets with a zoo of stuffed animals gathered around her. He threw the toys aside and kissed her cheek, pushing her tangled hair aside. “Lulu, honey, it’s time to wake up. ”

“I don’t wanna,” she said, rolling away from him.

“Time to go to preschool. ”

“I don’t wanna. ”

He turned on the light and went to her dresser. Opening the top drawer, he pulled out some tiny pink-flowered underwear and a pair of small elastic-waisted yellow corduroy pants and a green sweater. “Come on, Lulu, we need to get you dressed. ”

“Those are summer clothes, Daddy. And they don’t go together. Get the yellow sweater. ”

“This is what you’re wearing. ”

“Am not. ”

“Are, too. ”

“Mommy lets me pick—”

“Come here, Lucy,” he said sternly.

Scrunching her face up, she climbed out of bed and padded toward him. All the time he was dressing her, she was complaining.

“There,” he said when she was dressed. “Pretty as a picture. ”

“I look ugly. ”

“Hardly. ”

She reached up for the pair of wings on the dresser top. “Pin it on me, Daddy. It means she’s thinking of me. Ow! You poked me. ”

“Sorry,” he mumbled. Picking her up, he carried her downstairs and into the kitchen. There, he put her in her chair and poured her a bowl of cereal.

“It’s clown pancake day,” she informed him crisply, looking down at her wings. “Look at the calendar. ”

“It’s Captain Crunch day. ”

“That’s for special. Is Mommy coming home?”

“Not today. ” He poured the milk into her bowl.

Betsy came running into the kitchen and stopped dead. “I can’t go to school like this,” she cried, flinging out her arms dramatically. “Look at my hair. ”

She did sort of look as if she’d just undergone electric shock therapy. “Put a twisty thing in it. ”

Betsy’s eyes widened at the thought, her face paled. “You’re ruining my life already. ”

“Mommy’s not coming home yet,” Lulu said and burst into tears.

“Eat,” Michael snapped to Lulu; to Betsy, he said, “Sit down. Now. ”

Outside, he heard the grinding of gears, the rattling of an old engine. He looked through the kitchen window and saw the yellow blur of a school bus pull up at the end of his driveway.

“I’m late,” Betsy howled. “See?”

Michael ran to the back door and flung it open, yelling, “Wait—”