"Yes, she has," I said with indignation. He curled his lips. "She had to sign my report card, so she saw my grades all the time."
"You never forged her signature?" Jennifer asked with a smile that could freeze lava.
"Why? Is that what you do?" I fired back.
"Hardly. I don't have to do that. I pass for real," she said "Daddy signs my report cards, don't you, Daddy?"
"Every time," he agreed. He pushed back from the table and stood. "If she's going to waste food, Clara, you see you don't give her as much to start. I work hard for my money to pay for everything," he added, directing himself to me.
Even though my stomach was protesting, I forced myself to swallow the last piece of meat and another forkful of green beans.
"I want to catch the news. Call me when coffee and pie is ready," he added, and left the kitchen to go watch television.
My eyes followed him out, and then I looked at William, who was staring at me sympathetically. I smiled at him, and his face brightened.
"I gotta go do my homework, Ma. I don't have to do anything with the dinner dishes anyway, right? You got her," Jennifer said, nodding at me.
"You should still help out, Jennifer?'
"I can't. You heard Daddy. He wants me to make the honor roll. Don't you want me to finish my homework?" she whined.
"Of course?'
"Okay, then," she said, jumping up. "I'll come down later for a piece of pie."
She left the kitchen. Aunt Clara shook her head sadly.
"I'll help," William said. He started to clear the table with me.
"You want to see the birdhouse I built?" he asked me when we were finished.
Aunt Clara smiled at me, happy William was emerging a little from his shell.
"Sure," I said.
"It's up in my room. I made it myself," he said. I followed him up to his room, and he took it off the shelf. It was a triangular-shaped house with dried corncobs attached to the outside.
"I glued all those on," he said, showing me how secure the cobs were.
I handled it gently. "This is wonderful, William It must have been hard to build this from scratch. How long did it take?"
"A couple of days," he said proudly, "As soon as I save up enough, I'm going to buy some binoculars so I can see the birds that come to my house up close. Do you know anything about birds?"
I shook my head, and he went to his desk to get an encyclopedia of birds. It contained brightly colored photos of birds, their habitats, and the type of food they ate. He then showed me another book that had instructions on building birdhouses.
"That's the next one I want to build." He pointed to a double-decker birdhouse.
"That's beautiful. You can build that?"
"Sure," he said confidently. "I'll let you know when I get the materials, and you could watch if you want." "Thanks," I said.
He gave me his best smile, one that truly brightened his eyes.
"I better start on my homework," I told him.
I left, and as I passed Jennifer's door, which was partly open, I saw her curled on the floor, talking on her phone. I paused, and she looked up at me.
"What are you doing, spying on me?" she snapped.