Ice (Shooting Stars 2)

hour later. 'Go on to bed. I'm all right by myself. Go

on. Get some rest," he ordered. "You got school

tomorrow."

I rose, kissed him on the cheek and went to bed.

I couldn't fall asleep. I kept hoping I'd hear Mama's

footsteps in the corridor and then the front door

opening, but an hour passed and then another and,

still, she wasn't home. This was going to be a very bad

night, I told myself. My stomach churned like a car

without fuel, grinding and dying repeatedly. I tossed

and turned and tried desperately to think of something

else, to sing myself to sleep. anything. Nothing

worked.

When the front door finally opened, it was

close to three in the morning. Mama didn't just come

in. either. It sounded like she fell in.

I sat up to listen and heard her muffled laugh.

She was very drunk. "What are you doing on the

floor. Lena?" I heard Daddy ask her.

She laughed and then she told him the heel

broke on her shoe. I could hear her struggle to her

feet, still giggling to herself.

"Where were you all this time. Lena?-"Out," she said. "Having a good time. Ever hear

of such a thing? Know what that is anymore? I doubt

it," she told him.

"Where were you?" he repeated.

"I said out," she snapped back at him. I heard him step forward and then I heard her

short scream.

I rose from bed and opened my door just

enough to see the two of them.