Free Red’s Hot Honky-Tonk Bar by Pamela Morsi Page B

scold her. But Cam seemed more amused than offended.
    “If it’s sitting here, I wouldn’t want it to become just a giant paperweight,” he answered.
    “Do you have Internet?”
    “Sure.”
    Olivia nodded. “Okay, leave it here,” she said.
    Cam laughed and attempted a joke. “So you like the Internet?” he teased. “Should I start calling you Surfer Girl?”
    Olivia didn’t appreciate the humor, but she didn’t comment on it, either.
    “Okay,” she said, as if making an announcement. “Daniel and I can live here.”
    Her presumption that such a decision was hers to make was defiantly meant to needle Red.
    Cam turned with a stern expression and a teasing glint in his eye to the children’s grandmother. “Does that work for you, Abuela Mala?” he asked.
    Red huffed in lieu of a reply.

 
    To: [email protected]
    September 3 7:12 p.m.
    From: [email protected]
    Subject: The New Place
    Hi Mom! Thanks for the emails. It is great logging in and seeing all these from you. We moved into the boyfriends house. And guess what? I am righting to you on his desktop. This is what we got to get, Mom. We got to get are own internet at home so I can always right to you. I guess tho when your home I dont have to right you ha! ha!
    My room is nice and I have all my bears and my clothes now. I got a bed that somebody painted with tiny fairies like the size of bugs all over. Its weird but I like it.
    I like the house mostly. We have a backyard with trees and stuff. But some old lady in the yard behind us keeps snooping on us. She yelled at Daniel to get out of the yard, but I told her it was our yard and none of her business. I know that was rude Mom but she scared Daniel so she deserved it!
    We drove by the school. It is brown. That is all I know about it. School starts next week so I guess I will find out. I won’t miss my friends from last spring cause I hardly knew them. But I still remember my school before.
    Our babysitter is named Kelly. She has a baby girl name Kendra. I guess Kendra misses her dad like I miss you. Dont worry about Daniel and me. I am taking care of us fine.
    Livy

9
    R ed stood in front of the full-length mirror in Cam’s Alamo Heights bedroom and assessed her appearance. The ill-fitting gray suit she’d bought at the discount store disguised her appearance to the point of dumpiness and washed out the complexion that was already suffering from considerably less makeup application. She’d constrained her gorgeous red hair into a tight updo. It was not a good look for her, although she did appear slightly taller, even in very sensible low-heeled pumps. It gave her face a narrowness that somehow seemed unhappy, repressed.
    That’s exactly what’s required, she reminded herself. Her intention was to blend in. In a scrubbed-clean little neighborhood like this one, she was pretty sure that joy should be carefully contained.
    Wham! Wham! Wham!
    “We’re going to be late!” Olivia insisted as she knocked loudly at the door.
    “It’s only five minutes away. How late can we be?” Red answered.
    “It’s the last afternoon of the last day of pre-enrollment,” Olivia shot back through the doorway. “So we’re almost already late.”
    She took one last long look in the mirror. The reflection was unpleasant, but she did look sufficiently grandmotherly, she assured herself. She grabbed the file of papers atop the bureau and headed out with all the enthusiasm of facing a firing squad.
    Red had put off this day as long as she could. Moving into the house, getting settled in and establishing a routine for her work and the children was her priority. Her interaction with her new surroundings had been minimal. But classes began on Monday and if she wanted Olivia and Daniel to start school on time, she had no choice but to make the effort to enroll them.
    She was not alone in her reluctance. Every time the word school was mentioned, Daniel shrank into a protective ball. He didn’t want to go