All the Good Girls
1982
“Edgar! Hurry up or you’re going to be late!”
“Coming, Mom!” Ed spit out all the foam in his mouth. He wished she would let him brush his teeth after breakfast, instead of before. The taste of milk and cereal after the minty paste was so gross, especially because he hated that cereal she bought anyway. They were the generic Fruity-O’s in the thin plastic bag that always broke open and spilled the stale, soft cereal bits everywhere.
The last time that happened, it was the day right after Dad left to go to the hospital. Mom saw him spill the cereal and got so mad she made him eat it anyway, even though there were bits of dirt and hair in it when she swept it up from the floor. He was late to school that day because he couldn’t help throwing up, and she slapped him before sending him back to the bathroom to wash up and change.
Ed tried not to think about it now as he ran to the table. Next weekend, not this one, Mom said they could go visit Dad. And Mom was always nicer right before and after that happened. Besides, quarterly report cards were going to come out soon and he was doing good in Mrs. Wexler’s class, so maybe Mom would be proud of him and not look so upset all the time.
“Must we do this every morning, Edgar?” She sighed, giving him a swat on the butt as he dashed for his chair. “I can’t afford to be late even one more time.” She was wearing her green uniform that made even her thin frame look dumpy and misshapen.
“Sorry, Mom.” He attacked his cereal as if he were ravenous. There was no way to get out of eating it so it was best to do it as fast as he could.
She sat across from him while he ate, staring as his bowl. She never ate in the morning, even when Dad was home, unless he and Ed surprised her by making her breakfast in bed. “Well, I finally found another babysitter for you. My friend Lila from the store – her niece Bethany’s done a lot of sitting for her brothers and her cousins. She goes to the high school so she’ll be here half an hour later than you are. You better mind her, do you hear me?”
“I will, Mom.”
She looked at her watch. “Okay, one more bite and then we have to leave.”
In the car, driving him to school, she kept rambling on and on. “I hope this Bethany is a good babysitter. I don’t know what’s wrong with these young girls today. If I had tried to pull any of these pranks when I was their age…”
Mom was talking about Ed’s earlier babysitters, all fired for reason or another. Not because they were mean or did anything bad to him – he had liked all of them, except maybe Sara, who locked him in the bathroom while she visited with her boyfriend in Mom and Dad’s bedroom. Lucy was fired for making a two-hour long distance call to her cousin in New York City.
Paige had also been fired because of her boyfriend, but Ed had liked her the best. She or her boyfriend Gavin always gave him a candy bar or comic book or snack from McDonald’s if he stayed in his room while they did whatever they did in the living room.
He had gone in to sneak on them once. From where he hid in the hallway, he could see them over on the armchair. All he could see of Gavin were his legs and feet planted on the floor, his jeans pulled down around his ankles. Paige was sitting on his lap, facing him. She wasn’t wearing her pants or underwear and Ed could see her butt as she bounced up and down on Gavin’s lap, giggling and making a weird sound like crying.
It had made Ed feel kind of funny and nice to watch them even though he wasn’t exactly sure what they were doing or why. Paige got fired just a few weeks after that, when Mom found something in the bathroom, Ed had no idea what. Mom wouldn’t tell him anything other than, “Never you mind. Just make sure you don’t end up with a girl like that, who’s not even smart enough to stay out of trouble.”
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