Page 17 of You Were Invited
Dad took another sip of his drink and pointed to the glass. “Did ya drink from the yellow pitcher in the fridge, Ninnie? Did it smell funny?”
Mom’s eyes bulged and her cheeks went beet red. “Luke!”
“That green stuff? The lem-nade?” It had been hot on the swing, and Annie had gone inside from the yard to cool off. The green lemonade in the fridge had tasted like sour liquid candy– weird candy– and she’d slopped it down in less than a minute. So delicious that it had been worth breaking Mom’s “only one glass of juice a day” rule. She poured a second and sipped on it while swinging, which at first had felt like the best swing of her life, up until her stomach had gone sour, and the rest of the candy drink had sloshed over the edge of her glass, which then had slipped from her hand. For a heartbeat, Annie feared it might break on a rock. And then she’d barely gotten off the swing, her legs rubbery, before throwing up nuclear green all over the grass.
“That’s all ya got to say?” Mom pressed Dad.
Dad rubbed the back of his neck. “Didn’t think she’d like the smell enough to chug it down.”
“Of course she was going to drink it! She’s seven! That’s not enough of a deterrent! You know kids eat batteries and drink bleach without a second thought. Why wasn’t your shit locked up like it normally is?”
What was a “deterrent?” Was that the same as detergent? Guilt and terror bolted through Annie. Tears welled up in her eyes. “Did I drink poison? Is that why I got sick?”
“Now she’s scared shitless, you fucking jackass.” Mom turned to face Annie, standing a little closer now. “Ninnie, it’s not poison… Not really. You’ll be okay. But we have to make you throw up.”
“I threw up already!”
“Dear, you don’t need to cry. Dear, just stop. You’re being dramatic.”
Annie hugged her legs to her chest and wiped away her globby tears with the back of her wrist. “I-I don’t wanna th-throw up a-again-a.”
“You have to. Let’s go to the bathroom.” Mom extended her hand and helped Annie stand up. When the girl swayed, Mom’s arm went around Annie’s back to support her as they walked. “C’mon.”
Dad sat down in his recliner and tossed back the rest of his candy drink. “Now we know in the future to stay away from Daddy’s lemonade, huh?”
Mom stopped for a second to glare at Dad. “It shouldn’t have happened at all.”
“I’ll put a sticky note on it then. With a cute skull and crossbones. How ‘bout that?”
For the better part of an hour, Mom stuck her fingers down Annie’s throat to get all the “fucking” candy drink out of her. It wasn’t until only a thin, green substance was coming out of her that Mom called it all good before she handed Annie the toothpaste to brush her teeth.
“You can’t talk about this at school,” Mom said, handing Annie a fresh cup to drink sink water with. Which didn’t taste as good as the fridge water. “Okay? This is one of those things that’s just for family.” She paused. “Just between you, your dad, and me.”
Even after brushing, Annie’s mouth tasted horrible. She wiped her mouth. “May I have some pretzels?”
“Did you hear what I just said, Annie?”
“Yes.” Annie looked in the mirror. Her face was pale and her sandy brown bangs were plastered to her sweaty forehead. With the way she felt, a cold would be better than this. Her eyes met Mom’s in the mirror.
Frowning, Mom leaned a shoulder against the door jamb.
“Yes… what? Yes you won’t talk about Dad’s drink and throwing up?”
“Yeah, I won’t talk about it.” Whatever ‘it’ had been. “Am I in trouble? Am I okay?”
“I can’t believe he made a whole damn pitcher. No, you’re not in trouble. I don’t think you drank it on purpose. Just ask me what’s in any pitcher before you drink any from now on.”
“Okay.” Usually they had Kool-aid or orange juice. She’d gladly check in with Mom. She never wanted to be forced to throw up again. “I hate throwing up.”
“Well, I hate being married to your dad,” Mom muttered.
“Can I have pretzels?”
“No, you’ll ruin your dinner. Go lie down and shut the door, Ninnie. I gotta talk to him.”
“Him” came out like a bad bite of food.
But it was nothing compared to the nasty curses that flew for hours.
