Slammed

when someone knocks at the door.
     
    "I'll get it," Caulder yells as he jumps down.
     
    My mother and I both turn to the front door as he opens it. It's Will.
     
    "Hey, Buddy. You answering doors here now?" Will says to him.
     
    Caulder grabs his hand and pulls him inside.
     
    "We're carving pumpkins for Halloween. Come on, Julia bought one for you, too." He's pulling Will through the living room and toward the kitchen.
     
    "No, it's fine. I'll carve mine another time. I just wanted to bring you home so they can have some family time."
     
    My mother pulls out the available chair on the other side of her. "Sit down, Will. We're just carving pumpkins tonight. That's all we're doing. Just carving pumpkins."
     
    Caulder already has a pumpkin and is placing it at the table in front of Will's chair.
     
    "Okay, then. I guess we're carving pumpkins," Will says.
     
    Caulder hands him a knife and we all sit at the bar-and just carve pumpkins.
     
    Kel instigates the first awkward moment when he asks why I'm so late getting home from school. Mom eyes me, waiting for my response while Will just cuts away at his pumpkin and doesn't look up.
     
    "Eddie and I had detention," I say.
     
    "Detention? What were you in detention for?" my mom asks.
     
    "We skipped class last week, took a nap in the courtyard."
     
    She brings her scooper down to the table and looks at me, obviously disappointed.
     
    "Lake, why would you do something like that? What class did you skip?"
     
    I don't reply. I purse my lips together and nudge my head toward Will. My mother looks at Will just as he looks up from his pumpkin.
     
    He shrugs his shoulders. "She skipped my class! What was I supposed to do?" he laughs.
     
    My mother stands up and pats him on the back as she picks up the phone book.
     
    "I'm buying you supper for that."
     
    ***
     
    The whole evening is surreal. Everyone's eating pizza, talking, laughing, including my mother. It's good to hear her laugh. I can see a difference in her tonight. I think simply being able to tell me she was sick has helped relieve some of her stress. I can see it in her eyes, she's more at ease.
     
    We listen as Kel and Caulder tell us what they want to be for Halloween. Caulder keeps switching back and forth between a Transformer and an angry bird. Kel still hasn't come up with anything.
     
    I wipe pumpkin remnants up off the floor and take the rag to the sink and rinse it out. I put my elbows on the counter and rest my chin in my hands as I watch them. This is more than likely my mother's last time to carve pumpkins. Next month will be the last time she sees Thanksgiving. After that, she'll have her last Christmas. But she's just sitting here, talking to Will about Halloween plans, laughing. I wish I could freeze this moment. I wish we could just carve pumpkins forever.
     
    ***
     
    Will and Caulder leave as my mom goes to her room to get ready for her shift. I finish cleaning the kitchen and gather the sacks of pumpkin discard and combine them all into a large trash bag. I take the bag to the curb at the end of the driveway when Will comes outside with his own bag of trash.
     
    He walks to the end of his driveway before he realizes I'm even there. He smiles at me and lifts the lid, throwing the bag inside.
     
    "Hey," he says as he puts his hands in his jacket pockets and walks toward me.
     
    "Hey," I reply.
     
    "Hey," he says again. He walks past me and sits against the bumper of my jeep.
     
    "Hey," I reply as I lean against the jeep next to him.
     
    "Hey."
     
    "Stop it," I laugh.
     
    We both wait for the other to talk again, but instead there's just an awkward silence. I hate awkward silences, so I break it.
     
    "I'm sorry I told Eddie. She's just so smart. She figured it out and thought there was more going on than there is, so I had to tell her the truth. I didn't want her to think bad of you."
     
    He leans his head back and stares up at the sky.
     
    "I trust your judgment, Lake. I even trust Eddie. I just wanted her to know why this job is so important to me. Or maybe I said all that so you would know why it's so important to me."
     
    My brain is too tired to even analyze his comment. "Either way, I know it was hard for you…telling us everything like that. Thank you."
     
    We watch as a car passes by and pulls into the driveway next to us. A woman gets out, followed by two girls. They’re all carrying pumpkins.
     
    "You know, I don't know a single person on this whole street