Page 102 of Moonshine Lullabies

He nodded.

“Not like she gave you a choice,” he said with a sardonic little laugh.

I nodded.

“No, she never does, does she?” I asked.

He shook his head.

“No, she never does,” he agreed.

* * *

Back at home,everyone just sort of drifted off to do their own thing. I meandered into the kitchen and put tea on. Tate dropped onto the living room couch and asked his uncle to play something.

“Maybe not, like, a shooter, but likeMario Kartor something?”

“Yeah, sure thing, bud. I think I’d like that,” J.P. said and dropped onto the couch next to him while Tate fired up the proper game system.

“Col, you in?” Tate called hopefully.

“Well, I’m in,” I called. “If you’ll let yourmomplay.”

Tate lit up and Col smiled at me and nodded. “I’m game. I wanna see if I can kick your ass.”

“Oh, oh-ho! You have noideawhat you’re in for!” I said and leaving the electric kettle to go, I went into the living room.

Shit, we played that stupid fucking game untillate, and we hadso much fundoing it.

It was like we all gave ourselves the grace to just forget about it for a while.

Tate was actually the first one to call it quits. He came and hugged me and said, “Goodnight, Mom.” He clasped hands and tapped shoulders with Col and J.P.

“Goodnight, man,” Col said, and Tate went and shut himself into his room. I let out an explosive sigh and leaned back into the couch.

“You okay, sis?” J.P. asked, and I nodded.

“Yeah, you know, I think I’m alright. Just tired mostly. Likereallytired.”

My brother nodded. “You should get good sleep tonight,” he said.

I sighed. “Guess no deer this season, huh?”

I looked from J.P. to Col as they looked at each other and shook their heads.

“No, I mean, your dad may not wanna, but we can get back out there before the end of the season,” Col said and I nodded.

“Need to fill up that freezer out in the garage. We’re gettin’ low.”

Cy nodded. “Yeah, we do,” he agreed.

“Well, you’re used to one per household, right?” Col asked.

“All we really need,” J.P. answered.

“We keep a gator or two every season, too so that helps.”

Col nodded. “Well, if your dad doesn’t want to go out, when we bag mine, we can give it to him. Jess needs the skulls anyhow.”

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