Home for Thanksgiving

            The next morning, Chance sat on the edge of his bed. He had taken the sheets off and put them in a pile on the floor.  His bag was packed and he was ready for Andy to take him to the Child Services. 

            To his great surprise, it wasn’t Andy that came down it was Marabeth.  To add to his shock, she invited him to stay with them for a while.  The Lucas-Simpsons would become his foster family if that was all right with him.  He assured her it was all right with him.  The rest of the day he felt like he was in some kind of alternate universe or something.  This could not be happening to him.  Especially after getting JJ in a fight last night.  He didn’t take Marabeth or Andy to be the joking kind and if this was a joke it was cruel.  But neither one said it was a joke.  In fact, the next day, Marabeth took him to the school to register.

            Even after he started school a week later, he waited for the other shoe to drop.  One week became two which became a month.  And that shoe never dropped. He exceled in all his courses except public speaking.  That was his lowest grade with a steady B.

More Trouble

            Marabeth didn’t exactly sleep well that night.  She tossed and turned for most of it until her body overcome with exhaustion finally fell into a deep sleep.  Andy, however, other than wakening slightly with his wife’s movements, slept annoyingly well.  He was already out of bed when Marabeth woke up to the smell of bacon cooking.  That seemed unusual for their household even on a Saturday so she made her way slowly to the kitchen.  When she walked in, she saw Chance with a spatula in hand standing at the stove while Andy sat on a stool at the island talking to him.

            She didn’t catch the whole conversation but she heard Chance say he didn’t want to find his mom before Andy saw her standing at the doorway.  “Morning,” he said.  “Chance is fixing us some breakfast this morning,” he stood up to get another plate.