The Honeycut Family (Wattys 2015)

Chapter 5: Getting Busy

Chapter 5: Getting Busy

I sat by Kat's side as we both were engrossed in Despicable Me, which was playing on her TV. We were sitting in her living room, both of us getting fat off her pantry filled with snacks and other unhealthy junk.

I had to admit, I was surprised when I got a call from Kat this morning, asking if I wanted to come over. I said yes of course, I had grown to like Kat very much. Her home was very different from mine. From the result of my two sisters and messy father, our house was always piled with useless junk. It wasn't a huge mess, but even I could feel claustrophobic at times. Our mother was a big hoarder.

Kat's house, nonetheless, was neat and clean. You wouldn't think Kat would be an organized person, but she was. Probably even more than me. She didn't have any siblings. She said her parents were divorced and she had to take care of her mother.

I noticed when she said "take care of" when she talked about her mother. I didn't know exactly what that meant, but I got the gist of it. This time, I looked at Kat from a whole different perspective. Apart from being her loud and crazy self in front of others, she appeared to be very mature and responsible at home. As if she was already an adult.

"Want more cookies?" Kat asked, offering me the box of Chips Ahoy! I kindly refused and went back to watching the movie. It was really good. It came out a while back, but I never actually took the effort to go and watch it.

I wasn't really sure what Kat had planned for us to do when I got to her house, but I knew when she just switched on the TV and grabbed a whole bunch of snacks, I was overthinking things. And that was what we were planning to do for the rest of the day.

"Hey, Kat?" I called.

"Yeah?"

"What's your mom like?"

There was silence. I had to ask her, I couldn't just wait until I screwed up when talking to her mom to find out. Kat told me her mom was upstairs sleeping, said she couldn't get any sleep all day, so she was glad when she finally put her down for a nap.

"She has bipolar effective disorder," Kat said to me, quietly. She paused the TV and sighed, turning her head to me. "Sorry, I should have told you."

"No, it's alright. I just wanted to know, just in case. Why do you have to take care of her?"

Kat grabbed the empty Chips Ahoy! box, got up, and shoved  it in the trashcan. She leaned against the counter and rubbed her forehead.

"I'm just...helping out. Making sure she takes her meds, get proper sleep and stuff. I don't really take care of her."

I nodded in understanding. I could tell just talking about the topic to Kat made her feel uneasy, so I was about to let it go. But before I could change the topic, I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. There appeared her mom, standing by the kitchen entrance. She rubbed her eyes and yawned, her golden blonde hair all scuffed up.

"Hey, mom," Kat spoke in a soothing voice. "This is my friend."

Her mom turned her head to me with sleepy eyes. I gave her a small smile and held out my hand.

"Hi, I'm Aaliyah. "

Kat's mom stared at my hand, taking no attempt to actually shake it. I wasn't sure whether to pull my hand back or wait for her to take it, I looked at Kat for help.

"Mom." Kat said, a little louder. It seemed as if she had just suddenly got her memory back. Her eyes immediately snapped to mine and a slow smile made its way across her face. She shook my hand with enthusiasm.