Chapter 11- Not Ready To Die

‘Alright I’m heading to work, I’ll be home around 12:00 so don’t wait up for me.’ Eli grabbed his house keys and wallet on the way out the door. ‘Text or call me if there’s any problems.’
I walked into the living room, drying my hands on the dish towel. ‘Hey, what about Aaron and them? We were supposed to meet them at 5:00.’ I glanced at the clock to see that it was 4:45.
‘S**t,’ he mumbled. He looked at me for a second and shook his head. ‘Keep the doors and windows locked just in case. Do not go outside. I’ll deal with them tomorrow if they try to talk to us.’
‘Eli!’ Noah yelled, running down the hallway. ‘Don’t forget to give me a hug!’ He smiled and knelt down to give her a hug.
‘Bye munchkin, I won’t be home till late so don’t cause any trouble with your sister about trying to stay up to wait for me. Okay?’
‘Okay, bye Eli! I love you,’ she ran back down the hall to her room.
‘I love you to,’ he called back to her. He looked back at me and smiled, ‘Bye sis, see you at 12. Be safe, make sure Noah stays inside to. I’d hate to see her get hurt.’
‘Alright, alright,’ I smirked back. ‘Love ya, bye.’ When he left I locked the door behind him and went back to washing the rest of the dishes. ‘Noah!’ I called out. ‘What do you want for dinner?’
‘Pizza!’
I walked down the hall to her bedroom which was right across from mine. ‘I don’t know how to make pizza silly.’
She giggled and put down her dolls to face me, ‘Can you make French fries and cheeseburgers?’
I smiled, ‘No sweetheart, sorry. We don’t have any of that stuff, how about some yummy steak?’ She made a face. ‘We can have ice cream afterwards.’
‘Strawberry ice cream?’
‘Sure, as long as you eat all of your dinner.’
‘I’ll try,’ she said. ‘Do you wanna play dolls with me?’ She held up her Barbie and Ken dolls to emphasize. I tried to buy as many toys as I could which wasn’t much considering I work minimum wage.
‘No sweetie I gotta make dinner, but I’ll color with you while I wait for it to cook.’
‘You can play dolls with me while you wait instead,’ she insisted.
‘I have to wait out there so I can make sure the house doesn’t burn down.’
‘Oh,’ she looked down. ‘Can you help me with my homework instead?’
‘Sure, what kind is it?’
‘Reading.’
‘Okay, get your homework and sit at the kitchen table.’ I walked to the kitchen and grabbed the house phone to dial Raven’s number.
‘Hello?’
‘Hey, Raven. Wanna come over for dinner?’
‘Sure, just let me ask real quick.’
‘Okay.’
I waited while she spoke to her parents. She picked the phone back up, ‘They said yeah but I can’t walk over so my dad is gonna drive me.’
‘Okay, that’s fine. Oh, and can you bring some potatoes?’
‘Potatoes?’
I laughed, ‘Yeah, we don’t have any. Bring four?’
‘Sure, I guess. Be there in 10.’
‘Okay, TTFN,’ I hung up and got some steak out of the fridge setting it out to thaw. ‘Okay, Elly-Belly,’ I walked into the dining room and sat down with her. ‘What do you need help with?’
‘I need help with this,’ she pointed to a word.
‘Well try sounding it out. What sounds do the letters make?’
She studied it hard, ‘R makes a ruh sound…. A makes a… B… B… and I know the I and T make it.’
‘Okay so say it all together.’
‘Rabebeit,’ she looked up at me and I shook my head.
‘When the same letters are next to each other they only make their sound once.’
She looked at it again, ‘So it’s… rabbit?’
I held out my hand for a high five, ‘Good job!’ After a couple more minutes of helping her there was a knock on the door. I looked through the peep hole and saw Raven hold up a bag of potatoes to it. I smiled and opened the door. ‘Hey, chick! What’s up with the bag of potatoes?’
‘You said bring some.’
‘I said to bring four not four dozen.’ I laughed and let her in.
‘My parents said to just take the whole bag cuz we weren’t gonna use them.’ She went into the kitchen and dropped them on the counter next to the steak. ‘What all are we having for dinner?’ She walked back into the living room to watch some TV.
She’s been here so much it’s like her second home so she welcomes herself to anything she pleases. ‘Steak, greens, salad, and baked potatoes.’
‘Sounds traditional,’ she responded not taking her eyes off the TV.
I rolled my eyes and went to go make dinner. When the meat and potatoes were in the oven I sat on the couch next to Ravez. ‘Hey, Ali I thought you were gonna color with me?’ Noah whined from the dining room.
‘Why don’t you come in here and watch TV with Aunt Ravez and me?’ I heard the scraping of a chair and little feet running. Noah ran over to the couch and jumped on Raven and I. ‘Jeez, Elly,’ I laughed. Once we were all settled Noah laying on my lap with her feet propped up on Ravens legs, we watched an Invader Zim show.