The Family Solution

Charlie ignored Josh’s temper. He turned back to what he’d been doing, and Bella went back to trying to get her shovel to sink more than an inch into the ground. Kelsey made her own halfhearted effort, and when it didn’t work, she started back toward the house.

“Kelsey, you can come over here and start piling these blocks up in a berm if you want,” Charlie called to her.

“I don’t want to, and I have no idea what he’s talking about,” she said in an undertone.

“Go, and be polite,” Bella ordered. “He’ll explain.”

With the speed of a caterpillar, the girl made her way across the yard. Charlie began talking to her, and soon Kelsey was gingerly lifting clods of earth and building them into a long, irregularly shaped hillock.

For the next hour, Bella did her best to establish a work ethic for her children. Her arms ached, her foot still hurt from the shovel and her back was sore from heaving clods of earth into the wheelbarrow, but she persevered until exhaustion got the best of her.

“I think that’s enough for today,” she finally gasped, glancing at her watch and trying to pretend she wasn’t on the verge of a heart attack. “I’ll just…I’ll go in and make some dinner.” Hoping he’d refuse, she added without enthusiasm, “Will you join us, Charlie?” After the work he’d accomplished in spite of their help, she really had no choice except to invite him.

“Thanks, that would be great.”

“Mom, can I come in with you?” Kelsey, as dirty as Bella had ever seen her, gave her a beseeching glance. “Please, Mom?”

“Sure.” Bella glanced over at Josh. He still looked grim, but he was methodically driving the shovel into the ground and digging out clumps. Sweat was running down his forehead.

“Okay, dinner in about an hour, men.” She was trying to figure out just what dinner might consist of, and she was failing miserably.

“C’mon, Kelsey.” As they made their way into the house, Bella thought it was probably the first time in months her daughter had looked eager to go anywhere with her.

Bella muttered under her breath, “Now what am I going to make?” The cupboards were close to bare and she had no money to order pizza.

“There’s hamburger in the freezer,” Kelsey said. “We could make that stuff with macaroni and tomatoes and cheese that you used to cook sometimes when we were little.”

Bella thought she’d pass out from shock. Kelsey, noticing frozen hamburger? Suggesting a dinner menu?

“I just happened to see the package when I was getting ice cream,” she said in a defensive tone.

“I’m glad you did,” Bella told her. “Shipwreck, that stuff was called.” Perfect for their current situation. And it was one of the very few things she actually knew how to make without a cookbook. “That’s a great idea. Let’s wash up and get started.”

“I can’t, Mom.” The whine was back. “I have homework. And I’m writing Daddy a letter, for when we know his new address.”

“Right. Well, you can finish all that the minute we’re done eating, and I’ll get Josh to help me with dishes. You did volunteer to help make dinner, Kelsey, and I’m holding you to it. You can chop onions and start browning them, while I thaw the meat and cook macaroni.”

Kelsey pulled a face and held out her soil-stained hands. “After I have a shower, right?”

“That’s not a bad idea. I’m filthy myself.”

By the time Charlie and Josh came in to wash up, Bella had pulled together a meal with Kelsey’s help. They’d set out the food on the island in the kitchen, and had actually had a peaceful, productive conversation about how best to chop onions and brown hamburger.

“This is great,” Charlie enthused, reaching for another of the baking powder biscuits Kelsey had whipped up at the last minute. Bella had watched her in amazement, wondering where this self-confident young cook had sprung from.

“We learned to make them in school,” Kelsey explained. “They’re, like, soooo easy.”

“I pretty much live on takeout or frozen dinners, so having a home-cooked meal is a real treat,” Charlie remarked, slathering butter on a biscuit.

“I don’t really do much cooking myself,” Bella had to confess.

“No kidding, Mom,” Josh agreed. “You haven’t made this stuff in a long time.”

“Glad you like it.” She hadn’t made anything from scratch in ages. Bella, too, had been relying heavily on takeout and frozen dinners.

Being Mae’s daughter, she’d never really learned to cook, apart from a limited number of dishes along the lines of shipwreck. Her mom had alternately nagged Bella about being too skinny and then produced dishes that were all but inedible.

And lately, Bella had felt too stressed and overworked and angry with Gordon to concoct even one of her simplest standbys. Which was ironic, because now, when she was really stressed and overworked, making a meal from inexpensive ingredients was a financial necessity.

“Josh,” Charlie said when they were done eating, “where’s that list we made of materials? I forgot to add bonemeal and we’ll need that to give the new trees and bushes a head start when we put them in the ground.”

Josh pulled a small notebook out of his pocket and scribbled in it, then handed it to Charlie.

“I have a meeting tomorrow morning, but maybe you want to come with me after school to pick this stuff up?”

Josh shook his head. “Can’t. Basketball practice,” he said.

“What position do you play?”

“Center.”

“Your team win any games?”

“About half. We’ve got a good coach, but a lot of the guys don’t play very hard.” Josh suddenly remembered to be bored. “I’m only doing it because we get extra credits for sports. It’s basically a dumb game.”

“It can be rough, that’s for sure. That’s how I got my nose broken the first time. What sports do you really enjoy?”

“Squash. But we don’t have any squash courts at school.”

Bella knew Josh hadn’t played squash more than a half-dozen times. He was only mentioning it because Gordon had repeatedly said how good he’d been at the game. Not that Gordon had played more than a dozen times, either, as far as Bella could remember. And never with Josh.

Charlie said, “Rick belongs to the Point Grey Athletic Club, and they have courts there. Maybe you’d like to have a game sometime?”

The teen shrugged, concentrating on his empty plate. “Yeah. I guess. Maybe. Sometime. Can I be excused, Mom?”

“Yes, and please load the dishes in the dishwasher for me. And could you wash the pots by hand? Kelsey helped make the meal, and I told her you’d do cleanup.”

“Ahh, mom. I’ve got homework.”

Bella raised her eyebrows. “Strange, how whenever I have a job for you to do, you remember your homework.”

“Yeah, well, you’re always on me to get good grades, right?”

Charlie stood up and began stacking dishes. “How about I give you a hand? That way it won’t take long.”

“I can do it,” Josh muttered.

“No problem. Where are the garbage bags?”