That felt weird. Like a disturbance in the universe.

                                    

                                          
"Hey, you got an extra one of those?" Fiona asks Debbie, looking at her plate. Debbie throws her one of her waffles.
"You're gonna be late." She points out.
"I've got nothing to wear. Gonna see what V has."
"Is your new job at a strip club?" Lip asks, looking up from some papers.
"Haha."
"I wasn't kidding."
"It's a temp office job. I don't know how long the day's gonna be. I expect all of you to help Jimmy with dinner, get your homework done, and avoid setting the house on fire."
"Overcompensating." Lip sings.
"She feels guilty for turning us into latchkey kids." Ian chimes in. Fiona lightly smacks the two brothers over the head.
"What's a latchkey kid?" Carl asks. Before anyone could answer, Mandy comes walking in through the back door.
"Hey." Fiona says to her.
"I left some stuff here that I need." Mandy explains. She walks upstairs before anyone could say anything to her.
"Is it wrong if I just leave for school?" Lip asks.
"Later." Fiona waves goodbye to all of us. Lip decides to head upstairs in Mandy's direction.
"Carl, a latchkey kid is a kid who often comes home to an empty house. No parental figures around." I explained.
"But we have older siblings?"
"That doesn't count. Our siblings are technically just older kids. It's not supposed to be their job to watch us."
"It's not?" I just sigh in response, and ruffle Carl's hair. I put my dishes in the sink while Carl gets our backpacks out of the living room.
"How's chemo?" Ian asks.
"Yeah, I'm kinda not doing that anymore." 
"What?"
"What do you mean, not doing it anymore?" Ian asks. Lip and Mandy both come downstairs. Well shit now I guess I gotta tell everyone.
"Wait, what's going on?" Lip asks.
"Anne said she's not doing chemo anymore," Ian fills him in.
"The fuck you're not. Anne, you gotta do chemo to get better."
"I'm already better. I went into remission a couple weeks ago." Everyone's faces lit up, and I start getting hugs and cheers from all around.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Debbie asks.
"We were busy with Patrick. I was waiting for the right time to tell all of you, but Fiona's just been so busy, I haven't had the chance to call a family meeting."
"Well, Jesus, Anne, we gotta celebrate." Debbie laughs.
"We will, but let me find a time to tell Fiona first." I look at my watch. "We gotta go or we'll be late." I push everyone off me and head for the door.
"Hey, Anne." Gilbert says, catching up with us at lunchtime. I see a copy of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button tucked into his arm.
"Still don't like Fitzgerald." I start, sitting down at the lunch table and taking out my brown paper bag.
"I will convert you." He shoots back, pointing a finger at me.
"If we really wanna talk about American classics, might I suggest Dickinson." I checked my sandwich to see I had Carl's again. I snatched the sandwich out of his hands and replaced it before he had time to complain.
"Oh please, she didn't follow the rules of grammar."
"Which made her stand out as a poet." I take a bite into my sandwich. God, this was a good sandwich. 
"She published maybe ten things in her lifetime."
"She was still a writer. She just didn't get to experience the positive impact of her work."
"She's not even well known because of her poetry. Just on the relationship she had with it."
"Her poetry was life sustaining for her. Unlike many, her poetry reflected her life. With other poets, it's like 'okay, we get it, we're dying,' but not with Dickinson."
"She literally wrote poems about death."
"But she didn't make it an entire personality trait."
"Who are you guys even talking about?" Carl finally chimes in.
"Emily Dickinson." We turn to Carl and say at the same time. Woah, that felt weird. Like a disturbance in the universe. 
"Now I know why everyone says it's creepy when we do that." Carl raises his eyebrows. "Don't you guys agree on anything?"
"Sure we do." Gilbert starts.
"We both think Bukowski is a shitty person."
"Good writer though."
"Hell of a writer."
"Okay let's actually talk about something fun."
"I'm all ears." Gilbert gives Carl his undivided attention. I couldn't help but smile.
"Have you heard about the new Call of Duty game that just released?"
"Yeah, Black Ops II. Heard it's so much better than the original. Much more tactical."
"I heard it's way more violent."
"Yeah, that too." Gilbert chuckles.
"I'm hoping Fiona will get it for me for Christmas. Maybe you can come over and play it with me if I do!"
"Yeah, I'd love that. Wouldn't miss it for the world! And if I get it for Christmas, I can bring it over."
"Sweet." Carl and Gilbert fistbump. The bell rings before anyone could say anything else. 
"Hey, we're home!" Carl yells, bursting through the front door. He threw his backpack next to the door. 
"I'm right here, dude." Lip says from the couch. I notice a guy a few years older than him sitting next to him. "See, this girl right here?" Lip points to me. My eyes go wide. "This is who you should be talking to."
"Lip?"
"Don't worry Anne. He's not a threat or anything." He turns back to the guy. "She's a child prodigy. Smartest kid in her class and always takes summer school. She cried once when she got a 92 on a test. Fucking 92!"
"Who is this?" I ask, walking over to Lip.
"Mandy went behind my back and filled out a bunch of college applications behind my back. This dude is from MIT. He's here to interview me."
"MIT?"
"That's right."
"Not exactly Ivy League." I shrug, crossing my arms over my chest.
"Well, it's good to explore all your options. Not everyone can go to Yale."
"Yale? No, no, no. Harvard."
"Ambitious."
"Adamant. Ambitious is showing a strong desire. But that also means my feelings could change. Adamant is refusing to be persuaded. I know what I want."
"How old are you, kid?"
"Twelve."
"Impressive."
"Thanks, I guess."
"Well, MIT should be an option if you want to be in STEM." He pulls out his wallet. "Here's my card if you have questions about the school. We do some youth programs in the summer too, that I can hook you up with."
"Cool. We'll see." I nod, taking the card.
"Lip, we'll be in touch." He stands and shakes Lip's hand, heading out of the house.
"He talks to you for two minutes. And somehow, you make a better impression on him than I did."
"What can I say, I'm likable."
"Oh, and I'm not?" Lip chuckles and shoves me.
"Hey, What's for dinner?" Carl yells from the kitchen.
"What, Jimmy not here?" Carl pokes his head out so we can see it, and shakes it.
"I can whip up something. Soup?"
"Soup's good. If we have enough stuff to make it." I headed into the kitchen, put my backpack on my regular chair at the table, and started in on dinner.
"Another basket!" Debbie cheers, bringing in the 8th basket in the last hour. "Thanking Frank for his activism."
"So are we just not gonna eat this soup?" I ask, eyeing the baskets in the living room.
"It's healthy." Carl whines
"It's vegetables. They're good for you." I argue. 
"Gross."
"We'll eat the soup." Ian chimes in. "But we're gonna enjoy the cheese too."
"Okay, we're taking a vote." V bursts through the back door. 
"Babe, we don't need to bring every Gallagher into this." Kev follows behind her.
"Raise your hand if we shouldn't circumcise our kid."
"You're pregnant?" We all speak at the same time.
"Christ, no one's pregnant but we need to weigh it in if we do have a kid. So, again, raise your hand if the kid shouldn't be circumcised." No one raised their hand. "Fuck all of you." V sighs, sitting at the table.
"Where's Jimmy?" Kev asks, looking around.
"Not here." Lip shrugs.
"He was supposed to make dinner. But he's not here so I'm making vegetable soup."
"Sounds good. We'll take some." Kev smells the air.
"Already ahead of you." I begin serving the soup.
"Do you know how many nerve endings are in the foreskin of a penis?" V asks, as we move to the living room, munching on the baskets sent to Frank.
"I don't think a guy wishes he had more nerves. Down there." Lip argues.
"What if our son wants to be a transsexual? They will need that skin to make a proper vagina."
"Why is that even a question?" Kev asks.
"The gays brought the gift baskets, Kevin." V answers. "Look at the gift baskets. I'm saying it's a possibility." Fiona walks through the door before the argument could continue any further.
"What's all this?" Fiona asks, referring to the gift baskets.
"Frank told the world he's gay."
"And the gay world responed with chocolate and cheese."
"And good wine." V hands her a cup.
"Wow." She directs her attention onto Debbie. "Debs, school. Why didn't you go?" Fiona sits next to her.
"Sheila was depressed. Like, bad depressed. Monica depressed."
"Code pink. I'm sorry you had to deal with that."
"Is Frank really gay?" Carl asks no one in particular.
"No way. Must be getting some money out of it." Everyone else laughs.
"No, Carl. It's a scam. It's always some kind of scam."
"This scam tastes awesome."
"Is this dinner?" Fiona asks, scanning the room and realizing Jimmy wasn't around. "Where's Jimmy?"
"Here you go." Lip hands Carl and I some more food from the basket.
"There's also soup in the kitchen." Ian points. 
"Soup?"
"Anne made it." Debbie clarifies.
"She actually made vegetables taste somewhat good." Carl boasts.
"Think he's still wondering if there's any more cheese?"
"Try the moldy one." Debbie suggests.
"I like the one with the holes." Carl chimes in and reaches in to grab it.
"Hey, put it down."
"Wipe your mouth afterward."