Pernicious Read Online Free Page B

it.”
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
                                                             
     
     
                                                   
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
                                         
     
                                         
                                          Chapter 2
     
             
     
              Derrick, Tasha’s eight-year-old son, and Neal, her ex-husband, were watching television when she arrived home that evening. They didn’t even look up when she walked in. She picked up the remote and clicked off the television.
              “Hey!” Neal and Derrick protested.
              “Derrick,” Tasha said, “go find something constructive to do.”
              “What?” Derrick snapped.
              “Young man, you better check your mouth.”
              “What’s to do, Momma?”
              “Find something. Anything but television.”
              “What about me?” Neal said. “What you want me to do?”
              “ You can go home.”
              “You must have had a bad day,” Neal said.
              “Neal, what would you know about a bad day? In order to have a bad day you must first have a job.”
              “That was low, Tasha. Real low. Dump on me if it’ll make you feel better.”
              “Neal, I’ll feel better when you go home.”
              Neal snatched up his baseball cap. “Okay then, I’m gone. You don’t appreciate what I do for you.”
              “What is it, Neal Montgomery, you do for me? I’d sure like to hear it.”
              “I watch your son while you’re at work. Apparently that doesn’t matter much to you.”
              “Neal, he’s your son, too. If you want me to pay you to watch your son, I will. Of course, if I do I’ll be forced to demand child-support. Let’s see…fifty dollars per week times eight years of non-support. That’s twenty thousand and--”
              Before she could finish, Neal stomped out without closing the door. Derrick stood in the hallway, staring at her.
              “You got a problem?” Tasha asked him.
              He started to say something, thought not, and disappeared.
              Tasha dropped on the couch.
              Didn’t have to talk to them that way. Didn’t have to.      How many times have I told Neal not to let Derrick watch TV all day?
              Yes, Neal, I do appreciate you watching Derrick while I work. I don’t appreciate you using that as an excuse for not getting your stuff together. For Pete’s sake, buck up or grow up!
              Nothing’s changed. It’s the same old crap. Derrick   looking at me like I’m some ogress or something. Say something about his no-account daddy and he hits you with his evil eye.
              If Neal and I were dangling from a cliff and Derrick could save only one of us, I bet he’d pick Neal. ‘Sorry, Ma, Dad’s more fun. He lets me watch television all day.’ Where’s dear old Dad when your stomach is growling? Where was dear old Dad when you wanted an Ipod?
              Derrick entered the room carrying a book. “Momma, tell me what this word means?”
              “Bring it here.”
              Amazing how much he looks like Neal. Brown puppy-dog eyes, just like Neal’s…Funny-shaped head that, like Neal’s, can’t quite fit into a baseball cap…Slightly chubby frame, just like Neal’s. Derrick’s a little darker, though, more to my complexion.
              “What word you’re talking about, sugar?” He pointed to a word in