SOMEONE IS GOING TO GET YELLED AT

Sister wants to fight while Dad prefers to drive and smoke his cigarettes alone in the car,

Brother tells sister to stop telling him what do do, it’s his tree and it’s his branch and he’ll jump if he feels like

And if gravity is kind, he'll have the good luck of not breaking his leg or snapping his neck.

Mom stares at the mixing bowl she filled with unwashed potatoes, thinking shit, all the ice has melted

Sister throws a rock at brother as he sits on the tree branch, swinging his legs back and forth.

The rock misses him and flies next door, crashing through the neighbor’s upstairs window. An old man comes to the window stares down at sister, who turns and runs into the house to find

Mom still considering the dirty potatoes in the mixing bowl.

Lighting his third cigarette with the push button lighter, Dad sings along with the advertising jingles on the radio and steers the car with one steady hand, the other one conducting a sudden outbreak of big band music from the speakers that is all but drowned out but a loud and frantic screech of tires.

Brother thinks about climbing down at last, thinking the dying of the light and the cry of sirens coming closer indicates that something’s amiss and someone is going to get yelled at.