Dirty Laundry [REPOSTED]

Chapter 2

Friday, December 16th

10:07 A.M.

"You live on a farm ?"

Lance laughed like Keith was stupid. "Have you seen me try to dig with a shovel? Fuck no."

"You literally live in the middle of nowhere." Keith countered, observing the yellow fields that rolled past their window. They were driving on a farm road, an actual farm road lined with weeds, blackberry bushes and the occasional rusty sign. Keith didn't even think these things existed.

"Most of my neighbors are farmers, but we aren't. My parents own the local grocery store in Mesa del Caballo. We've got chickens though, and a goat."

"A goat," Keith muttered in disbelief, watching greenery pass by as the car rumbled down a very long gravel driveway aligned by trees. "Why the hell do you have a goat?"

"We milk her." Lance spoke matter of factly. "It's convenient. Plus Cinderella is super good with the kids."

Keith snickered. "You named your goat after a disney princess?"

"Correction; my sister named her. Cleo was going through a phase."

Finally, the house came into view. It was fairly large, obviously older than Keith, and reminded him of the house from Anne of Green Gables. He was already cringing, the chipped yellow paint and white trim already screaming of domesticity. Keith was used to apartments and townhouses that belonged to the foster families he lived with, not family homes with soccer balls lying in the lawn and bikes thrown across gravel.

They came cruising down the gravel driveway and into one of the empty spaces by the house. As Lance was putting the car into park, two small kids came sprinting from the open garage, a large boxer pounding out behind them.

"I thought you only had a goat and chickens!" Keith cried, watching in disbelief as a long line of slobber dripped from the dog's mouth.

Lance was beaming like it was already christmas, barely able to unhook his seatbelt with his shaking hands. He didn't even respond to Keith's question, instead wrenching the door open and practically tripping from the front seat.

The two kids, from what Keith could see from the car window, were probably around nine and five. Their ecstatic jumping and screaming only hyped the dog into pouncing the air.

"Lance!" The nine year old cried out gleefully. Her stringy brown hair and tan skin color were the same as Lance's, and Keith immediately put two and two together. She was Lance's youngest sister, Josephine. He'd given Keith a quick rundown earlier.

"Josie!" Lance screeched, leaning down to scoop his sister into a hug. She immediately wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed like a small monkey. The dog practically attacked Lance's feet with slobber, trying their hardest to gain attention.

Keith wasn't sure what it was, but a part of him felt like he was prying. He'd only been at the McClain household for a good three minutes, and already he felt out of place.

"It'll be okay," Keith whispered to himself, now looking away from the affection and instead at his hands. "It'll be okay."

Who was he kidding?

The McClain family was huge. Keith had never lived with more than two people at a time.

Swallowing down his pride and any common sense he had left, Keith left the passenger seat of the car. His shoes hit gravel, and the sun beat down on his forehead. It was December in Arizona, so it was almost 70 degrees out. Keith was already preparing for tasteless, desert tap water and dried lips.