𝐢 𝐝𝐨 ; s.c.

𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚎

she picked up her pen, but dropped it. as it clattered to the ground, ellie scrambling to pick it up, she heard the front door slam shut.

she grabbed her pen and sat up. "two-bit?" she got off the floor and stood up, dusting off her shorts. "is that you?"

she went to the living room and was surprised to see her mom standing there, taking off her coat.

"hi, mama. why're you home so early?"

ms. mathews gave a sort of half-smile as she sat down at the kitchen table, rubbing her hand on her face.

"there was an incident at the bar. greasers and socs have been growin' more tense lately. the cops were called and my boss closed early before things could escalate," she explained, resting her hands on her cheeks.

"that sounds scary," ellie said, biting on the cap of her pen absently. "could i ask you a question?"

"yeah, darling, what is it?"

ellie looked around for something to write on, but came up empty handed. she looked under a pile of newspapers and found an old grocery shopping list. she flipped it over to the back and glanced up at her confused mother.

"could you describe the 8th grade in five sentences or less?"

ms. mathews hung her head slightly and let out a soft chuckle. "well, that's quite a question. is this for school or something, sweetheart?"

ellie, who was twirling the chain of her raindrop-shaped necklace around her index finger, nodded. "for an english assignment. it's due really soon, and i'm runnin' out of options."

her mother let out a small sigh and pulled out her cigarette holder. she lit the cigarette and placed it in her mouth, shaking her head. "if i'm remembering correctly, that was around the time of the depression. near the end, i believe," she mumbled.

ellie looked away, her face flushed with embarrassment. how stupid of her to ask. "i'm sorry."

"don't be. but, um, for, you know, greasers. or, just the impoverished in general—greasers weren't around back then—school was a luxury for us. we spent most of the time helping around at home, providing for the family. we had to grow up so the actual adults in our lives could work, scrape enough money to get by."

"what about you? you didn't have to watch your siblings since you were one of the younger ones," ellie pointed out.

tapping her cigarette on an ashtray sitting in the middle of the table, ms. mathews looked at her daughter. "i started a garden. grew produce so my parents wouldn't have to spend extra money on food," she shrugged. "in one way or another, we all had to give up childhood early on."

ellie thought about darry. he was technically an adult, right? eighteen years old.

"from the beginning, i was taught the basics to being a woman: cleaning, cooking, just being a wife," she continued. "your father lived in my neighborhood. i thought he was such a dream, we loved each other. it was dumb love. we were very young."

the idea of a man being perfect, the one for you, is something you really shouldn't dwell on.

"my parents didn't like it since he was poor like us. if we were to marry, he wouldn't have been able to provide for me. so we waited. eventually, the depression ended, he got a job. i got married to him at twenty. two years later, i had your brother, and you know the whole thing."

she paused, staring forward at the wall. "i was so... happy. i used to think that i should've listened to my family about him. but if i did, i wouldn't have had you guys, my two favorite people in the world," she smiled and turned back to elizabeth. "i never went back to school after sixth grade. we just couldn't afford it."