white boys (river phoenix)

1

"Robin, come on down sweetie!" her dad's soothing voice summoned her downstairs.

Robin was currently in the bathroom, washing her face and patting it dry with a towel.

"Coming dad!" she called, practically sprinting out of the bathroom once her face was dry to get just enough food.

The only reason why Robin thought there wouldn't be enough food left for her was because mom had been eating a lot lately, and dad and mom were especially close nowadays, at least over the past three weeks. She was pretty sure her mom was pregnant, which was kind of tight since she'd always wanted a little brother or sister to defend. She never did defend herself.

Robin slid into the kitchen wearing only socks, some shorts and a white tank top, standing next to her dad once she walked to the counter. He handed her a full plate of food and a glass of orange juice, which Robin balanced on her way to the kitchen table. Her mom was already sitting down there with her glasses on, a glass of orange juice in one hand and the daily paper in the other. Robin was surprised they'd gotten it here so early, even though all the clocks in the house were wrong so she didn't exactly know what time it was. Looking outside, it had to be no later than nine in the morning.

"Good morning, baby," her mother cooed.

Robin managed to swallow her eggs in time to say,

"Morning, ma'am."

Her mom shook her head playfully,

"Now what did I tell you about calling me ma'am? It sounds so odd, I'm your mother, not your teacher."

She giggled, knowing that her mom didn't like that strict authority stuff,

"I know. It just sounds better than me calling out 'what's happ'nin ma!' Doesn't it?"

They broke out into unstoppable laughter, resulting in them holding their stomachs from cackling once the long period of laughing had passed by.

"Oh, Robin, I know you did not forget to bless your food," dad scolded her while sitting down at the table in front of Robin.

Robin, who was sipping orange juice, swallowed hastily and shrugged,

"Well, gee I'm sorry! I was just in a rush."

"She's always in a rush to get breakfast these days, always wants to get it before me," her mom replied.

She shrugged again instead of saying that she thought her mother was pregnant, because if she wasn't, that statement would get her into a lot of trouble.

"Now, let's all join in prayer."

Robin mostly blocked out what her dad was saying - sure, they were a religious family and they went to church often, but not as often as her dad wanted them to. They were a Christian family, but they were lax about religion for the most part - her dad wasn't hardcore Christian, but he shared more values of Christianity than they managed to.

"Amen," her mother and father said in unison, then beginning to really eat their breakfasts, whereas Robin was nearly halfway done.

After breakfast when all the dishes were in the sink, Robin's parents told her they would be heading out to meet up with a few potential job offerers. Robin would need to take care of the house while they were gone, something she'd have no trouble doing anyway. So when they left, Robin turned on the TV and turned the channel to MTV- where they were playing the top twenty Hip Hop and R&B hits of 1987. It was August, anyway.

She danced around a little to the music while filling up the food bowls for her two dogs and two cats and maintaining the snake's terrarium. She bopped to the lyrics of "Just Coolin" by Levert. Once she'd finished cleaning the snake terrarium and putting her snake named Pixie back in there, she decided to take her two dogs for a walk- Senna and Stag. She grabbed one leash, which was hanging on the front door's doorknob, but couldn't manage to find the other one.